The Inca economy centered on which activities within a hierarchical administration?

• A. Heavy reliance on maritime trade and fishing.
• B. Agriculture and mining with a hierarchical administration.
• C. Nomadic pastoralist economy.
• D. Industrial manufacturing and markets.

Answer: (A)

The heart of the Inca economy is a state-directed system where farming and mining are coordinated through a hierarchical bureaucracy. The central authorities allocate land and water, organize communities into ayllu, and mobilize labor through the mita to work in agricultural lands, storehouses, and especially in mines. Food and metals produced are redistributed by the state to support soldiers, engineers, and officials, so resources flow from local production up to the central administration and back to serve the empire. This combination of agricultural output and mineral extraction, organized under a rigid administrative structure, is what sustains the economy, rather than relying on markets or nomadic herding. Maritime activity existed, but it wasn’t the backbone of the economy; the Incas emphasized agriculture and controlled mining within a centralized system of tribute and labor obligations.