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Yanakuna
Yanakuna were originally individuals in the Inca Empire who left the ayllu system 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. 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.
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. The -kuna suffix in yanakuna indicates the plural, thus if yana is translated as "servant" yanakuna is "servants" or "slaves". Hispanicized spellings of yanakuna are yanacona and yanaconas.
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. It is important to note that they were not forced to work as slaves.[citation needed] 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. 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.
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.
When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in modern-day Peru, the yanakuna assisted the Spaniards to take control of the empire. These people had their names used[clarification needed] by the Spaniards, during the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, as one for the indigenous people they had in servitude, in encomiendas, or in military forces as indios auxiliares (Indian auxiliaries).[clarification needed]
After the conquest, as craftworkers and laborers, the yanakuna played a significant role in a variety of both rural and urban production sectors in Peru's colonial economy.
The Spanish initially exacted tribute from the indigenous peoples of Peru through the ayllu-based encomienda system, by which native subjects were forced to contribute labor and goods (increasingly in the form of silver money) in service of the Spanish crown. Yanakuna, however, were separate from this system of obligation, and often performed different tasks. While the indios de encomienda fulfilled the most menial jobs in the Potosi silver mines, for example, yanakuna served as skilled artisans. Some yanakuna did work in the mines themselves from their beginnings in the 1540s, but unlike the indios de encomienda, they worked as free wage laborers.
Under the reforms imposed by Viceroy Francisco de Toledo (1569-1581), a system of draft labor known as the mita came to replace the encomienda system, by which villages within a several-hundred mile radius around Potosi had to send around one seventh of their male tribute-age population (from ages 18 to 50) each year to work in the mines. This change in labor organization occurred for a number of reasons: the Crown's explicitly stated preference for Peru to emphasize silver export and advances in mining technology increase the demand for labor; at the same time, the imposition of the mita allowed the Crown to push against the power of the encomenderos (Spanish recipients of encomienda grants), and offer native labor to non-encomenderos in Peru.
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Yanakuna
Yanakuna were originally individuals in the Inca Empire who left the ayllu system 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. 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.
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. The -kuna suffix in yanakuna indicates the plural, thus if yana is translated as "servant" yanakuna is "servants" or "slaves". Hispanicized spellings of yanakuna are yanacona and yanaconas.
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. It is important to note that they were not forced to work as slaves.[citation needed] 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. 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.
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.
When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in modern-day Peru, the yanakuna assisted the Spaniards to take control of the empire. These people had their names used[clarification needed] by the Spaniards, during the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, as one for the indigenous people they had in servitude, in encomiendas, or in military forces as indios auxiliares (Indian auxiliaries).[clarification needed]
After the conquest, as craftworkers and laborers, the yanakuna played a significant role in a variety of both rural and urban production sectors in Peru's colonial economy.
The Spanish initially exacted tribute from the indigenous peoples of Peru through the ayllu-based encomienda system, by which native subjects were forced to contribute labor and goods (increasingly in the form of silver money) in service of the Spanish crown. Yanakuna, however, were separate from this system of obligation, and often performed different tasks. While the indios de encomienda fulfilled the most menial jobs in the Potosi silver mines, for example, yanakuna served as skilled artisans. Some yanakuna did work in the mines themselves from their beginnings in the 1540s, but unlike the indios de encomienda, they worked as free wage laborers.
Under the reforms imposed by Viceroy Francisco de Toledo (1569-1581), a system of draft labor known as the mita came to replace the encomienda system, by which villages within a several-hundred mile radius around Potosi had to send around one seventh of their male tribute-age population (from ages 18 to 50) each year to work in the mines. This change in labor organization occurred for a number of reasons: the Crown's explicitly stated preference for Peru to emphasize silver export and advances in mining technology increase the demand for labor; at the same time, the imposition of the mita allowed the Crown to push against the power of the encomenderos (Spanish recipients of encomienda grants), and offer native labor to non-encomenderos in Peru.