An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru

by Titu Cusi Yupanqui, Ralph Bauer (Translator)

Available in English for the first time, An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru is a firsthand account of the Spanish invasion, narrated in 1570 by Diego de Castro Titu Cusi Yupanqui—the penultimate ruler of the Inca dynasty—to a Spanish missionary and transcribed by a mestizo assistant. The resulting hybrid document offers an Inca perspective on the Spanish conquest of Peru, filtered through the monk and his scribe.

Titu Cusi tells of his father's maltreatment at the hands of the conquerors; his father's ensuing military campaigns, withdrawal, and murder; and his own succession as ruler. Although he continued to resist Spanish attempts at "pacification," Titu Cusi entertained Spanish missionaries, converted to Christianity, and then, most importantly, narrated his story of the conquest to enlighten Emperor Phillip II about the behavior of the emperor's subjects in Peru. This vivid narrative illuminates the Incan view of the Spanish invaders and offers an important account of indigenous resistance, accommodation, change, and survival in the face of the European conquest.

Informed by literary, historical, and anthropological scholarship, Bauer's introduction points out the hybrid elements of Titu Cusi's account, revealing how it merges native Andean and Spanish rhetorical and cultural practices. This new English edition will interest students of colonial Latin American history and culture and of Native American literatures.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, 16th Century

184 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2005

Reviews

[Dani]

A fascinating primary source with a very apt introduction. Highly recommended.

[gawain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book for my intro to medieval history class. Really glad we got to read this and talk about the Americas during the medieval period (even if it was just for a few class periods). A lot of times the medieval period is reduced to Europe, and honestly, looking at the classes I gotta take for my medieval minor, it looks like I’m staying there, so it’s nice to leave europe and learn about other countries. Travel was a huge theme in this course and yea. Those guys sure were traveling. Anyway we read this book and then did a little class role play of the Incas, Spaniards, ans Spanish King (I was the king :3) which was a lot of fun and we had some great moments such as, “well when I give my wife diseases she just gets a cough, you died. So. Obviously we’re superior people”, “oh yea ???? What if we colonized you ?? How would you like that ???”, and “oh yea we did kill that guy …. Oversight on our side. Our bad :/“
Anyway. The account was really useful for understanding the ever expanding medieval world and Spaniards lowk suck super hard.

[Emmett · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a unique read! Really glad to have stumbled upon this one.

While the introduction written by Ralph Bauer was fascinating and gave a lot of insight into the actual account of Titu Cusi, the account itself was a bit dry and repetitive. This is of course to be expected from something written in the 1500s, particularly when dictated orally in Quechua, transcribed in Spanish, and now translated to English. It is definitely still worth the read. I can't say I have ever read exactly anything like it- how often does one get the chance to read a first-person account of the Spanish conquest of Peru by an Inca ruler?

I would recommend this to anyone with a vested interest in Peru or the history of the Americas in general.

[Meg]

Manco Inca to the Spaniards:
"'While I have loved you with as much fondness and have desired your friendship, you have let me down for a little silver and treated me worse than a dog for its sake, which leads me to believe that you care more about silver than the friendship of all the people in the world. In any case, because of your love of silver you have failed me and all of the people of my country; and because of your impunity and boundless greed, we - they as well as I - have been deprived of our jewelry and wealth, which you have taken from us by way of violence, torments, and harassments. But I tell you that it is my sense that you will not reap glory from the fact that you took, without right and reason, what these poor Indians have gathered with great toil. But be that as it may, take these things and finally set me free to leave this prison.'"
(p. 95)

[T.P. Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting more from this 16th century account of the conquest of the Incas by the Pizarro brothers. It has some descriptive reports of the battles with the Spanish, the brutal tactics of both sides, but much of it is second hand. Combined with the fact that Titu Cusi made basically an oral account to a Spanish scribe, makes it seem even further remote. It has an obsequious undercurrent to it as Titu Cusi is seemingly making a plea to the Spanish king, reporting on his conversion to Christianity, etc. Yet, a tone of resentment of the Spanish comes through, not only by the reporter, but also attributed to his father, Manco Inca. Resentment for the constant plunder, hostage taking, desecration of Inca sacred objects, and so on. I think it's important to note that the Incas were not entirely innocent primitive people living is some kind of Eden - they expended vast amounts of wealth providing for their dead rulers (who were mummified, and taken "on tour," as it were, with large retinues, palaces, etc.), and worse, practiced sibling incest to "purify" the rulers bloodline, and as we now know, practiced extensive child sacrifice. The Spaniards, as if they needed any justification to eradicate the ruling class, had it there.
The translation by this modern scholar attempts to use current vernacular English, and I think that was a mistake.

[Dominic Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Project Latin America - #19 (Peru)

[Rafi · Rating 4 out of 5]

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