Minka

Minka or Mink'a (from the Quechua, Hispanicized also Minga or Minca ) is a common cultural space of the Andes and the adjacent eastern lowlands, from pre-Columbian traditional form of local community work, serving community purposes.

The Minka can serve different purposes in the community ( ayllu ), such as the construction of municipal facilities or the harvest of the fields in communal ownership. The remuneration of the workers is traditionally in the form of kind. The Minka is still common in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile, especially in communities of Quechua and Aymara, but in some cases also linguistically Hispanisierten.

In the Inca Empire, the Minka was the most important type of collaborative working both within the ayllu and larger spatial units, each ayllu workers set for the larger community projects.