Hey, I’m doing a research project on Incan legacy in Latin America (specifically Peru). As someone from the UK, I don’t have much personal perspective on this, so I would be super interested to know anyone from Latin America’s point of view on whether or not Incan legacy is significant in society/culture there? Specifically I’m looking at the impacts of Inti Raymi and how that might be helping with the preservation of Incan culture. Of anyone has any opinions or perspectives they want to share that would be so super helpful and appreciated!!!! đŸ™‚
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Yes it is alive from Northern Argentina and Chile, Bolivia, PerĂº, Ecuador and Southern, Colombia.
Language, music, culture, tradition, rituals and beliefs.
There’s even words we use derived from the Incanato.
Northern Chile, yep. Inca Empire shaped the culture of every place it conquered.
Hi there! This is a very interesting question. Hoping to read input from my fellow South Americans.
In Argentina, the Incan Empire extended from the North and reached as far south as Mendoza province. From there to the northern limit of the country, remains of the Path of the Inca (‘Camino del Inca’) are occassionaly found: sections of the Incan network of roads. Another (and kinda mind-blowing fact) is that the Quechua language penetrated as far east as the Santiago del Estero province, where it is still spoken today.
The Sun of May you see on the Argentine flag is actually a representation of the Inca god Inti, but that’s mostly a historical trivia few people know about.
The policies the right wing PRO party always seek to implement such as mandatory free internship for high schoolers, civic service and possibly some of the ways the see a potential return to conscription are, whether they realize it or not, a legacy of the old encomienda system of the colonial times, which was actually an Inca costume rather than a Spanish one.
In some areas of south america, definetly
Not here, yes we have indigenous people here, but they have their own culture, not really a lot of Inca things remain. In the overall language there are some words, sure, but that is not keeping any culture alive, it’s just words.
Even the language they speak the most aside from Spanish is not the same as Quechua, they call it Kichwa and it’s similar but not an exact copy, and there’s like 10 other indigenous languages. Like the most Inca thing remaining is Inti Raymi which is celebrated by a small proportion of people in the Andes.
Many Andean cultures have things in common, but it’s not necessary because of the Incas, despite what some Peruvians might tell you, they were conquerors and fucked with people much like the Spanish.
People should not confuse Andean with Inca, because they are not the same. Ecuador has 7 million people in the Andes but maybe 1.5 million of those actually have indigenous cultures and less than 200k of those keep many Inca traditions alive.
Here in Brazil, their legacy is The Emperor New Groove /s.
It’s a good Disney movie….
Peruvian, from Cuco here. There is a very important point to take into account: Current presence of indigenous cultural elements does not necessarily imply continuity from pre-conquest times.
Specifically, when speaking about the Inti Raymi, you need to bear in mind that the festival celebrated every year nowadays is a re-construction that began in 1944. It is based on historical and archaeological records, but the Inti Raymi now is about as Inca as the modern Olympic games are classically Greek.
I think the most palpable legacy is in the language. In Ecuador we have a variant of quechua that is Kichwa. And we use lots of kichwa words in Ecuadorian Spanish: guagua, taita, mama, achachay, arraray, atatay, shunsho, shungo, guata, and many more.
Also, in Ecuador there were many groups of people before the Incas, and the cultural mix with Incas and spanish is what we are now. Besides, there are now many groups of indigenous people now that are more direct related to incas and to these original groups.