. The battle of Sangarará and the subsequent campaign in the Collao revealed both the nature and the magnitude of the threat. So the city dwellers of Cusco joined the militias, stockpiled food and provisions, and prepared to resist.

Politically, the Inca Empire was a mixture of absolute monarchy, theocratic power, and agrarian collectivism, organized around a centralized bureaucratic state at the service of the ruling class. The Inca king (the Sapa Inca or “Unique Inca”) was treated as a divine being whose authority was above any law. The Incas themselves called their empire Tahuantinsuyu or “The four parts together.” Each part of the Tahuantinsuyu was governed by an apo, a close relative of the Sapa Inca, who served as a viceroy, while also being a member of the council of state and an advisor on imperial affairs. The organization of the Inca Empire rested on certain key elements: a theocratic concept of power; the organization of tribute from subject peoples, taken in labor services; and the tripartite division of land into the lands of the Sapa Inca, the lands of the Sun (the priests’ lands), and the lands of subject peoples collectively called the ayllu.