Mit'a facts for kids

Mit'a was a system of required public service in the Inca Empire. It was like a special kind of tax, but instead of paying money, people paid with their work. This system helped the Inca government build amazing things like roads, bridges, and farming terraces.

A similar system, called Minka, is still used today in some communities in Peru. It's known as faena in Spanish.

Historians use the word mita (with an "i") to talk about how the Spanish changed this system. The Spanish made it much harder and used it for their own purposes, like mining.

In the Inca Empire, all citizens who could work had to do so for a certain number of days each year. The word mit'a itself means a regular "turn" or "season." Inca families often only needed about 65 days to farm their own land. The rest of the year, they could spend on mit'a projects.

Working for the Empire

The Inca Empire was able to build huge highways and structures because of the mit'a system. Everyone worked for the government for a certain time. This labor was free for the Inca rulers.

During the Inca period, men usually worked about 65 days in their own fields to grow food for their families. When it was someone's turn for mit'a, they joined different projects. The community made sure that the families of those working on mit'a were taken care of.

People worked on many different projects, including:

• Building highways
• Constructing homes for the emperor and nobles
• Creating monuments and bridges
• Farming fields that belonged to priests and the emperor
• Working in mines

Who Participated?

All males from age fifteen to fifty were required to take part in mit'a public services. However, the Inca rulers were flexible about how much time someone spent on their mit'a turn. Overseers made sure that people had enough time to care for their own land and family after finishing their duty.

Local groups were responsible for building bridges. They divided the work using the mit'a system. There was also a "war mit'a" where men left their villages to serve in the state armies.

Craftspeople had a special role in the Inca state. Even though they worked for the state, they usually did not have to do agricultural or war mit'a.

Land and Work

During the Inca period, people mostly depended on farming their land. All the fields in the Empire were divided into four types:

• The Temple's fields
• The Emperor's fields
• The Kurakas (local leaders') fields
• The People's fields

The People's fields included land for the sick, widows, elderly, and wives of soldiers, as well as their own family land.

When it was time to plow, people first worked on the fields of widows, sick people, and soldiers' wives. Village overseers guided this work. Then, people worked on their own fields. After that, they worked on the Temple's fields and the Kurakas fields. Finally, they worked on the Emperor's fields. While working on the Emperor's fields, people often wore their best clothes and sang songs praising the Inca.

If people were away fighting in a war, others engaged in mit'a would cultivate their fields. This way, soldiers could go to war knowing their families and farms were safe. This helped make Inca soldiers very loyal.

Spanish Changes to Mita

When the Spanish took over, they also used a system called mita. However, they changed it a lot. Under Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, communities had to send one-seventh of their male workers at any time for public works, mines, and farming.

This system became a huge burden on the Inca communities, and abuses were common. People complained and revolted. New laws were passed by King Philip III, but they didn't help much.

The Inca mit'a and the Spanish mita were very different:

• The Inca mit'a created public benefits, like maintaining roads and farming systems. Most Inca people did their mit'a work near their homes, often in agriculture. Working in mines was very rare.
• The Spanish mita mainly supported private mining companies and the Spanish country. The money from silver production was often used to pay for wars in Europe.

A study in 2021 found that the Spanish mita system in Peru caused a huge decrease in the number of native men.

Working in Mines for the Spanish

The Spanish conquistadors used the mita system to get workers for their silver mines. Silver was the most important part of their economy. Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, who arrived in Peru in 1569, greatly expanded the mita system. He wanted to get much more silver from the Potosí silver mine.

Toledo knew that without a steady and cheap source of workers, mining could not grow as fast as the Spanish king wanted. The first mita workers arrived in Potosí in 1573. At its busiest, the Potosí mita recruited workers from an area of nearly 200,000 square miles (520,000 km²). This area included much of southern Peru and what is now Bolivia.

The Spanish mita system had very bad effects on the native people. It took away strong workers at a time when communities were already suffering from diseases brought from Europe. Many natives fled their communities to avoid the mita. With fewer workers, farming went down, leading to hunger and poor health for many native communities.

Mitma Resettlement System

The mit'a labor system should not be confused with another Inca policy called mitma. The word mitma means "outsider" or "newcomer." This policy involved moving entire groups of Inca people to new lands where newly conquered people lived. The goal was to spread loyal Inca subjects throughout the empire. This helped prevent local rebellions.

Lasting Effects

Areas that were part of the Spanish mita system historically had lower levels of education. Even today, they are less connected by roads. Farmers in these areas are also more likely to be subsistence farmers, meaning they grow just enough food for themselves. This is because large rural estates, called haciendas, were not allowed in mita districts. This was to make sure the state had enough workers for the mita.

The lack of good roads means farmers from former mita districts cannot easily transport their crops to bigger markets. This makes it harder for them to earn more money.

In 2004, residents of Ilave, a former mita district, were very angry and took action against their local mayor. This was partly because he did not keep his promises to pave the town's road and build a local market. Overall, former mita districts still have lower economic performance today. They show lower household spending and higher rates of stunted growth in children.

Modern Use in Peru

The Inca-style Mit'a was used again as a government policy in Peru during the presidencies of Fernando Belaúnde Terry (1963-1968 and 1980-1985). His government launched a state institution called "Popular Cooperation." This was strongly inspired by the Inca mit'a labor system.

During the 10 years this institution operated, Peru built more infrastructure projects than in most of the 140 years before it. This included hundreds of kilometers of roads, aqueducts (water channels), and other community projects.

How Popular Cooperation Worked

The idea was simple: Peru did not have a lot of money in the early 1960s. So, public works projects would be "co-financed" by the people who benefited from them, mainly through their labor.

In Peru, about 60-70% of a public works project's cost goes to buying materials. The remaining 30-40% is for labor costs. By using the Inca mit'a idea, the government paid for the materials. The people who benefited provided the labor for free. This saved the Peruvian government 30-40% on public works. These savings were then used for even more projects. In return, the communities got faster development and more infrastructure.

South Korean Commission

In 1964, the government of South Korea learned about the great results in Peru. They sent a group to study Peru's system. After a few months, the group returned to South Korea. They created their own modern version of the Inca mit'a for Korean production systems, including manufacturing. The results in Korea were even better than in Peru because they used a different approach to development.

See also

In Spanish: Mita para niños