For the Incas, the sun was sacred. Their religion was a sun cult. Gold was believed to be the sweat of the sun. The ancestors of the Inca had worked gold for along time.Modern day Peruvians were working gold like their ancestors since 1000 A.D. (first to 10th centuries). Objects containing several kilograms of gold with their gold riches of huge proportions.
"These indigenous people were master goldsmiths. They used to blow pipes to fan the flames in their simple ovens so they could smelt this precious metal. For Inca gold was also the blood of Viracocha, their sun god. He is now commonly considered the chief god, at least in pre-Incan cultures. Gold was sacred. It was greatly prized in cult, but had no material value. The craft of working gold was a religious ritual." - Britannica
Inca temples were decorated with gold. Worship areas were gilded inside and out. Only the king was permitted to use gold jewelry - proof that he was of godly birth. The only way nobility could use gold was in their burial chambers, surrounded by gold. One had to die to have gold.
"The Incas believed the creator, a light-skinned god, would return to earth. He had taken his leave of them, heading over the ocean and would return one day, emerging from the sunset. Until that happened, all that remained for them to do was to glorify him with gilded artistic renderings."
This belief was very helpful to the Spanish, who had no problem using, coveting, and hoarding gold.
The Spanish eventually took 13000 pounds of 22 karat gold and twice as much silver.
Between 1500 and 1650, the Spanish imported 181 tons of gold and 16,000 tons of silver from the New World. In today's money, that much gold would be worth nearly $4, and the silver would be worth over $7 billion.
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