Hatunqulla

Hatunqulla, "great Colla" in Quechua, was the home of the Colla lords on the plateau northwest of Lake Titicaca, close to the funerary towers of Sillustani. The Colla claimed descent from Tiwanaku and may have spoken Puquina; their chiefdom of some 20,000 square kilometres was one of the greatest of the altiplano. After Tiwanaku vanished around 1000, wars between chiefdoms, probably worsened by drought, drove the people into hill forts called pukaras, which became common after 1300. The Colla chiefs held the Titicaca islands, including the Island of the Sun, and the silver and gold mines of Potosí and Carabaya.

The Colla rivalled the Lupaqa to the south. When Inca Viracocha secretly allied with the Lupaqa lord Cari, the ruler of Hatunqulla invaded Lupaqa land and was beaten at Paucarcolla. Later, Pachacuti marched on the Collao, defeated the Colla Capac Chuchi in two battles at Ayaviri and Pucara, and took him prisoner. Pachacuti then went to Hatunqulla to receive the submission of the surrounding peoples. The conquest of the Colla gave the Inca state its imperial stature, and the south-eastern quarter of the empire, Qullasuyu, took its name from them. The Colla rose in revolt several times, and Pachacuti's son Amaru Yupanqui and later Topa Inca put the revolts down.