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Qaraqara

Aymara federation of the Macha and Chaqui moieties whose vertical archipelago reached the silver hill of Potosí itself.

Their warriors fought for Pizarro, but the discovery of Potosí in 1545 turned their homeland into the engine of the mita; the lordship endured as the rebellious Macha, Pocoata and Chayanta ayllus of northern Potosí into the present.

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Borders over time

The atlas holds 2 border frames for Qaraqara — the shape you scrub through changes in 1150 · 1545.

Moments from the Chronicle

• 1460 The Inca cross the Desaguadero Pachacuti and Topa Inca subdued the Aymara federations of the southern altiplano — Carangas, Killaka, Soras, Charka and Qaraqara — binding their mallku lords to Cusco through marriage, mit'a labour and the mineral wealth of the south.
• 1538 Charka and Qaraqara lords meet the Spanish At the founding of La Plata (Sucre, 1538-40) the mallkus of the Charka-Qaraqara confederation submitted to the Crown; their warriors had aided Pizarro, but within a generation their men were marched to the silver mines of Potosí under the mit'a.

Further reading

• The Incas Terence N D'Altroy · 2006

  D'Altroy's standard survey sets the Aymara lords of the Bolivian Andes (Qaraqara, Killaka) within the Inca world that absorbed them.

• The Conquest of the Incas John Hemming · 1970

  Broad narrative of the Andean conquest the Qaraqara warriors were drawn into when their homeland became the silver engine of Potosí.

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Sources

• Aymara lordships — Wikipedia