Inca Garcilaso de la Vega First Chronicler of the Americas

Introduction: Inca Garcilaso de la Vega was not the first person to write about the Americas, but was the first writer to be of the Americas. To clarify my point, he was the first person born in the Americas to be published in Europe[1]. Western attitudes at the time saw Europeans as being superior to that of people born in the Americas (or anywhere else for that matter). Especially for some one of mestizo, mixed blood, it was a great achievement to be a popular writer and historian.

He is a valuable resource to archaeologists since he uniquely documented events and traditions of the New World. Certainly he was biased, but he exceptionally captured the grandeur of the lost worlds of Native Americans and their conquerors. 

Origins: Born in 1539 A.D., he spoke his mother’s Runasimi[2], language of Inca royalty, but also was well versed in Spanish, Italian, and Latin. He got the best education Peru had to offer[3] and continued his education in Spain when he was 20[4]. Born Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, he changed his name to that of a famous relative, Garcilaso de la Vega who introduced Italian style poetry into Spain.   He adds Inca or El Inca as a nod to his mother’s background as the niece of the last undisputed Emperor of the Inca.

Body of Work: His first work is a translation from Italian into Spanish of “Los dialogos de amor” by León Hebreo. Garcilaso choosing Hebreo as the source for his first published work is an interesting selection. Europe of the Renaissance is a place of great creativity and also tragic intolerance. This is an age where Jews and Muslims have been expelled from Spain and the Spanish Inquisition is there to make sure conversions are genuine. Garcilaso by choosing León Hebreo, Leon the Hebrew, is going to risk never having his work publish.   Garcilaso, possibly inspired by León, a poet who proudly proclaimed his heritage and religion with his last name, to add Inca to his own name.

In “La Florida del Inca”, Garcilaso tells one of the earliest histories of what would one day be known as the United States of America.  It is an epic tale of Hernando de Soto’s failed conquest of what we commonly call “the south”, not just Florida. Hernando de Soto was a man like Garcilaso’s father and who had participated in the conquest of Peru. Those wishing to better understand the natives of the Mississippi look to this book as one of the earliest records. Garcilaso portrays the indigenous sympathetically in an age where “Indians” were treated as less than human.

“Comentarios Reales de los Incas”, Garcilaso writes of the mythical past of his Inca ancestors. He re-tells the tales[5] told to him by the few remaining Inca nobles visiting his home when he was a child[6]. His story telling is clearly inspired by that of Roman history and religion.  The Romans gave Europe great government, empire, and civilization. Garcilaso sees the Inca in the same role. He depicts some peoples of the Americas as savages and the Inca by conquering them, brings them civilization. He sees the Inca as wise, just rulers, who improve the lives of those they conquer. In Garcilaso’s mind the only thing the Inca were missing was Jesus. This is the justification of the conquest. The Spanish bring them Christianity.

“Historia General del Peru”, tells the story of Peru after they arrival of the Spanish. It was published after Garcilaso’s death. It is surprisingly sympathetic to Gonzalo Pizarro[7], a man who was good friends with his father[8]. In Garcilaso’s mind, since the conquistadors with the Pizarros had defeated Atahualpa, they are therefore part of the new royalty of Peru[9].  He argues that this blend of conquistador and Inca traditions, such as he was, and like his childhood classmates, should be the new ruling class, not the royalty or viceroys from Spain.

Impact: Garcilaso had more than just the Spanish Inquisition concerned with the content of his work. He envisions a new people, a new nationality. He dedicated his final book to “Los indios, mestizos, y criollos”, in other words, the Indians, the mixed bloods, and the people of the old world born in Peru[10]. He envisioned the melting pot that the Americas would become. After the native uprising of Tupac Amaru II in 1780, long after Garcilaso’s death, his books were banned in Peru. It was believed that his works inspired the rebellion[11]. That rebellion foreshadowed the independence of South America by a generation. Garcilaso’s work also documented numerous Inca traditions, such as the ceremonies of Inti Raymi, a solstice celebration that was banned in South America for hundreds of years. In 1944 a group in Cuzco used his work to bring back a theatric version of Inti Raymi that is now the second largest festival in South America.

Today: Inca Garcilaso de la Vega’s legacy lives on. My native Peruvian wife and I visited his boyhood home, in Cusco, which is now a museum. I had read translations of his books on Peru, but after seeing the museum it inspired me to get to know more about him. I am just beginning to understand the impact his work has had on my wife’s nation, the Americas, and on the world. Some of his ashes were moved from Cordova Spain to the Cathedral in Cuzco in the 1970’s.  Hundreds of years after his death, the man who in many ways defined Peru, finally returns to his homeland.

~ Ray Young | President |The Chicago Archaeological Society 

[1] Margarita Zamora, Language, Authority, and Indigenous History in the Comentarios reales de los Incas, (Cambridge University Press, 1988), 3.

[2] Donald G. Castanien, El Inca Garcilaso De La Vega, (New York: University of California, Davis, 1969), 21.

[3] Donald G. Castanien, El Inca Garcilaso De La Vega, (New York: University of California, Davis, 1969), 22.

[4] Donald G. Castanien, El Inca Garcilaso De La Vega, (New York: University of California, Davis, 1969), 30.

[5] Garcilaso de la Vega, Translated by John & Jeannette Varner, The Florida of the Inca, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988), xxv.

[6] Donald G. Castanien, El Inca Garcilaso De La Vega, (New York: University of California, Davis, 1969), 27

[7] Donald G. Castanien, El Inca Garcilaso De La Vega, (New York: University of California, Davis, 1969), 25.

[8] Donald G. Castanien, El Inca Garcilaso De La Vega, (New York: University of California, Davis, 1969), 18.

[9] Garcilaso de la Vega El Inca, translated by Harold V. Livermore, Royal Commentaries of the Incas & General History of Peru, (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, INC, 2006), 181.

[10] José Anadón, Garcilaso Inca De La Vega, an American Humanist, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1998), xv.

[11] José Anadón, Garcilaso Inca De La Vega, an American Humanist, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1998), viii.