Inca Imperial Strategies and Installations in Central Bolivia

Abstract

The local ethnohistoric sources and the archaeological evidence, as well as the radiocarbon dates, indicate that the Inca Empire conquered the mighty polities of Central Bolivia around the mid-fifteenth century, and then created a well-structured imperial infrastructure. The rationale behind the creation of this infrastructure can be sought in the region’s agricultural potential and raw material deposits. In order to fully exploit these resources, the Inca performed a large-scale population resettlement, principally of groups from the altiplano and the mountain regions to the eastern valleys. The goods produced in these agricultural and craft centers ensured the defense of the empire’s eastern frontiers, and contributed to the provisioning of its heartland.