Mita (
Quechua mit'a) was mandatory public service in the society of the
Inca Empire. It was effectively a form of tribute to the Inca government, in the form of labor, i.e. a
corvée. In the Inca Empire, public service was required in community-driven projects such as the building of
their extensive road network; military service was also mandatory, and all citizens who could perform labor were required to do so for a set number a days out of a year (the basic meaning of the word
mit'a is a regular
turn or a
season).
Incas who were lazy were hung, stoned, or pushed off of a cliff. Due to the Inca Empire's wealth, a family would often only require sixty-five days to farm; the rest of the year was devoted entirely to the
mita. The
Spanish conquistadors also utilized the same labor system to supply the workforce they needed for the silver mines, which was the basis of their economy in the colonial period. The conquistadors used the concept of
mit'a to suit their own needs.
The Incas elaborated creatively on a preexisting system of not only the mita exchange of labor but also the exchange of the objects of religious veneration of the peoples whom they took into their empire. This exchange ensured proper compliance among conquered peoples. In this instance huacas and pacarinas became significant centers of shared worship and a point of unification of their ethnically and linguistically diverse empire, bringing unity and citizenship to often geographically disparate peoples. This led eventually to a system of pilgrimages throughout all of these various shrines by the indigenous people of the empire prior to the introduction of Catholicism.
The mit'a labor draft is not to be confused with the related policy of deliberate resettlements referred to by the Quechua word mitma (mitmaq meaning "outsider" or "newcomer"), or its hispanicized forms mitima or mitimaes (plural). This involved transplanting whole groups of people of Inca background as colonists into new lands inhabited by newly conquered peoples. The aim was to distribute loyal Inca subjects throughout their empire to limit the threat of localized rebellions.
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