Yanakuna

Yanakuna were originally individuals in the Inca Empire who left the ayllu system[1] and worked full-time at a variety of tasks for the Inca, the quya (Inca queen) or the religious establishment. A few members of this serving class enjoyed high social status and were appointed officials by the Sapa Inca.[2] They could own property and sometimes had their own farms, before and after the conquest. The Spanish continued the yanakuna tradition developing it further as yanakuna entered Spanish service as Indian auxiliaries or encomienda indians.

In modern times the Mapuche of Chile use "yanacona" as an insult for Mapuches considered to have betrayed their people.[3] Use of the word "yanacona" to describe people in the press have led legal action in Chile.[3]

Etymology and spelling

The word yana in Quechua, the main Inca language, means black, servant, and is possibly derived from the verb yanapa to help, Qosqo Quechua, yana, black, servant, partner, spouse, and paramour.[4] The -kuna suffix in yanakuna indicates the plural,[5] thus if yana is translated as "servants" yanakuna is "servants"[6] or "slaves".[7] Hispanicized spellings of yanakuna are yanacona and yanaconas.

Inca Empire

In the Inca Empire yanakuna was the name of the servants to the Inca elites. The word servant, however, is misleading about the identity and function of the yanakuna.[8] It is important to note that they were not forced to work as slaves. Some were born into the category of yanakuna (like many other professions, it was a hereditary one), some chose to leave ayllus to work, and some were selected by nobles.[9] They were to care for the herds of the nobles, do fishing, and were dedicated to other work, like the making of pottery, construction, and domestic service. Yanakuna were sometimes given high positions in the Inca government. Mitma is a term commonly associated with yanakuna, but its meaning is different, as the mitmaqkuna were used as labor for large projects. Yanakuna were specifically not a part of an ayllu and were relocated individually instead of in large labor groups. An example of the differences of the classes is that mitmaqkuna were labor that built Machu Picchu, but yanakuna lived and served the Inca there.[10]

In Chile, the mapuche used this word to refer to alleged "traitors of their race". The concept of traitor was unknown to them, so when asked to translate the word from Spanish they referred to the Spanish native auxiliaries.

Spanish Empire

When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in modern-day Peru, the yanakuna declared themselves "friends of the Spaniards."[11] They assisted the Spaniards to take control of the empire. These people, who the Spaniards, during the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, began to use the name for the indigenous people they had in servitude, in encomiendas, or in military forces as indios auxiliares (Indian auxiliaries).

After the conquest, the yanakuna population grew rapidly with people leaving ayllus to work in mining. Spaniards favored the individual yanakuna (as they were an alternative labor force) instead of the ayllu-based encomienda system, so the population continued to increase. The Spaniards did not share the same views of yanakuna as the elites did in the Incan Empire. Sometimes, Indians had to leave ayllus to pay off debts and other forms of economic dependence. The population was not large enough, however, to replace the encomienda system but instead supplemented it.[12] The term yanakuna also was used during the conquest of Chile and other areas of South America.

See also

References
  1. Lewellen, Ted C. (2003). Political anthropology: An introduction. ABC-CLIO. pp. 38–39. ISBN 978-0-89789-891-1.
  2. Childress, D. (2000). Who's who in Inca society. Calliope, 10(7), 14.
  3. "Audiencia en caso Mapuexpress: Querellante pidió censurar al medio a cambio de retirar la demanda". El Desconcierto (in Spanish). July 27, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  4. "yana - Quechua cuzqueño-Español Diccionario". Glosbe. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  5. Alan L. Kolata, Ancient Inca, Cambridge University Press, 2013
  6. Garcilazo de la Vega, Primera Parte de los Comentarios Reales de los Incas(1609), available online
  7. Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary)
  8. The Inca and Aztec States 1400-1800. Anthropology and History by George A. Collier; Renato I. Rosaldo; John D. Wirth.
  9. Malpass, M. A. (1996). Daily life in the inca empire. (pp. 55). Greenwood Publishing Group.
  10. Bethany L. Turner, George D. Kamenov, John D. Kingston, George J. Armelagos, Insights into immigration and social class at Machu Picchu, Peru based on oxygen, strontium, and lead isotopic analysis, Journal of Archaeological
  11. Stern, S. J. (1982). Peru's Indian peoples and the challenge of spanish conquest. (pp. 30-55). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
  12. Stern, S.J. (1982). Peru's Indian peoples and the challenge of Spanish conquest. (pp. 155). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.

Sources
  • Ann M. Wightman, Indigenous Migration and Social Change: The Forasteros of Cuzco, 1570-1720, Duke University Press, 1990, ISBN 0822310007. Pg. 16-18
  • Translation of Spanish Wikipedia Page
  • The Inca and Aztec States 1400-1800. Anthropology and History by George A. Collier; Renato I. Rosaldo; John D. Wirth.
  • Childress, D. (2000). Who's who in Inca society. Calliope, 10(7), 14.
  • Malpass, M. A. (1996). Daily life in the inca empire. (pp. 55). Greenwood Publishing Group.
  • Bethany L. Turner, George D. Kamenov, John D. Kingston, George J. Armelagos, Insights into immigration and social class at Machu Picchu, Peru based on oxygen, strontium, and lead isotopic analysis, Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 36, Issue 2, February 2009, Pages 317-332, ISSN 0305-4403, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.018.
  • Stern, S. J. (1982). Peru's Indian peoples and the challenge of Spanish conquest. (pp. 30–55). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
  • Stern, S.J. (1982). Peru's Indian peoples and the challenge of Spanish conquest. (pp. 155). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
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