Historical Figures

Sinchi Rock

Sinchi Roca , second king of Cuzco, son of Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo. He came into the world in Tampuquiro while his parents wandered from south to north in search of a place to settle permanently. As a teenager he married Mama Coca, daughter of the Lord of Sano (today San Sebastián), near the imperial capital, in such a way that his father gained an ally. From this marriage he had Manco Sacapa as his son, who was born before the Incas arrived in Cuzco. On the death of his father he was enthroned. Cuzco being a young kingdom in the area, the neighboring ethnic groups did not hide their most open rejection of these foreigners. During the government of Sinchi Roca, the Inca territory only reached the nearby hill of Singa (Tambomachay).

Territorial expansion of Sinchi Roca


He established friendship with some of the adjoining lordships, but never got the acceptance of Tocay Capac, king of the ayarmacas, who in one of the confrontations blew Sinchi Roca's two front teeth. In this regard, Teresa Vergara says:«The chroniclers agree that Sinchi Roca was a warrior chief as his name indicates. Despite this, there were no great conquests during his government. This was largely due to the maneuvers of Tocay Capac, chief of the Ayarmacas, who tenaciously opposed the advance of the Incas, seeing Sinchi Roca limited only to gaining the friendship of some curacas of the neighboring ethnic groups; expanding its area of ​​influence, according to Concepción Bravo, in a radius of no more than thirty leagues». Given the narrowness of the territory, Sinchi Roca was forced to use every possible space to extend the cultivation fields, enabling the slopes of the hills to do so through the construction of platforms. He also managed to win the friendship of the alcavizas, who had confronted his father Manco Capac, giving them gifts and lending them labor for the construction of roads. His alliance with the healthy was ratified by marrying his son Lloque Yupanqui with a princess of that ethnic group. He expanded the structures of the Inticancha and occupied it as a home, which is indicative that in the early days of the Inca Empire, the government had a theocratic character and the monarchical functions were not separated from the priestly ones.
One of the customs that was imposed from this time, according to the chronicles, was to deform the ears as a sign of nobility. But the archaeological data indicates that it was an older custom, practiced centuries ago in Chavín. Again the Incas wanted to appear as creators or innovators of customs, so a ceremonial was instituted in which the common people attended to see the difference with respect to the elite. Sinchi Roca died at a very advanced age, his body being buried next to an idol called Guanachiri and his descendants were grouped in the so-called Rauraupanaca .


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