mit'a Labor System

Timeline

1. c. 1200–1370Ayllu communities of the Cuzco Valley · CuzcoThe kings of Cuzco integrated the traditional ayni mutual aid and periodic collective labor within the ayllu into a mit'a that the royal household could dispatch, allocating labor days by community size for field irrigation, storehouse construction, and royal works.
2. 1371–1380Cuzco · CuzcoIn the 1370s the kingdom used mit'a to conscript labor from the ayllus to expand the urban area of Cuzco, build roads and relay stations, and replace the suspension bridges over the canyons; khipu records documented the rotation order of each community. Labor service was repaid with food rations and the right to use royal lands.
3. c. 1438–1532Provinces of the Inca Empire · EcuadorAfter the empire expanded, mit'a was extended to the conquered provinces, with labor used to build imperial roads, fortresses, terraces, and temples; the rotation management model of the 1370s kingdom period became the template for imperial labor dispatch, supporting large-scale construction projects.