Mitma was a policy of forced resettlement employed by the Incas. It involved the forceful migration of groups of extended families or ethnic groups from their home territory to lands recently conquered by the Incas. The objective was to transfer both loyalty to the state and a cultural baggage of inca culture such as language, technology, economic and other resources into areas that were in transition.
The term mitma is a Quechua word meaning "sprinkle, distribute, spread".[1]
Peoples affected by this policy were also known by the Incas and during colonial times as mitmakuna or mitmaqkuna and was used over a long period of time in all border regions of the empire. Modern anthropological and linguistic studies suggest that the policy affected up to a 25% of the populations of the empire and is probably the largest single element of the inca domination.
The strategic and political use of these policy might had been also related to a transhumancy when large herds of llamas, alpacas and vicuñas were managed by the state. The element of political stability is obvious as the new settlements depended on the incas for defense, supplies and governance.
The policy of Mitmaqkuna took place specially in the Bolivian plateau except in the southern area and the functions of the migrants might have been economic and of defense of the border area of the chiriguanos. The southwest arc of the plateau was covered by garrisons that extended to the Pucara of Aconquija.
In the fifteen century the population of Colla people of present day Bolivia was invaded by the Inca Wiracocha that annexed those territories to the Tawantinsuyo. Groups of mitimaes were introduced to the region, some of whom spoke Quechua. At the time of the arrival of the Spanish conquest the heterogenous population of those territories used Aymara, Puquina and Quechua as a language of communication.
In the area of the Northeast of Argentina, the Incas introduced the Chichas, that came from present day Bolivian territory. The Northern area of Chile also received Chichas populations.
Populations of the Calchiquí valley and the central area of the Catamarca province resisted the conquest and refused to work for the Incas, and as a consequence the incas used as a labor force contingents of mitmaqkunas. Blas Ponce, one of the first residents of Londres in Catamarca, mentions that the in province of Quire-quire the Inca had at least 20,000 mitimaes that once defeated by the Spanish decided to abandon the valley.
Population swaps were also used in the territory of present day Ecuador and had a large impact in the population mix of the region, in the area of Tumipamba, the transition was almost complete.
Along the scarpment of Huamahuaca the mitimaes were groups of Chicha origin from Bolivia and in the communities of Churumatas and Paypayas the objective was to defend the territory from the Chiriguanos and to spread the use of the Quechua language.