OUTLOOK TOWARDS EMANCIPATION
I. The intellectual movement after the expulsion of the
Jesuits. II. Political Reformers. III. Poets. IV. Literary
periodicals: _Mercurio Peruano_, _Gaceta de Lima_. V.
Contributors to _Mercurio Peruano_. VI. _El Telégrafo
Mercantil._ VII. Tadeo Haenke. VIII. El Volador. Page 531
APPENDIX
A Catalogue, under Authors’ Names, of the Books mentioned in
the text. Page 585
GENERAL INDEX Page 651
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ALONSO DE ERCILLA Y ZÚÑIGA _Frontispiece_
A MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA _Page xx_
_Facing page_
PAGE FROM FIRST BOOK TO BE PRINTED IN SOUTH AMERICA 6
BLASCO NÚÑEZ DE VELA 11
MANUEL OMMS DE SANTA PAU, MARQUÉS DE CASTELDOSRÍUS 16
BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS 33
TITLE PAGE OF “SUMA DE GEOGRAFÍA” 54
FRANCISCO PIZARRO 59
PAGE FROM MS. OF SARMIENTO DE GAMBOA’S “HISTORIA GENERAL” 129
FRANCISCO DE TOLEDO 144
PEDRO DE VALDIVIA 147
JERÓNIMO DE ALDERETE 151
FRANCISCO DE VILLAGRA 154
TITLE PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF “LA ARAUCANA” 158
PAGE FROM THE FIRST EDITION OF “LA ARAUCANA” 165
STATUE OF CAUPOLICÁN 172
GARCÍA HURTADO DE MENDOZA, MARQUÉS DE CAÑETE 178
PEDRO DE OÑA 191
JUAN DE CASTELLANOS 211
TITLE PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF “LA ARGENTINA” 222
ANDRÉS HURTADO DE MENDOZA, MARQUÉS DE CAÑETE 226
DIEGO FERNÁNDEZ DE CÓRDOBA, MARQUÉS DE GUADALCÁZAR 239
ANTONIO DE MENDOZA, MARQUÉS DE MONDÉJAR 324
SANTA ROSA; FROM 1ST EDITION OF OVIEDO HERRERA’S “VIDA DE STA
ROSA” 333
ANTONIO DE ULLOA 370
JORGE JUAN Y SANTACILLA 383
TITLE PAGE OF THE LATIN TRANSLATION OF SCHMIDEL’S “WARHAFFTIGE
HISTORIEN” 401
GASPAR DE VILLARROEL 416
TITLE PAGE OF SOLÓRZANO’S “DE INDIARUM JURE” 471
JUAN DE SOLÓRZANO PEREIRA 474
AMBROSIO O’HIGGINS, MARQUÉS DE OSORNO 497
JUAN IGNACIO MOLINA 512
FRANCISCO GIL DE TABOADA Y LEMUS 558
[Illustration: Map of South America, showing (shaded) the Spanish
Colonial Possessions]
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
[Sidenote: The Colonies and Spain]
The literary activity of the Spanish Colonies in South America extended
over a period of somewhat more than two hundred and fifty years, in which
Spain organized and carried on her great colonial enterprise. In this
undertaking the king, assisted by the Council of the Indies and the Casa
de Contratación, held the colonies as royal dependencies. He was the
common link between the ordinary government of Spain and the government
of the Spanish possessions in America. Emigration to the colonies was
controlled through the Casa de Contratación, while the Council of the
Indies stood as the supreme governmental ministry. The occupation of the
country was conducted largely as a material and spiritual conquest, in
which conspicuous parts were played by soldiers and priests, the soldiers
giving to the process of colonisation the appearance of a military
campaign, while the activity of the priests was supported by the idea
that the acceptance of the Christian doctrine transferred the Indians
from barbarism to the status of civilization.
[Sidenote: Spain’s agencies of control]
[Sidenote: The Inquisition]
The agencies of control in the colonial undertaking, whether military,
ecclesiastical or civil, were directed from Spain. These agencies, in
their final organization, were gathered into three important groups,
or viceroyalties: Peru, New Granada, and Río de la Plata. The viceroy
in each of these semi-independent states was assisted by a small body
called an audiencia, which performed the functions both of a ministry
and of a supreme court. In the several subdivisions of the territory
local officers, known as corregidores, carried on a practically arbitrary
administration, under which the Indians were oppressed and impoverished;
and in the larger town a cabildo, or municipal council, exercised a
certain degree of control, when not impeded by a superior authority.
Over the government and the inhabitants, in the course of time, the
Inquisition extended its paralysing force; and in the presence of spies
and malicious reporters men put off their intellectual independence,
and either remained silent or conformed their utterances to the
prescriptions of the Holy Office. This restraint naturally limited the
range of ideas that found expression either orally or in writing. Authors
had continually to face the possibility of seeing their manuscripts
refused the privilege of publication. The subjects not liable to this
embarrassment were the history of the colonies discreetly treated, the
geography and natural history of the Indies, and the doctrines and
history of the Church. Writings on these subjects, therefore, constitute
the bulk of the colonial literature of South America.
[Sidenote: Writings in verse]
Nature as displayed in the unspoiled wilderness of the New World
attracted more attention than it had received in Spain, and writers
of the history of the Indies gave much space to descriptions of
their unfamiliar environment. Great writers of Italy had made verse
a preferred form of literature in the sixteenth century, and there
is no doubt that, in addition to their example, the exaltation of
spirit maintained by the unaccustomed adventures of early colonial
life contributed powerfully to the extensive adoption of this form of
utterance. It was undoubtedly the new and inspiring scenes and events
attending the campaigns against the Araucanians that moved Ercilla to
give a poetic record of his experience, in _La Araucana_. When Barco
Centenera under similar influences undertook to write an account of the
Spanish occupation of the south eastern part of the continent, the result
was an “historical poem” called _La Argentina_; and Peralta Barnuevo’s
extended history of the early development of Spanish society in Peru
assumed the metrical form in _Lima fundada_. The form of Castellanos’
chronicle was practically determined by the success of Ercilla’s verses.
And after these came a troop of chroniclers, whose verses were the
product of imitation rather than the result of original inspiration.
[Sidenote: The question of printing]
[Sidenote: Ricardo printer in Peru]
Much that was written in the colonies has not been printed, sometimes
because the manuscript was not approved by the censor, sometimes because
the funds needed to cover the cost were not available, and sometimes
because the manuscript was lost. The liability to loss was especially
great during most of the colonial period, since manuscripts designed
for printing had to be sent to Europe, and were exposed to dangers from
shipwreck, the attacks of pirates, and the neglect of the persons to whom
they were entrusted. It was only late that presses were established in
the dependencies of South America; and even after they were provided,
the quality of the work done was poor and the expense high. Printing was
introduced into Mexico earlier than into South America, and it was from
Mexico that Peru received its first printer. This was Antonio Ricardo,
who had been a printer in Mexico for ten years. He decided to remove
to Peru in 1579, but encountered serious obstacles to his proposed
emigration, partly due to the fact that he was not a native of Spain.
He encountered other obstacles in seeking permission to undertake
the business of printing in Peru after his arrival in that country.
Finally, when the catechism prepared by the Jesuits at the request of
the ecclesiastical council was completed, the audiencia, on February the
thirteenth, 1584, decreed that Ricardo might be permitted to print it.
But the work was interrupted in order to print instructions concerning
corrections in the calendar, under the title _Pragmática sobre los diez
días del año_. The authorization of this publication was given by the
audiencia on the fourteenth of July, 1584, and this first product of the
South American press appeared a little later. The catechism became the
second publication.[1]
[Sidenote: Contreras Royal Printer]
After this beginning the business of printing grew rapidly, in spite
of the high cost of paper, receiving its principal impulse from a
strong demand for primary books for schools and little manuals of
devotion. News-sheets followed, issued at irregular intervals, and after
twenty-five years, it became customary to issue them on the arrival of
ships bringing news from Spain. As early as 1621 Jerónimo de Contreras,
who had been a printer in Seville, appeared as the publisher of these
news-sheets; and for the next hundred years he and members of his family
were the leading printers of Lima. His son, José de Contreras, succeeded
him in 1641, and continued his business until 1688. Two years before
this last date, in 1686, José de Contreras, a grandson of the founder of
the house, organized an independent printing establishment, which held a
practical monopoly of printing in Lima until 1712. The printing of books
for primary instruction in the local schools brought to the head of this
new establishment considerable profits, and by a decree of the crown José
de Contreras acquired the title of Royal Printer. The Inquisition, the
University of San Marcos, and various other institutions resorted to his
press for the printing required. After the death of the Royal Printer his
brother, Jerónimo de Contreras, carried on the business for a number of
years, and the establishment maintained itself without essential change
of character until 1779.
[Illustration: Page from the First Book to be printed in South America]
[Sidenote: Printing by Jesuits]
Early printing elsewhere in South America was almost exclusively the work
of the Jesuits. They had a press at the mission station of Juli near Lake
Titicaca, in the second decade of the seventeenth century, but it was
only after about a hundred years that a press was set up in any other
part of South America. In the missions of Paraguay the first book printed
by the Jesuits appeared in 1705. This was entitled _De la diferencia
entre lo temporal y eterno_, by Padre Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, translated
into Guaraní by Joseph Serrano.[2]
[Sidenote: Press of Córdoba]
The Jesuits established a printing press at Córdoba in connexion with the
college of Monserrat, but after the expulsion of the order from South
America the press was transferred to Buenos Aires in 1780. About eight
years later the authorities of the college felt the need of the press
that had been removed, and sent Manuel Antonio Talavera to Buenos Aires
to request that it might be replaced by another. The negotiations ended,
however, without any immediate result.
[Sidenote: Printing at Quito]
In 1741 Alejandro Coronado, a resident of Quito, petitioned the Council
of the Indies for permission to establish a printing press in that city,
where previously no facilities for printing had existed. This petition
was granted, and by a subsequent act of the Council this privilege was
extended to his heirs, in case of Coronado’s death before the projected
press had been set up. Coronado’s plan was not carried out, and nearly
twenty years later the Jesuits, who had a press in Ambato, removed it to
Quito at the beginning of 1760. The first printing in Quito was done on
that press in the early part of that year.[3]
The beginning of printing in Bogotá is assigned to various dates.
According to Vergara, the press was established there in 1740, but other
statements maintain that there was no printing in Bogotá until 1789.[4]
[Sidenote: The law and books]
The development of literature in the Spanish dependencies of South
America was hindered, not only by the very imperfect facilities
for printing, but also by the extremely rigid restrictions on the
publication and importation of books. These restrictions were, however,
an after-thought of Spanish legislation. A law of 1480, relating to the
introduction of books into Spain, provided that “no duties whatsoever
shall be paid for the importation of foreign books into these kingdoms;
considering how profitable and honourable it is that books from other
countries should be brought to these kingdoms, in order that by them men
may become learned”.[5]
[Illustration: Blanco Núñez de Vela, 1st Viceroy of Peru]
[Sidenote: The Censorship]
But this wise and liberal law remained valid for only a few years. It
was supplanted by legislation conceived in fear of foreign influences
that might threaten the traditions of the nation and the accepted
ecclesiastical doctrines. The new law, the law of July the eighth,
1502, was issued to prohibit the publication or sale of a book on any
subject whatsoever without royal authorization, or the importation of
any book except after submission to a rigorous censorship and on receipt
of permission. In September, 1543, Charles V ordered the viceroys,
the audiencias, and the governors to prevent the printing, selling,
holding, or the bringing into their districts, of books of fiction
treating of profane subjects, and to provide that neither Spaniards nor
Indians should read them. This legislation was designed to prevent the
publication, sale, and reading of the romances of chivalry, which were
held to have a demoralizing influence on the spirit of the Spaniards.
A law of 1556 provided that the judges and justices “shall not permit
any book to be printed or sold which treats of subjects relating to the
Indies, without having a special licence issued by the Council of the
Indies; and they shall cause to be collected and shall collect and send
to that body all the books which they shall find, and no printer may
print, hold, or sell them, under penalty of 200,000 maravedis and the
loss of his printing office.” Moreover, the sending of manuscripts to
Spain to be examined by the Council of the Indies was attended with very
great risks; and when an American author had secured the printing of his
book in Spain or in any other European country, great difficulties were
encountered in his attempts to have copies of it returned to America;
for it was provided by law that no printed book treating of American
subjects, whether issued in Spain or in a foreign country, could be taken
to the Indies until it had been examined and approved by the Council of
the Indies.[6]
[Sidenote: Sending manuscripts to Spain]
[Sidenote: Obstacles to printing]
The inconvenience of sending manuscripts to Spain to be examined and
approved or disapproved by the Council of the Indies is illustrated by
Bishop Villarroel’s experience. He sent the manuscript of _El gobierno
eclesiástico pacífico_ to Spain, but the vessel carrying it was wrecked,
and only by great good fortune was the manuscript saved. He sent another
work in four volumes to Madrid, and solicited permission to publish
it. The issuing of the licence was delayed three years, and in the
meantime the manuscript was lost. The legal obstacles and the practical
difficulties in the way of obtaining permission to print help to explain
why many manuscripts, written in America or about America, remained
unpublished until after the overthrow of Spanish rule in the Indies. Even
after the establishment of presses in America, the great cost of paper
furnished an obstacle to their extensive use, and except in Mexico and
Lima there were few printing presses until late in the colonial period.
While the Inquisition tended to destroy free intellectual activity in
the Spanish colonies, the Church in other ways contributed to a certain
cultivation along lines approved by itself. It helped to preserve
old-world traditions in some departments of life. By the study of
the Indian languages, which it encouraged, and the formation and the
publication of grammars, it made public and preserved a knowledge of
these languages. It, moreover, founded and supported schools, that
maintained the light of learning, though a feeble and fluctuating light,
within a narrow ecclesiastical horizon. But all efforts in favour of
liberal enlightenment were counteracted by governmental measures in
opposition to the importation of books, particularly secular books of all
kinds.
[Sidenote: The range of learning]
But the range of learning was limited. Until near the end of the colonial
period instruction in the colleges and universities retained its mediæval
character. The curriculum of studies embraced little, if anything,
besides Latin, philosophy, and theology. Having attained proficiency in
Latin the student was admitted to the courses on philosophy under the
faculty of arts. After three years with this faculty he passed to the
study of theology, which was continued for four, and later for five,
years. The first enlargement of this curriculum was effected by the
addition of jurisprudence, or Roman law. This change was not made until
near the end of the eighteenth century.[7]
[Sidenote: Teaching by Jesuits]
The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 was a very severe blow to scholarly
and literary activity in colonial society. The Jesuits had a school
or a college in every important town of the dependencies, and their
instruction was clearer and more effective than that of the other
schools, although one is sometimes disposed to regard their employment
of a rigid mould of predetermined form, in which to cast all minds, as
the greatest educational error of history. But under conditions where,
outside of the chief towns, the dominating influences made either for the
roughness of the camp or the brutishness of semi-barbarism, a system of
instruction that trained the mind to a definite standard was not without
its merits, although that standard was the inelastic standard of the
Jesuits.[8]
[Sidenote: The viceregal academy]
[Sidenote: _Triunfos de amor y poder_]
The universities presumed a more or less extensive group of cultivated
persons in the towns where they were established; and when these towns
were also the principal seats of government, as were Lima, Bogotá,
Santiago de Chile, and Caracas, the officials of the administration
formed another superior element in the population. Lima, as the viceroy’s
residence, was the social capital of the dependencies. The powers of
the viceroy were practically those of an autocratic ruler, during the
period of his incumbency, and there were brought to Lima from Spain many
of the forms and ceremonies of the Spanish court. The viceroy appeared
in public with much of the state affected by European monarchs of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Sometimes he used the influence
of his high position to encourage learning and literary activity.
The viceregal palace, in the reign of the viceroy Casteldosríus, was
the meeting-place of a society where authors assembled every Monday
to present their writings and discuss subjects of interest to men of
letters. Dr. Pedro Peralta Barnuevo, the author of _Lima fundada_, was
a member of this academy. But the “high society” of Lima had a lower
conception of literature and literary men than the learned viceroy, and
expressed regret that the ancient customs and dignity of the viceregal
office had been violated by the participation of the head of the state in
the proceedings of a literary society. The victory of the French under
Vendome over the Austrians under Starhemberg was celebrated at the palace
by the production of Barnuevo’s comedy called _Triunfos de amor y poder_;
and there were more regrets by the aristocracy that the palace of the
viceroy had been turned into a theatre.
[Illustration: El Marqués de Casteldosríus, 24th Viceroy of Peru
1707-1710]
[Sidenote: Lima and the other capitals]
Lima at this time, the beginning of the eighteenth century, had about
seventy thousand inhabitants, Europeans, mestizos, Indians, and negro
slaves. Gold and silver flowed into the city from the mines, and the
buildings that were constructed after the earthquake of 1687 were
superior to those which had been destroyed; they gave Lima an appearance
of prosperity; they suggested a degree of luxury that had not been
evident earlier. The creoles, always fond of display, sought to avoid
the simplicity and rudeness of the smaller towns. They made their wealth
conspicuous by their possession of paintings from Italy and Spain, by
their extravagant dress, and by their abundant ornaments of gold,
pearls, diamonds, and other precious stones; and it is said that the
nobles of Lima exceeded in luxury the aristocracy of Spain. The Peruvian
capital was enlivened not only by the presence of the fifteen hundred
students of the University of San Marcos, but also by a large number of
convents or monasteries, in which the conflicts attending the elections
of their officers often ran so high that large sections of the population
became involved, and the secular authorities were called upon forcefully
to interfere.
Bogotá, Caracas, Quito, Santiago, Asunción, and Buenos Aires were
capitals, like Lima, but on a smaller scale. Common fundamental
characteristics prevailed in all, except as these were modified by the
different material interests and opportunities of the several cities.
In the very small towns and in the country the Indians and the mestizos
predominated, suggesting barbarism rather than civilization.
[Sidenote: Colonial society]
The colonial society of Spanish South America had no notion of social or
political equality like that entertained by the British colonists in
North America, and consequently recognized marked class distinctions as a
phase of the normal social order. The authorities in Spain, charged with
the government of the colonies, maintained the traditional view of social
inequality, and encouraged its practical development by creating a titled
nobility and conferring upon encomenderos a status of superiority over
their dependents not greatly unlike the relation of superior and inferior
that prevailed during the period of European feudalism. Under this social
order the subdued Indians became an element, naturally a subordinate
element, in the composite society of the colonies, instead of drifting
into irreconcilable hostility to Europeans, as happened in British North
America.
[Sidenote: Groups and classes]
An analysis of Spanish colonial society in South America would reveal
a body of officials composed almost exclusively of men born in Spain,
and educated in accordance with the ideas and traditions of Spain’s
conservative administration. These were the viceroys, the judges of the
audiencias, the royal treasurers, and the corregidores, or governors of
small districts. Hardly less important than the civil officials were the
ecclesiastics, who were sent to the colonies by the authorities in Spain,
and paid out of the royal revenues of the colonies. These members of the
clergy became teachers, missionaries, and parish priests, many of whom
were friars belonging to the various religious orders. A third group was
composed of soldiers, who were sent from Spain for a period of four or
five years, and a more or less extensive body of militia. This military
force was employed in putting down insurrections, defending the frontiers
and extending the dominion of the Spaniards. And it was in this group
that a number of the most noteworthy writers of South America appeared.
Some of the officials, in the exercise of their practically irresponsible
authority, often made illegitimate appropriations from the public funds
that passed under their control; and the parish priests, in many cases,
and the petty governors almost universally, extorted whatever was to be
had from the Indians by a systematic process of merciless oppression.
[Sidenote: The Creoles]
[Sidenote: Social stagnation]
The dishonesty of officials, coupled with the fact that they were almost
exclusively Spaniards, sent from Spain to occupy their posts for a few
years, at length alienated the sympathies of the creoles and the mestizos
from the Spanish administration. The creoles, persons of pure Spanish
blood born in America, in many cases took advantage of the instruction
offered in the colonial universities, and in some instances continued
their studies in Spain. They became men of cultivation and sober
judgment; they knew the circumstances and needs of the society of which
they were members; they had a patriotic interest and an instinctive pride
in their communities or commonwealths; yet they were practically barred
from office, and their advice was seldom, or never, solicited. By this
egoistical and stupid conduct of the government in Spain the creoles and
the mestizos were thrown into an attitude of opposition; a rigid line was
drawn between them and the Spaniards; and on the American side of this
line the creoles and mestizos formed a new society which increased in
numbers and self-confidence with the passing decades. Finally, these two
classes, merged into one and supported by the civilized Indians, asserted
their determination to abolish Spanish domination and be independent.
But throughout the two centuries and a half of colonial existence, under
the influence of Spanish conservatism, the colonies remained, to a very
great extent, in a state of social stagnation until near the end of the
eighteenth century.
[Sidenote: Restrictions on commerce]
The industrial and commercial life of the colonies suffered under
restrictions quite as effective as those that burdened the cause of
letters. Importation to the dependencies of South America was limited
by positive laws, and the exportation of certain products was made
practically impossible, because they could not successfully compete with
similar commodities produced elsewhere, on account of the greater cost of
transportation from the western ports of South America. Agriculture was
limited by the prohibitory cost of transporting its products, and by the
fact that the small population offered only a restricted demand for them,
a demand that was insufficient to bring into cultivation the available
fertile land or to employ the available labourers. This limited domestic
demand and the impossibility of exporting the products constituted an
effective restriction on agricultural progress; and this restriction
was intensified by arbitrary governmental prohibition affecting certain
branches of cultivation, notably wine and sugar. But mining for gold
and silver was free from all restrictions, and the fact that the crown
received one-fifth of the products was a reason for governmental
encouragement of the industry. This freedom in the development of mining
and the hindrances encountered by other forms of industry caused the
population and the appliances of civilization to increase more rapidly in
the mining regions, in the inhospitable high lands of Upper Peru, than
in the fertile valleys of Chile or on the rich Argentine plains. Potosí,
for instance, became a bustling city of 150,000 inhabitants before Buenos
Aires and the towns of Chile had emerged from the condition of dirty
frontier villages.[9]
[Sidenote: The spiritual inheritance]
[Sidenote: Mediævalism in the colonies]
But the most effective factor in determining the character of colonial
society was the spiritual inheritance from Spain. In government it was
the spirit of autocracy, producing a political administration in no
respect controlled by the popular will, an administration imposed by the
king advised by the Council of the Indies. In matters of religion the
spirit of the Spanish church passed to the colonies, and carried over to
them the ecclesiastical traditions of the mother country, with no break,
like that which appeared between the Puritans and the dominant Church
of England. This was important for the aesthetic life of the colonies,
for the artistic notions and sentiments entertained by the Church as a
social body were transferred to Spanish America, and manifested their
creative force in developing a somewhat original church architecture,
and in elaborating the courts and interiors of secular buildings. The
aesthetic sense displayed in the Spanish colonies stands in interesting
contrast with the Puritanic barrenness of the British colonies in
artistic matters. The Spanish colonies, moreover, contained more abundant
survivals of mediæval ideas and traditions, and the lines of connexion
with the European past tended to maintain the colonies for many decades
in a state of social stagnation. This inheritance of conservatism helped
to keep alive, in at least some part of the population, the sentiment of
human dignity as a force counteracting the vulgarizing and brutalizing
influences that attended life on the frontier of civilization. In this
attitude the persons asserting their superiority were convinced of
the value of their ideas and experience, and were moved to convey to
posterity their opinions and a knowledge of the organization and growth
of the colonial communities in which their lives were passed.
[Sidenote: Circumstances favouring literary production]
In considering the volume of literary production in the Spanish
dependencies in comparison with the inferior amount produced in the
British colonies, one must take account of two important facts bearing
on this subject. In the first place, there was in the Spanish colonies
a very large number of men, soldiers and priests, who derived their
support from the state, and were thus relieved from the necessity of
acquiring a livelihood by their personal efforts or by expending mental
energy in forming plans, and in executing them by the employment of their
time and force. In the second place, a relatively large number of men
in the Spanish colonies were celibates, and consequently their time,
their thoughts, and their energies were not absorbed in providing for
the current wants of families, or in accumulating property to be passed
as an inheritance to a succeeding generation. In the British colonies
there was practically no subsidized class; and every man was interested
in providing for a family and in accumulating property for the benefit
of his heirs. This was the absorbing thought of the British colonists as
they pressed back the aborigines and advanced upon the wilderness. They,
moreover, conceived the affairs of the colonies as their own affairs and
felt no need of sending elaborate reports to the king, or of writing
geographical descriptions and historical narratives for the enlightenment
of the nation they had abandoned. They were content with a minimum of
communication with the mother country. The Spanish colonies, on the other
hand, lived by their connexion with Spain and by action of the Spanish
government.
[Sidenote: Spanish interest in America]
The intellectual class of Spain had more interest in the American
possessions than was manifested by any class in Great Britain with
respect to the British colonies; and this superior interest of Spaniards
constituted a demand for information concerning the New World, which
encouraged persons in Spanish America by their writings to meet this
demand.
These introductory suggestions help to explain the remarkable literary
activity in the colonies during the period under consideration.
CHAPTER II
EARLY WRITERS OF TIERRA FIRME
I. _Bartolomé de las Casas._ II. _Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y
Valdés._ III. _Pascual de Andagoya._
I
[Sidenote: Letters and reports from America]
The letters and reports of the adventurers, the discoverers, and the
early settlers, during the period of exploration and conquest, constitute
a noteworthy introduction to the literary history of the Spanish colonies
in America; and the intellectual vigour of some of these writers was
quite in keeping with the practical energy and daring displayed by their
Spanish contemporaries in exploring and subduing the wilderness.
The extension of the Spanish occupation from Santo Domingo, as an early
seat of the administration, to the South American mainland, belongs
to the first decades of the sixteenth century. During this period the
Spaniards founded Santa Marta and Cartagena; explored and occupied the
Isthmus; and Andagoya established his brief authority on the Pacific
coast south of Panama.
[Sidenote: Occupation of Tierra Firme]
[Sidenote: Indians under the British and the Spanish]
It was in this period, moreover, that the Spanish government granted to
the German company of the Welsers a charter to an extensive region of
Tierra Firme, where the agents of this company devoted their activity,
almost exclusively to hunting Indians for the slave-market. On a part
of the northern coast of South America Bartolomé de las Casas proposed
to plant a proletariat colonial administration as the beginning of a
practical reform of Spain’s colonial policy. When this enterprise was
wrecked by its internal weakness, Las Casas turned to the business of
the Church and to unsparing criticism of the Spanish government. On
its practical side the conduct of the government doubtless required
modification, but the plan to introduce Spanish labourers and negroes
to perform all the work of the colony, if it had been thoroughly and
successfully carried out, would indeed have lifted the burden of labour
from the Indians, but it would also have made it impossible for the
Indians to have a place in the new society. The performance of a certain
amount of work was an essential condition of the Indian’s existence in
regions occupied by the Spaniards. He had to work or disappear, as he
disappeared before the British settlers in North America, who made no
provision for incorporating him in the communities which they organized.
The Spaniards had a very different plan for the social development
of their American colonies. They proposed to form communities with
important mediæval features; they recognized distinct classes and feudal
superiority and dependence. This method of social organization provided
a place for the Indians, although a subordinate place, nevertheless a
place where their continued existence would be assured on condition of
performing a certain amount of labour. But when Las Casas faced the
question of reforming the Spanish policy, he appears to have advocated,
if not the worst possible solution, at least a project that could have
had no happy outcome for the Indians.
[Sidenote: Las Casas]
The facts of Las Casas’ life hardly need to be recited here. His
prodigious defence of the Indian’s right to liberty has made him widely
known and given him an exalted position in the estimation of those in
sympathy with his purposes. He was born in Seville about eighteen years
before the discovery of America: the date of his birth is usually set
down as 1474. His studies, begun in his native city, were continued at
Salamanca, where he was graduated as “Licenciado”. His first knowledge
of the Indians appears to have been obtained through one who had been
brought from America to Spain by his father, and was attached to
Bartolomé at the University in the capacity of a servant. Las Casas went
to the West Indies with Nicolás de Obando, governor of Santo Domingo.
This was in 1502. In 1510 he became a priest, and a year later he
accompanied Governor Velásquez to Cuba. In these nine years he witnessed
certain acts of barbarity by the Spaniards, which seemed to presage the
diminution of the native population, and intensified his sympathy for
the oppressed race.
[Sidenote: _Brevísima relación_]
In the islands, on the mainland, or as Bishop of Chiapas, one dominating
purpose controlled his actions, it was to ameliorate the condition of the
Indians, and, in planning for their welfare, the welfare of no other race
mattered. Las Casas’ ideal of the Indians, which helped to inspire his
zeal for their liberty is set forth in this passage from the _Brevísima
relación_:
“All the territory that has been discovered down to the year forty-one
is full of people, like a hive of bees, so that it seems as though
God had placed all, or the greater part, of the entire human race, in
these countries. God has created all these numberless peoples to be
the simplest, without malice or duplicity, the most obedient, the most
faithful to their natural Lords, and to the Christians, whom they serve,
the most humble and patient, the most peaceful and calm, without strife
or tumults, nor wrangling or querulous, as free from rancour, hate, and
desire for revenge as any in the world. They are likewise the most
delicate people, weak and of feeble constitution, and they are less able
than any other to bear fatigue, and they succumb readily to whatever
disease attacks them, so that not even the sons of our princes or nobles,
brought up in luxury and effeminate ways, are weaker than they; although
there are among them some who belong to the class of labourers. They are
also very poor people, who have few worldly goods, nor wish to possess
them.”
[Illustration: Bartolomé de Las Casas]
[Sidenote: Las Casas and Liberty]
It was beings answering to this ideal that fascinated Las Casas, and a
large part of the civilized world has been disposed to honour him for his
marvellous service in the interest of an oppressed and outraged people;
but when his eulogists announce him as the champion of universal human
liberty, they make too large a claim. A champion of the liberty of the
Indians he surely was, a champion of rare devotion and unflagging zeal,
but with little concern as to the social cost of securing that liberty by
his method. He was, moreover, so thoroughly absorbed in his own ideas and
plans that he had no mind to consider the ideas and plans of others, or
to deliberate with other persons in an attitude of possible compromise.
He did not hesitate to seek with unslacking energy the execution of his
plan, even when he was aware that it involved extending negro slavery,
with all the horrors of the transoceanic shipment of slaves.
[Sidenote: Encomenderos and liberty]
Las Casas’ project to introduce Spaniards into America to undertake the
common work which the Indians were required to perform, or to throw
the burden upon negroes, necessarily ran counter to the views of those
Spaniards to whom Indians had been assigned by the government in Spain,
and who depended upon the labour of the Indians to cultivate the lands
that had been granted to them, to work their mines, and to carry on
their manufacturing enterprises. The encomenderos had come to regard
themselves as the foundation of the economic system of the colonies,
and they naturally considered the government under obligation to defend
them against attacks designed to destroy that system. But Las Casas
had enthusiastic partisans, who praised extravagantly his devotion to
the Indian and were apparently blind to the consequences of extending
negro slavery with respect to the development of society in America.
The intense hostility displayed towards Las Casas in the colonies did
not proceed solely from his proposed interference with the interests of
the encomenderos, but was in a large measure provoked by his reckless
denunciation of opponents.
[Sidenote: Reception of Las Casas’ views]
The views set forth in _Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las
Indias_ found an enthusiastic reception, particularly in England,
promoted by the political friction existing between that country and
Spain, and by the rage of militant Protestantism, which found in Las
Casas’ denunciation at least a partial expression of its own detestation
of Catholicism and of all measures favoured by the Pope. The titles given
to translations of the _Brevísima relación_ are evidence of the force of
that sentiment.[10]
[Sidenote: Vargas Machuca]
[Sidenote: Opponents of Las Casas]
This pamphlet was published in 1552, and aroused in the minds of some of
the Spaniards an opposition only a little less marked than the favour
with which it was received by the English. Bernardo de Vargas Machuca
was one of those who rose to combat the views presented by Las Casas.
His refutation appeared in _Apologías y discursos de las conquistas
occidentales_. On the title-page of this pamphlet the author announces
that it is written “in opposition to the treatise on the ruin of the
Indies.”[11] The question concerning the servitude or the freedom of
the Indians raised by Las Casas was discussed by a professor in the
University of Córdoba, who wrote _Fasti novi orbis_ under the name of
Cyriacus Morelli. His book was published in Venice in 1776. Dr. Juan
Ginés de Sepúlveda, a distinguished Spanish theologian and jurist,
opposed vigorously the ideas presented by Las Casas, and argued in
support of the Spanish policy regarding the Indians. A similar attitude
was assumed by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, whose education at the
Spanish court, and whose later service under appointment by the king
naturally disposed him to justify the conduct of the government. This
subject continued to engage the attention of writers as long as the
Spanish régime lasted. A work by Giovanni Nuix translated from the
Italian by Pedro Varela y Ulloa, entitled in Spanish _Reflexiones
imparciales sobre la humanidad de los españoles en las Indias, contra
los pretendidos filósofos y políticos_, was published in Madrid in 1782.
The writer characterized the views of Las Casas as false or exaggerated,
and defended the thesis that the conquests made by the Spaniards in
America were just, or at least as just as those made by other nations;
and he attributed whatever covetousness or cruelty was displayed by
the Spaniards to the great distance of the colonies from the supreme
authority, under which local officers served in the colonies without
adequate supervision. He distinguished clearly, moreover, between
the benevolent designs of the crown and the unjust and cruel acts of
governmental subordinates and irresponsible private persons.
[Sidenote: Las Casas’ _Historia general_]
[Sidenote: _Historia apologética_]
[Sidenote: Conversion of Indians]
Besides the _Brevísima relación_ a number of other pamphlets were
printed in 1552 and 1553, but the more important of Las Casas’ writings
remained in manuscript until long after the author’s death. These are
the _Historia general de las Indias_ and _Historia apologética de las
Indias_, apparently designed in the beginning to constitute a single
work; but in the process of their composition, the character of each
became more and more distinct, and they finally appeared in print as
separate productions. The former is an account of the occupation of
the West Indies and the mainland during the early years of Spanish
rule, describing the condition of the native inhabitants, their mental
state and their customs, with special emphasis on the treatment they
received under the Spanish administration; the latter, the _Historia
apologética de las Indias_, treats of the character of soil and climate
of the occupied lands, of the natural and social position of the
inhabitants, but does not contain a narrative of the events incident to
the establishment and progress of Spanish settlements. Like other writers
of his time, and even of later times, Las Casas faced the problem of
the relation of the different races to one another, and of the capacity
of the less developed race to rise to the highest form of civilization,
and, like most of his countrymen, he regarded the fundamental difference
between the races as consisting in the fact that the Spaniards were
Christians, while the Indians were pagans, and that the conversion
and baptism of the Indians necessarily removed the main feature of
difference, and transferred the Indian from the status of barbarism to
civilization. But one-remedy reformers have not been found merely among
Spanish missionaries. When the government of the United States conferred
the right of suffrage upon the emancipated negro slaves, this action was
supported by the extravagant expectation that the possession of this
right would exercise a transforming influence on the quality of the
subject. This hopeful view of the missionary’s work was doubtless the
principal source of Las Casas’ inspiration; it was also the source of his
intolerance.
[Sidenote: Encomenderos]
The King and the Council of the Indies, in granting lands to Spaniards
establishing themselves in America, and distributing Indians among them
to become labourers on these lands, had as one of their purposes an end
not greatly different from the object of the missionary’s striving.
They hoped that by gathering the Indians on these estates to make them
immediately subject to Christians who would be required to provide
opportunities and facilities for the Indians to acquire a knowledge of
Christian doctrine. Thus one of the features of the colonial organization
against which Las Casas directed his vehement eloquence was in some part
the product of a design formed to further the conversion of the Indians.
If it did not attain its high aim or respond to the exalted purpose
of Las Casas, it failed for the same reason that some of Las Casas’
plans had failed: it was conceived in imperfect knowledge of American
conditions, and was entrusted for execution to selfish, in other words,
human agents.
II
[Sidenote: Oviedo’s early life]
An attempt less radical than that of Las Casas to improve Spain’s
colonial administration was made by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés,
author of the _Historia general y natural de las Indias_. Although
Oviedo’s posthumous fame rests almost exclusively on his writings, his
reputation during his lifetime was based chiefly on his practical
activity. A contemporary of Las Casas, he was born in Madrid in 1478, and
very early entered the service of Don Alfonso de Aragón, the second duke
of Villahermosa, a nephew of King Ferdinand. Here his early years were
spent under the influence of persons interested in literary cultivation,
and where the circumstances tended to stimulate his natural intelligence.
At the age of thirteen he became attached to the court of the Catholic
Kings as a page. Two years later the sovereigns entered upon the campaign
against Granada, and Gonzalo followed the Court to Santa Fe. There as a
youth he saw some of Spain’s most distinguished men of the time. He saw
Columbus, whose distinction was yet to be won, and who appeared asking
assistance to enable him to find a new world.
[Sidenote: Oviedo in Italy]
[Sidenote: Joins Pedrarias’ expedition]
After the death of Prince Juan, on October the fourth, 1497, Oviedo
visited Italy, where the art and literature of that country exerted
a powerful influence on his intellectual development. In 1500, after
three years of varied service, he appeared at Rome, claiming the jubilee
indulgence granted to the faithful by the Pope. Subsequently he entered
the service of the King of Naples, but in 1501 he left Naples in the
train of Queen Juana for Palermo, and in May, 1502, he left Palermo
for Valencia, where he took leave of the Queen’s service and went to
Madrid. In Madrid he married Margarita de Vergara, who died ten months
later. Under the impression of this loss, he turned to service in the
army, but he soon abandoned his plans for a military career, and became
again attached to the court. Shortly after Oviedo’s return to the court,
preparations were made for the expedition of Pedrarias Dávila to Castilla
de Oro, and he was appointed to inspect the production of gold in Tierra
Firme.
[Sidenote: Las Casas and Oviedo as reformers]
The fleet sailed from San Lucar on April 11, 1514, and arrived at Santa
Marta on the following 12th of June. At the end of June the company
reached the gulf of Urabá, and proceeded to Santa María del Antigua,
where they found the colony overwhelmed in misfortune, now rendered
more distressing by the tyranny and cruelty of Pedrarias. Oviedo, out
of favour with the authorities, returned to Spain to seek a remedy
for the state of things he had observed. After years of waiting to
have his memorial considered by the court, he encountered at Barcelona
Bartolomé de las Casas, who was present on a somewhat similar mission.
They both sought reform in the Indies, but with divergent views. Oviedo
contemplated a reform in Darien through the efforts of a wise and just
governor and a bishop devoid of covetousness, who would aim effectively
at holding the clergy under proper regulations. Las Casas, on the
other hand, a religious anarchist, advocated removing the governors,
the captains, and the soldiers from the Indies, agreeing to maintain
the territory of Cumaná in the power of the crown without other
instrumentalities than a few hundred simple labourers and fifty knights
of the cross.
In April, 1520, Oviedo embarked at Seville on his second voyage to
America. Learning at Santo Domingo that Lope de Sosa, who had been
appointed through his influence to supersede Pedrarias, had died on
the outward voyage, Oviedo had little reason to expect that friendly
relations would be established between himself and Pedrarias, and, in
spite of the courteous reception extended to him, he discovered very
early that his anticipations were realized. In fact, the governor’s
hostility appears to have been one of the influences that led Oviedo to
abandon Antigua for Panama and to induce the colonists to remove to the
new capital. Pedrarias’ hostility and his desire to compromise and ruin
the prestige of Oviedo, moreover, led the governor to appoint him to be
his lieutenant or deputy.
[Sidenote: Oviedo’s return to Spain]
[Sidenote: _Sumario de la historia natural_]
The efforts of Oviedo to abate the evils of the colony only intensified
the hostility of the governor and his supporters and led him to withdraw
the deputy’s appointment. Oviedo then, in 1523, returned to Spain to call
the king’s attention to the scandalous conduct of Pedrarias. The part of
his voyage between Santo Domingo and the Peninsula was made in company
with Diego Columbus. The charges presented specified with much detail the
abuses and crimes of the governor; they were made not for the redress of
personal wrongs Oviedo had suffered, but to preserve the colony from
utter corruption and destruction; and, in spite of the vigorous attempt
made to reply to them, Pedrarias was superseded by Pedro de los Ríos as
governor of Castilla de Oro. Oviedo, not content to leave his proposed
reform half accomplished, offered his services to the new governor, and
embarked with him for America on the 30th of April, 1526. It was in this
year, 1526, that he published by order of the emperor at Toledo his
_Sumario de la natural historia de las Indias_, a work quite distinct
from the larger work issued later under a similar title. Oviedo arrived
at Nombre de Dios on the 20th of July. After four years of varying
fortune in Castilla de Oro, Nicaragua, and Santo Domingo he returned
again to Spain in 1530. Wishing to be relieved of the duties of his
office as inspector of gold-smelting, he presented his resignation, and
petitioned that his son might be appointed to succeed him. Not only was
the petition granted, but the emperor appointed him General Chronicler of
the Indies.
[Sidenote: Oviedo made alcaide]
After his experience in the warmer regions of America, he no longer
found the climate of Spain agreeable, and in the autumn of 1532 he
returned to the New World, establishing himself in the city of Santo
Domingo. Here the citizens showed their appreciation of his decision,
and on the death of Francisco de Tapia, the alcaide, or governor of the
fortress of the city, petitioned for the appointment of Oviedo to the
vacant post. This petition was granted, and the appointment was confirmed
by a decree dated October 25, 1533.
[Sidenote: _Historia general y natural_]
In 1534 Oviedo went to Spain, published the first part of his _Historia
general y natural de las Indias_, the printing of which was completed on
September 30, 1535. In the following January he was once more in Santo
Domingo. From this time forward the practical affairs of his office as
alcaide engaged much of his attention. The fort had fallen into decay
through neglect, and the increasing danger of pirates and the new wars
into which Spain was plunged induced Oviedo to solicit from the King and
the Council of the Indies more effective artillery and other means for
making the defence more complete. At the same time stories of Pizarro’s
exploits began to arrive from Peru, and the affairs of the island were
thrown into confusion by emigration to that country. The tales of great
wealth acquired by the invaders had the effect of news from newly
discovered gold mines.
[Sidenote: Final return to Spain]
As Oviedo approached the end of life, he turned to Spain as his final
residence, in spite of his lively interest in the New World. He therefore
resigned his office of alcaide, retaining the post of honorary regidor
of Santo Domingo. In June, 1556, he took final leave of America, where
he had resided thirty-four years, and during this period had crossed the
Atlantic at least twelve times.
[Sidenote: Oviedo’s letters]
During these last years his efforts were directed chiefly to giving
to the world a complete and corrected edition of his _Historia
general y natural de las Indias_. The printing was begun, but before
it was finished the author succumbed to an acute fever at the age of
seventy-nine. The undertaking was interrupted, and it was only after
nearly three hundred years that the complete work appeared in print.
The whole work was originally divided into three parts comprising fifty
books. The first part published during his lifetime consisted of nineteen
or nineteen and a half books. In 1557 the twentieth book was printed
separately in Valladolid, but the rest of it remained in manuscript until
the publication of the complete edition issued by the Academy of History
in the middle of the nineteenth century. Oviedo wrote as the authorized
chronicler of the Indies, and in this capacity he had access to official
documents. His other works deal chiefly with the affairs of the
Peninsula. Harrisse reports the existence of two collections of Oviedo’s
letters and diaries, and suggests the desirability of their publication.
In referring to this principal work of Oviedo Las Casas manifests his
ruling passion in affirming that Oviedo should have written at the top of
his history: “This book was written by a conqueror, robber, and murderer
of the Indians, whole populations of whom he consigned to the mines,
where they perished.”[12]
[Sidenote: Topics of the _Sumario_]
The first chapter of the _Sumario_ presents a description of the
navigation between Seville and America. A number of the following
chapters are devoted to the Indians of the islands and Tierra Firme, and
these are followed by a series of chapters enumerating and describing the
animals, birds, reptiles, trees, and other living things, succeeded by an
account of mines and pearl-fishing. Of this latter business Oviedo gives
a brief account:
[Sidenote: Oviedo on pearl fishing]
“It is off Cubagua and Cumaná that pearl fishing is chiefly carried on,
as I have been fully informed by Indians and Christians, who say that
many Indians go from the island of Cubagua. These belong to crews in the
service of private persons, residents of Santo Domingo and San Juan. They
go out in a boat or barge in the morning, in companies of four, five, six
or more, and when it seems to them, or they know already, that there are
pearls at the point they have reached, they stop there, and the Indians
dive into the water and swim until they reach the bottom; one remains in
the boat, which he holds in place as well as he can, waiting for those in
the water to appear, and after the Indian has been down a long time, he
comes to the surface and is taken into the boat, presenting and putting
into it the oysters which he has brought up, for in the oysters are found
the valuable pearls. He rests a little, eats a mouthful, and then enters
the water again, and stays as long as he is able, and again comes up
with the oysters which he has found this time and does as before, and in
this manner all the rest proceed who are divers in this operation. And
when night comes, and it appears to be time to rest, they go home to the
island, and turn over the oysters to the major domo of the proprietor,
who has charge of the Indians, and who gives them their supper, and
places the oysters in a receptacle, and when he has a large number of
them, he causes them to be opened, and in them are found pearls of two,
three, four, five, six or more grains, as nature has placed them there.”
[Sidenote: Fate of fishers]
This quotation from Oviedo’s _Sumario_ offers a glimpse of an occupation,
which sooner or later proved fatal to immense numbers of the Indians
forced into it. Many of those engaged in pearl-fishing were compelled to
re-enter the water before they had recovered their normal condition after
a previous descent, and either never returned to the surface alive, or
returned hopelessly exhausted. But in connexion with this account our
author makes no mention of the perilous and destructive character of the
work, through which the population of the islands and the neighbouring
coast was greatly depleted. Doubtless Oviedo wished to reform abuses in
the colonies, but his relation to the court and his part in the public
administration naturally rendered him reluctant to make conspicuous in
his writings the abuses that were brought to his attention. The presence
of these abuses produced in his mind a very different reaction from that
observed in the fiery spirit of Las Casas.
The reference, in the _Brevísima relación_, to the pearl fishing
described by Oviedo reveals the contrast between Las Casas’ lively
sympathy with the Indians and Oviedo’s unconcern and official
indifference:
[Sidenote: Las Casas on pearl fishing]
“The tyranny exercised by the Spaniard upon the Indians in fishing pearls
is as cruel and damnable a thing as can be found in the world. On land
there is no life so desperate and infernal in this century that may be
compared with it, although that of digging gold in the mines is in its
kind exceedingly severe and difficult. They let the Indians down into
the sea, three and four and five fathoms deep, from the morning till
sunset, where they are swimming under water without respite, gathering
the oysters in which the pearls grow; they come up to breathe, bringing
up little nets full of oysters. There is a very cruel Spaniard in a boat,
and if they linger resting, he beats them with his fists, and, taking
them by the hair, throws them into the water to go on fishing.... Their
food is fish, and the fish that contain the pearls, and a little cazabi,
or maize bread, which are kinds of native bread; the one gives very
little sustenance, and the other is very difficult to make, so with such
food they are never sufficiently nourished. Instead of giving them beds
at night, they put them in stocks on the ground to prevent them from
running away.
[Sidenote: Dangers of the deep]
“Many of the Indians throw themselves into the sea while fishing or
hunting for pearls, and never come up again, because dolphins or sharks,
which are two kinds of very cruel sea animals that swallow a man whole,
kill and eat them.... With this insupportable toil, or rather infernal
trade, the Spaniards completed the destruction of all the Indians of the
Lucayan Islands, who were in the islands when they set themselves to
making these gains.”
III
[Sidenote: Companions of Pedrarias]
A number of persons who became especially conspicuous in colonial
affairs, besides Oviedo, accompanied Pedrarias on his expedition to the
Isthmus. Among these were Bishop Quevedo; Enciso, some time governor
of Darien and author of _Suma de geografía_; Benalcázar, who became
governor of Popayán; Hernando de Soto; and Pascual de Andagoya, whose
varied experience and the events associated with Pedrarias form the
matter of a document which has been translated into English by Sir
Clements R. Markham. The title of Markham’s translation is _Narrative of
the proceedings of Pedrarias Dávila in the provinces of Tierra Firme, or
Castilla del Oro, and of what happened in the discovery of the South Sea,
and the coasts of Peru and Nicaragua_.[13]
[Illustration: Title page of Fernández de Enciso’s “Suma”]
[Sidenote: Andagoya]
Andagoya, the author of this narrative, was born in the valley of
Cuartango in the province of Alava. The account of his life as narrated
by himself begins with his departure from Spain. On the Isthmus and
in regions lying north and south of Panama, he was engaged in various
exploring expeditions, during which by observation he appears to have
acquired much knowledge of the manners and customs of the Indians. A
weaker and less positive character than Oviedo, he was consequently less
disposed than Oviedo to revolt against the régime of Pedrarias; in
fact, he went with him to Panama, and received from him an encomienda,
and became one of the first regidores of Panama, after that settlement
had been declared a city. In 1521 and 1522 he was inspector-general of
the Indians on the Isthmus. He was the first to receive information
concerning the Inca Kingdom of Peru, but, lacking the health, perhaps
also the initiative, to become the leader of an expedition against it, he
communicated his knowledge to Pizarro and his partners.
[Sidenote: Failure of Andagoya’s expedition]
[Sidenote: News of Peru given to Pizarro]
“In this province (Birú) I received accounts both from chiefs and from
merchants and interpreters, concerning all the coast, and everything
that has since been discovered, as far as Cuzco, especially with regard
to the inhabitants of each province, for in their trading these people
extend their wanderings over many lands. Taking new interpreters, and the
principal chief of that land, who wished of his own accord to go with me,
and show me other provinces of the coast that obeyed him, I descended to
the sea. The ships followed the coast at some little distance from the
land, while I went close in, in a canoe, discovering the ports. While
thus employed, I fell into the water, and if it had not been for the
chief, who took me in his arms and pulled me on to the canoe, I should
have been drowned. I remained in this position until a ship came to
succour me, and while they were helping the others, I remained for more
than two hours wet through. What with the cold air and the quantity of
water I had drunk, I was laid up next day, unable to turn. Seeing that
I could not now conduct this discovery along the coast in person, and
that the expedition would thus come to an end, I resolved to return to
Panama with the chief and interpreters who accompanied me, and report the
knowledge I had acquired of all that land.
“The land had never been discovered either by Castilla de Oro, or by way
of the gulf of San Miguel, and the province was called Pirú, because one
of the letters of Birú has been corrupted, and so we call it Pirú, but in
reality there is no country of that name.
“As soon as Pedrarias heard the great news which I had brought he was
also told by the doctors that time alone could cure me, and in truth
it was fully three years before I was able to ride on horseback. He
therefore, asked me to hand over the undertaking to Pizarro, Almagro,
and Father Luque, who were partners, in order that so great a discovery
might be followed up, and he added that they would repay me what I had
expended. I replied that, so far as the expedition was concerned, I must
give it up, and that I did not wish to be paid, because if they paid me
my expenses, they would not have sufficient to commence the business, for
at that time they had not more than sixty dollars. Accordingly, these
three, and Pedrarias, which made four, formed a company, each partner
taking a fourth share.”[14]
[Illustration: FRANCISCO PISARRO]
CHAPTER III
CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS OF THE CONQUEST OF PERU
I. _Francisco de Xerés._ II. _Pedro Sancho._ III. _Tomás de
San Martín_; _Benito Peñalosa Mondragón_. IV. _Pedro Pizarro_;
_Cristóbal de Molina_. V. _Alonso Enríquez de Guzmán_; _Diego
Fernández_. VI. _Agustín de Zárate._ VII. _Pedro Cieza de
León._ VIII. _Girolamo Benzoni_; _Juan Fernández_.
I
[Sidenote: The story of Peru]
The especially important event in South America in the first half of the
sixteenth century was the conquest of Peru. If the story as it has been
frequently told has exaggerated somewhat the magnificence of the kingdom
destroyed, this presentation has only perpetuated the impression made
on the Spanish mind by contemporary rumours and reports. These reports
and rumours inspired and kept alive for many decades the hope of finding
other kingdoms equally wealthy, by the spoils of which the conquerors
might be enriched.
[Sidenote: Effect of discovery]
[Sidenote: Francisco de Xerés]
Until the discovery of the Pacific and the voyage along the western
coast, knowledge of America had been only very slowly increased, and in
this process no especially startling statements had been received in
Europe. But reports that an empire had been discovered, that the emperor
had been captured, and that his subjects had offered untold amounts of
gold and silver as his ransom, fired the imagination of the Spaniards
and appealed to their cupidity. After this the business of exploration
and conquest moved with greater rapidity. The number of persons in Spain
wishing to emigrate or to join expeditions bound for the New World
increased, and the settlements already established in the islands lost
a large part of their inhabitants, carried away to Peru by the desire
for adventure and the wealth to be obtained; and the eagerness to get
information from America was greatly intensified. Reports and letters
sent from Peru to satisfy this demand tended to augment the popular
excitement, and in so far as they have been preserved they constitute
an important part of the historical record of Pizarro’s enterprise in
Peru. Those that were directed to the King or the Council of the Indies
concerning the events of the conquest were usually deposited in the
archives, and only a part of them have come to light. Among documents of
this class belong some of the contemporary accounts of the conquest of
Peru. Francisco de Xerés, the writer of such a document, was Pizarro’s
secretary, who left Spain in January, 1530. His account was written in
Peru at the request or by the order of Pizarro. He returned to Spain in
July, 1534, and his report was printed in Seville in that year. Three
years later a second edition was printed in Salamanca. The edition most
frequently referred to is that of 1749. Xerés was an actor in, or a
witness of, the remarkable events which he describes, and his narrative
has the freshness and vividness of a story by one writing of what he
saw. The Hakluyt Society included a translation of it into English in a
volume entitled _Reports on the Discovery of Peru_. This volume contains
also a translation of Hernando Pizarro’s letter to the audiencia of Santo
Domingo. This letter gives a summary of the events of the conquest prior
to November, 1533. There is given here, moreover, a translation of Miguel
de Astete’s report on Hernando Pizarro’s expedition to Pachacamac.[15]
The paragraph describing the capture of Atahualpa may serve as an
illustration of Xerés’ style of narration:
[Sidenote: Capture of Atahualpa]
[Sidenote: Xerés’ story]
“Then the Governor put on a jacket of cotton, took his sword and dagger,
and, with the Spaniards who were with him, entered amongst the Indians
most valliantly, and, with only four men who were able to follow him, he
came to the litter where Atahualpa was, and fearlessly seized him by the
arm, crying out ‘Santiago.’ Then the guns were fired off, the trumpets
were sounded, and the troops, both horse and foot, sallied forth. On
seeing the horses charge many of the Indians who were in the open space
fled, and such was the force with which they ran that they broke down
part of the wall surrounding it and many fell over one another. The
horsemen rode them down, killing and wounding and following them in
pursuit. The infantry made so good an assault upon those who remained
that in a short time most of them were put to the sword. The governor
still held Atahualpa by the arm, not being able to pull him out of the
litter because he was raised so high. Then the Spaniards made such a
slaughter among those who carried the litter that they fell to the
ground, and, if the governor had not protected Atahualpa, that proud
man would there have paid for all the cruelties he had committed. The
governor, in protecting Atahualpa received a slight wound in the hand.
During the whole time no Indian raised his arms against a Spaniard. So
great was the terror of the Indians at seeing the governor force his
way through them, at hearing the fire of the artillery and beholding
the charging of the horses, a thing never before heard of, that they
thought more of flying to save their lives than of fighting. All those
who bore the litter of Atahualpa appeared to be principal chiefs. They
were all killed, as well as those who were carried in the other litters
and hammocks. One of them was a page of Atahualpa and a great lord, and
the others were lords of many vassals and his counsellors. The chief of
Caxamalca was also killed, and others; but, the number being very great,
no account was taken of them, for all who came in attendance on Atahualpa
were great lords. The governor went to his lodging with his prisoner
Atahualpa despoiled of his robes, which the Spaniards had torn off in
pulling him out of the litter. It was a very wonderful thing to see so
great a lord taken prisoner in so short a time, who came in such power.”
II
[Sidenote: Sancho’s _Relación_]
[Sidenote: Spoils of gold and silver]
[Sidenote: Vases and figures]
In his _Relación de la conquista del Perú_ Pedro Sancho presented another
contemporary account of the occupation of Peru. By reason of the writer’s
relation to Pizarro the narrative acquired a partisan bias; it was
expected to contribute to restoring the governor to the emperor’s favour.
It was translated into Italian, and appeared in Ramusio’s _Viaggi_,
published in Venice about 1550. An edition in Spanish by Icazbalceta was
issued in Mexico in 1849. A part of Sancho’s document is included in
the already mentioned volume called _Reports on the Discovery of Peru_.
Sancho gives the following account of Pizarro’s distribution of the gold
and silver collected: “He caused all the gold which had been collected
to be melted, which was in small pieces, an operation quickly performed
by Indians skilled in the process. And when the sum total was weighed,
it was found to contain five hundred and eight thousand, two hundred odd
pounds of gold. The fifth for H.M. was taken out, and it was one hundred
and sixteen thousand and seventy odd pesos of good gold. And the same
smelting was performed for the silver, which was found to contain two
hundred and fifteen thousand marks, a little more or less, and of them
one hundred and seventy thousand or so were fine silver in vessels and
plates, pure and good, and the rest was not so, because it was in plates
and pieces mixed with other metals, from which the silver was extracted.
And from all this, likewise, was taken the fifth for H.M. Truly it was
a worthy thing to be seen, this house where the melting took place, all
full of so much gold in plates of eight and ten pounds each, and in
vessels and vases and pieces of various forms with which the lords of
that land were served, and among other very sightly things were four
llamas in fine gold and very large, and ten or twelve figures of women
of the size of the women of that land all of fine gold and as beautiful
and well-made as if they were alive.... There were, besides, other silver
objects of like form. The seeing of great vases and pieces of burnished
silver was certainly a matter of great satisfaction. The governor divided
and distributed all this treasure among all the Spaniards who were at
Cuzco and those who remained in the city of Jauja, giving to each one
as much good silver, and as much impure, together with as much gold [as
he deserved], and to each man who had a horse he gave according to the
man’s merit and that of the horse and in accordance with the services he
had done; and to the peons he did the same according to what was posted
up to his credit in the book of distributions, which was kept.”[16]
III
[Sidenote: Tomás de San Martín]
[Sidenote: San Martín in Charcas & Lima]
An inquiry into the justice of the gains made by the conquistadores was
undertaken by Tomás de San Martín, a Dominican, who played a conspicuous
rôle in Peru during the troubled period covering the last years of
Pizarro’s rule, the introduction of the New Laws, the overthrow of the
first viceroy, and the administration of President Gasca. While not much
has come to light about the birth and parentage of San Martín, it is
known that he took orders in the monastery of San Pablo in Córdoba in
Spain: that he became a lecturer on arts and theology at Seville, in the
college of Santo Tomás; and that he arrived very early in the island
of Santo Domingo, where he laboured as a missionary among the Indians,
exercising whatever influence he possessed to protect them from those who
would reduce them to slavery. In this undertaking San Martín co-operated
with Las Casas. Having returned to Spain, he was appointed by the king
to be a member of the audiencia established at Santo Domingo. This post
he later renounced, and joined a company of ecclesiastics going to
Peru with Francisco Pizarro. He assisted at the founding of Piura and
remained there, while Pizarro went on to Cajamarca, but after the murder
of Atahualpa he rejoined Pizarro and went with him to Jauja. In 1534 he
was sent to the province of Charcas, and thus became one of the first to
preach Christianity in that region.
On the creation of the Dominican province in Peru San Martín became the
Provincial, and from this time until he left America with President
Gasca in 1550, he had part in the affairs of Lima. He was in the town
when Pizarro was assassinated, June 26, 1541, was named by Cristóbal Vaca
de Castro, who succeeded Pizarro, as a member of a commission appointed
by Castro to take charge of the affairs of justice and administration
in Lima, and was instrumental in the pacification of Peru, which was
the object of Gasca’s mission. His part in this work and his known
interest in the affairs of the colonies assured for him an especially
favourable reception by the king, and presentation in 1552 as the first
bishop of Charcas. He returned to Lima two years later and died there in
March, 1554. A memorial in which he discussed the acquisitions of the
conquistadores was published in Madrid.[17] Among San Martín’s writings
we find also an account of the sacrifices made by the ancient Peruvians
to their gods at seed-time and harvest, as well as on the occasion of
undertaking public works.
[Sidenote: Peñalosa on Spaniards]
Like Las Casas and San Martín, other persons questioned the pretended
right of the Spaniards to rob and destroy the Inca kingdom, and when
these views were expressed they naturally provoked a reply. Such a reply
was undertaken by Benito Peñalosa Mondragón, a Benedictine monk, in a
book entitled _Libro de las cinco excelencias del español_ (1629). One
of his arguments consisted in showing that great riches were acquired
by the Spaniards from the colonial possessions, from the mines of gold
and silver and mercury, and from various other sources; but it is not
conceived that men like Las Casas and San Martín would be greatly moved
by Peñalosa’s views.
IV
[Sidenote: Pedro Pizarro’s book]
Another account of the conquest of Peru is that by Pedro Pizarro, who
went to America as a page to Francisco Pizarro in 1530, and remained
with him until the governor’s assassination. He afterwards settled in
Arequipa, and, in 1571, completed his _Relación del descubrimiento y
conquista de los reinos del Perú_. This work has been characterized as
“the narration of a rough half-educated soldier, and occupies much the
same place in the history of the conquest of Peru as the work of Bernal
Díaz does in that of Mexico.”[18]
[Sidenote: Molina of Santiago]
Cristóbal de Molina’s narrative of the conquest long remained in
manuscript, and the writer was confounded with another author of the same
name. They are now distinguished by calling this one Molina of Santiago
and the other Molina of Cuzco. Molina of Santiago was born in Spain,
travelled in that country, Italy, and Flanders, and went to America at
the age of forty-one. The circumstances of his education and entry upon
the religious life are unknown; but we are informed that he was in Santo
Domingo in 1532 and at Panama in April of the following year. While
at Panama he joined an expedition designed to take reinforcements to
Pizarro, but by ill fortune the expedition was obliged to halt at the
river San Juan, whence after a period of forty days the members returned
to Panama. Molina went to Santo Domingo and later to Spain to carry news
of Pizarro’s discoveries. He remained only a short time in the Peninsula,
and in 1535 he was again in America, where, in July of that year, he
joined Almagro at the battle of Salinas. Molina went from Cuzco to Lima,
and from the latter city he wrote to the king, on the twelfth of June,
1539, setting forth the dangers he had encountered and the losses he
had suffered in the royal service. Twelve years afterwards he took part
in the Chilean campaigns of García Hurtado de Mendoza. Later he became
attached to the cathedral at Charcas, lived in Lima, and finally returned
to Chile, where he died as a priest in Santiago.
[Sidenote: Molina’s _Conquista_]
Molina’s _Conquista y población del Perú_ was written in Lima. It was
printed for the first time in 1873 in _Sud-América_, of Santiago; it
appeared later in Medina’s _Colección de documentos inéditos para
la historia de Chile_ (vol. VII, 428). Besides his narrative of the
conquest and settlement of Peru, Molina wrote a _Diario_ of Almagro’s
expedition to Chile, in which he condemned the inhuman conduct of
the conquistadores towards the Indians. He died in 1578 at the age of
eighty-four, having many years before ceased to perform the duties of his
priestly office on account of the failure of his mental faculties.
With respect to its style, the _Conquista y población del Perú_ is
superior to most of the writings of its time, and historians have found
it sufficiently important to be carefully considered among their sources
of information.
V
[Sidenote: Enríquez de Guzmán]
A part of the personal narrative of Alonso Enríquez de Guzmán belongs
to the list of contemporary accounts of the conquest of Peru. Sections
thirty-five to fifty-four treat of Guzmán’s journey to Peru, which fell
in the last part of 1533. He was absent from Spain between September,
1533, and the twenty-sixth of June, 1540, the date of his return to
Madrid; and he was thus in Peru during the conflict between Pizarro
and Almagro. The rest of the narrative is a record of his experience
in Spain, chiefly in the Emperor’s service in the islands of Majorca
and Iviça. After his return he sent to the emperor an account of his
observations during his absence from Spain, giving prominence to the
conflicts between the two conquistadores.[19]
A glimpse of Guzmán’s spirit may be had from the following statement at
the end of his narrative:
[Sidenote: Guzmán’s confession]
“In the year of our Lord, 1533, during Lent, I confessed and received the
most holy sacrament, as every faithful Christian ought to do. Amongst
other things which I then did, was to declare, as I now declare, that
many things in this book, both to improve the style, and to give an
appetite to him who reads it, are not related exactly as they happened,
though the substance is true: I therefore desire that each reader may
believe as much as he ought to believe, so that neither his conscience
nor mine may be hurt.”[20]
The part of Guzmán’s narrative that relates to America may be accepted
as true; in fact, as has been suggested, “Guzmán as an eye-witness may
be considered as the most original authority for all events in Peruvian
history from the commencement of the siege of Cuzco in 1534 to the
execution of Almagro in 1538.”
[Sidenote: Diego Fernández]
[Sidenote: Agustín de Zárate]
Diego Fernández, on the title-page of his _Primera y segunda parte de
la historia del Perú_, identifies himself as “vecino de la ciudad de
Palencia.” He took part in the campaign against Francisco Girón in 1554,
and the subject of his narrative was Peru in the most stormy period of
its early history, the period of the introduction of the New Laws, the
rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro, the mission of President Gasca, and the
labours of the Viceroy Hurtado de Mendoza (1555-1561) to bring order out
of the social chaos. This volume was published in Seville in 1571, but
its sale was prohibited for a time because it contained certain ideas and
statements which it was desired should not be circulated in America. On
questions relating to the civil wars and the conflicts growing out of the
introduction of the New Laws, the population of Peru was still divided
in 1571, and any discussion of these events by a person who had had an
active part in them would inevitably have provoked antagonism and kept
alive the hostility of the two parties.[21]
VI
To the later part of the period of the Pizarros belongs the account
given by Agustín de Zárate, who was sent to Peru to take charge of the
accounts of the “kingdoms and provinces of Peru,” at the time that
Blasco Núñez Vela was commissioned to become the first viceroy of the
Spanish possessions in South America. Zárate had part in the conflicts
occasioned by the arrival of Núñez Vela and the rebellion of Gonzalo
Pizarro. He was one of the two commissioners sent by the oidores to order
Pizarro to disband his army, which he held at Jauja, and enter Lima with
only a small escort. Pizarro, however, sent out Captain Villegas, who met
Zárate on the way, arrested him, took away his commission, confiscated
his provisions, and imprisoned him at Huarochiri. Released after some
days, he was persuaded to return to Lima, and it was suggested that in
consideration of his release he should urge the audiencia to leave the
government to Gonzalo Pizarro. Whatever may have been the influence of
Zárate in this matter, Pizarro not long afterwards approached the capital
and assumed the reins of government.
[Sidenote: Zárate’s _Historia del Perú_]
Having played his part in this turbulent period, a part regarding which
writers venture a variety of opinions, Zárate returned to Spain, and,
using notes made in America, wrote the _Historia del descubrimiento y
conquista de la provincia del Perú_. His final plan for this work was
to treat of the discovery and occupation of the country, and to narrate
the principal events in the history of the colony until the pacification
that followed the intervention of Pedro de la Gasca. The author is said
to have intended that his work should remain in manuscript until after
his death, but that under the persuasion, perhaps the orders, of Prince
Philip, to whom he had presented it, he caused it to be printed in
Antwerp in 1555.[22]
[Sidenote: Pizarro pays Alvarado]
[Sidenote: Almagro goes to Cuzco]
[Sidenote: Almagro-Pizarro compact]
[Sidenote: Almagro goes to Chile]
His style is less clear than that of some of his contemporaries, but his
opportunities for gaining information enabled him to present abundant
details of events within the period of his narrative. The following
illustrative extract is from the thirteenth chapter of the second
book. The person referred to as governor was, of course, Francisco
Pizarro: “Diego de Almagro and Pedro de Alvarado[23] having arrived at
Pachacamac, the governor, who had come there from Jauja, received them
good-humouredly, and paid to Don Pedro the one hundred thousand pesos
which he had agreed to give him for his military equipment, although
by many persons he was advised not to pay that sum, affirming that the
equipment was not worth fifty thousand, and that Don Diego had made that
agreement under the constraint of fear of breaking with Don Pedro, for
whom it was very advantageous, and that it would be better to send him a
prisoner to his Majesty; and although the governor might have done that
very easily and without danger, he wished to carry out the promise of Don
Diego de Almagro, his colleague, and he paid him freely the one hundred
thousand pesos in good coins which he allowed him to take with him to
his territory of Guatemala, and Pizarro remained in Peru establishing
the city of Lima, transferring thither the population that had been
settled at Jauja, for the new site appeared to him more suitable and
better adapted to all kinds of business, as it was a seaport. From there
Don Diego went to Cuzco with a great number of persons, and the governor
went down to Trujillo to reorganise the town and distribute the land. And
there he learned that Don Diego de Almagro had wished to lead the city of
Cuzco to revolt, for he had become aware that his majesty, with the news
brought by Hernando Pizarro to him, had granted him a hundred leagues
more of territory beyond the limits of Francisco Pizarro’s territory,
which it was said did not extend quite to the city of Cuzco. Against
this view Juan Pizarro and Gonzalo Pizarro, brothers of the governor,
with a large number of others who joined them, protested, and every day
they were in conflict with Don Diego and with Captain Soto, who was
one of his adherents; but at last he was not able to go out with him,
for the majority of the cabildo took the side of the governor and his
brothers. And when the governor was informed of the state of affairs he
went immediately to Cuzco, and by his presence quieted everything, and
pardoned Don Diego, who was greatly moved by what he had done without
having either title or provision for it, save that they had told him it
had been conceded to him. And they formed a new agreement and company
in this manner, that Don Diego de Almagro should go on an expedition of
discovery by land towards the south, and that if he should find a good
country, he might ask the territory of His Majesty for himself, and, not
succeeding in this, they should divide the territory of Don Francisco
between them; and after this they swore on the consecrated Host not
to oppose one another. And some say that Almagro swore to abandon all
interest in Cuzco and in the region for a hundred and twenty leagues
farther south although his Majesty might concede it to him, and he took
a solemn oath, saying, ‘If I shall break this oath, may it please thee,
O Lord, to curse me body and soul.’ Having made this agreement and taken
this oath, Don Diego made his preparations and started on his expedition
with more than five hundred men who followed him, and the governor
returned to Lima.”
VII
[Sidenote: Cieza de León in the rush for America]
In the third and fourth decades of the sixteenth century the desire for
adventure in the New World moved many persons to emigrate from Spain.
Well-founded reports that had been made public awakened a profound
interest in America, and when to these reports there were added wildly
extravagant tales of rich principalities there that might be plundered,
a wave of excitement swept members of all classes towards the port of
departure. Men of birth and cultivation were in the race with ignorant
and rough adventurers. Diego de Alvarado, Garcilaso de la Vega, and
Lorenzo de Aldana represented the first of these classes, but the
majority of the other class were, in many cases, men of disappointed
ambitions or such persons as usually yield to the allurements of newly
discovered mines of gold. Among the emigrants of this time was Pedro
Cieza de León, a boy of thirteen or fourteen years of age. Like many
others of his time, he left no record of his origin, save that he was
born in the town of Llerena in Estremadura. Even the fleet with which
he sailed is not positively known; but it is probable that he went with
Rodrigo Durán, who left Cadiz in 1534, and entered the bay of Cartagena
in November of that year. Three years later Cieza de León was at the
town of San Sebastian on the gulf of Darien. In this year 1538, now
nineteen years old, he was a private soldier in the force of four hundred
Spaniards organized by Pedro Vadillo for the campaign up the valley of
the Atrato.
[Sidenote: Vadillo’s Expedition]
Juan de Vadillo, who led this expedition, was a member of the audiencia
of Santo Domingo. He had been sent to San Sebastian to inquire into the
conduct of Governor Heredia, and after the dismissal of that officer, he
departed for the interior. This campaign, like many others of that time,
was attended by serious obstacles: by the lack of food, by the loss of
men by disease, and by the unrelenting hostility of the Indians. In
view of the hardships they encountered the men were disposed to revolt,
and asked to be led back to San Sebastian, but the determination of
the leader to advance finally persuaded the soldiers to follow; but on
arriving at Cali they refused to proceed further, and Vadillo went on to
Popayán without them. From that point he went to Panama, where he was
arrested and taken to Spain by way of Cartagena.
[Sidenote: Cieza de León at Cartago]
The soldiers of Vadillo, who had been a year in the wilderness, now
established themselves in the Cauca valley, where Robledo, under
Benalcázar, had founded settlements. For about six years, ordinarily
supposed to be critical years of a youth’s education, Cieza de León had
been in America, sharing the hardships, the dangers, and the demoralizing
influences of expatriated soldiers and settlers in an inhospitable
climate and in the presence of unfriendly Indians. He settled at Cartago,
and remained in the valley five or six years. Here he gathered and set
down important information concerning the Indians; he also described the
progress of Vadillo’s expedition across the “forest-covered plains,”
over the mountains, and along the Cauca river. In the dedication of one
of his works to the king he thus made reference to his zeal: “Oftentimes
when the other soldiers were reposing, I was tiring myself by writing.
Neither fatigue nor the ruggedness of the country, nor the mountains and
rivers, nor intolerable hunger and suffering, have ever been sufficient
to obstruct my two duties, namely, writing and following my flag and my
captain without fault.”
[Sidenote: Cieza de León joins Gasca’s troops]
President Gasca’s call for loyal troops to assist in suppressing the
rebellion led by Gonzalo Pizarro, offered to Cieza de León an opportunity
for new adventures. The boy had grown to be a mature man of thirty, whose
physical and intellectual faculties had been developed under the tuition
of sixteen years of rough life. With other loyal soldiers he responded to
the call, and marched from Popayán by way of Pasto, Quito, and Riobamba
to the sea, and along the shore to Lima. From Lima he crossed the first
ridge of the Andes to Jauja, thence proceeded southward through Guamanga
to the valley of Andahuaylas, near the Apurimac, where the troop of
which he was a member was taken into Gasca’s army.
[Sidenote: Cieza de León at Cuzco]
On this journey Cieza de León had an opportunity to see the Ecuadorian
plateau, the western side of the Andes, and the sandy region of the
coast, as well as some of the more important ruins of Inca buildings, the
ancient roads, and the system of canals designed for irrigation under the
Inca régime. He moreover witnessed the overthrow of Gonzalo Pizarro and
was present at the execution of both Pizarro and Carbajal. Later he went
to Cuzco. At this time Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, then eleven years of
age, was at school in that city, and the two persons who were destined to
become pre-eminent among the early historians of Peru were here either
completing or beginning their training for the literary undertakings that
were before them. Cieza de León had prepared himself for his work in the
camp, and in extensive journeys over the country he was to describe.
Garcilaso de la Vega was receiving such tuition as the Church of his
day was accustomed to sanction. He was then studying Latin under the
instruction of Canon Cuellar. In 1549 Cieza de León visited the province
of Charcas, and in the ninety-fifth chapter of his Travels he wrote: “I
went to see the cities in that region for which purpose the President
Gasca gave me letters of introduction to the corregidores, that I might
learn all that was worthy of notice.”[24]
He passed along the eastern shore of Lake Titicaca, and visited the mines
of Porco and Potosí. From Potosí he went to Arequipa, and thence by way
of the coast to Lima. At Lima he completed the notes of his journey in
September, 1550. From his observations he gives the following account of
the fair of Potosí:
[Sidenote: The fair at Potosí]
[Sidenote: Trading at the fair]
“In all parts of this kingdom of Peru we who have travelled over it know
that there are great fairs or markets, where the natives make their
bargains. Among these the greatest and richest was formerly in the city
of Cuzco, for even in the time of the Spaniards its greatness was caused
by the gold which was brought and sold there, and by the other things of
all kinds that were sent into the city. But this market or fair at Cuzco
did not equal the superb one at Potosí where the traffic was so great
that, among the Indians alone, without including Christians, twenty-five
or thirty thousand golden pesos exchanged hands daily. This is wonderful,
and I believe that no fair in the world can be compared to it. I saw this
fair several times, and it is held in a plain near the town. In one place
there were baskets of coca, the most valuable product in these parts. In
another place there were bales of cloth and fine rich shirtings. Here
were heaps of maize, dried potatoes, and other provisions, there great
quantities of the best meat in the country. The fair continued from early
morning until dusk, and as those Indians got silver every day, and are
fond of eating and treating, especially those who have intercourse with
Spaniards, they all spent what they got, so that people assembled from
all parts with provisions and other necessaries for their support. Many
Spaniards became rich in this settlement of Potosí by merely employing
two or three Indian women to traffic in the fair. Great numbers of
Yanaconas, who are free Indians with the right of serving whom they
please, flocked to the fair, and the prettiest girls from Cuzco and all
parts of the kingdom were to be met with there.
“I observed that many frauds were committed, and that there was little
truth spoken. The value of articles was not great, and cloths, linens,
and Hollands were sold almost as cheap as in Spain. Indeed, I saw things
sold for so small a price that they would have been considered cheap in
Seville.”[25]
Cieza de León returned to Spain after a sojourn of seventeen years in
America.
[Sidenote: _Crónica del Perú_]
The first fruit of the experience and studies of these seventeen years
was _Parte primera de la crónica del Perú_, which treats, according to
the sub-title, “of the demarcation of the provinces, the description of
them, the foundation of the new cities, the rites and customs of the
Indians, and other strange things worthy of being known.” This work
was first published at Seville in 1553. The writer found interest in
almost every phase of the country and its people, and scholars have
accepted his views and conclusions as generally worthy of credence.
Through the excellence of its style the book has proved to be one of the
most attractive accounts of early Peru, and of the western part of the
territory now claimed by the republic of Colombia.
[Sidenote: Prescott on Cieza de León]
Mr. Prescott refers to Cieza de León as “an author worthy of particular
note. His _Crónica del Perú_ should more properly be styled an itinerary,
or rather geography of Peru. It gives a minute topographical view of the
country at the time of the conquest; of its provinces and towns, both
Indian and Spanish; its flourishing sea-coasts; its forests, valleys, and
interminable ranges of mountains in the interior, with many interesting
particulars of the existing population—while scattered here and there
may be found notices of their early history and social policy. It is,
in short, a lively picture of the country in its physical and moral
relations, as it met the eye at the time of the conquest, and in that
transition period when it was first subjected to European influences.”[26]
[Sidenote: Second & third parts of the _Crónica_]
The second part of the _Crónica del Perú_ was written, either completely
or partially, before Cieza de León left Peru. In the prologue of his
work the author announces the plan of this Part. He proposed to treat
of the government of the Incas, of their great deeds and policy; to
“describe the superb and magnificent temples which they built, the roads
of wonderful size which they made, and other great things that were found
in this kingdom. I shall also give an account in this book of what the
Indians say concerning the deluge, and how the Incas magnify the grandeur
of their origin.” The subject of the third Part was the discovery and
conquest of Peru by Pizarro, and the rebellion of the Indians; the fourth
Part treats of the civil wars of Peru. Only certain sections of the third
and fourth Parts have been printed.
The second Part remained in manuscript until 1873, when it was printed
by the Peruvian scholar, Dr. Manuel González de la Rosa. In 1880 it was
edited by Marcos Jiménez de la Espada, and printed at Madrid. Three years
later an English translation of it, by Sir Clements R. Markham, was
issued by the Hakluyt Society. In collecting the information on which
this Part is based, Cieza de León sought from the Indians what they knew
concerning the inhabitants of Peru before the period of the Incas.
[Sidenote: Preserving the unwritten history]
After setting forth in this second Part what he was able to find out
concerning the Indians before the period of the Incas, Cieza de León
devotes his pages especially to the institutions and ceremonies of the
monarchy, and to the history of the Incas in the line of their succession
down to Atahualpa. The following passage from the twelfth chapter
presents an account of the method employed to preserve the history of the
kingdom, and also an illustration of the author’s writing:
[Sidenote: The narration]
“Some of the most learned of the people were chosen to make known the
lives of those lords in songs, and the events of their reigns, with the
object I have already described. And it is also to be noted that besides
this, it was the custom among them, and a law much kept and observed, for
each king, during his reign, to select three or four old men, known for
their intelligence and ability, who were instructed to retain in their
memory all the events that happened in the provinces, whether they were
prosperous or whether they were the reverse, and to compose songs to be
handed down, so that the history of the reign might be had in remembrance
in after times. But these songs could not be recited or made public,
except in the presence of the lord, and those who were charged with this
duty, during the reign of the king, were not allowed to say anything
which referred to him. But after his death they spoke to his successor
in the empire, almost in these very words: ‘Oh, great and powerful Inca,
the Sun, the Moon, the earth, the hills and the trees, the stones, and
thine ancestors, may they all preserve thee from misfortune and make thee
prosperous, happy, and successful over all that are born. Know that the
events which occurred in the days of thy fathers are these.’ Then in the
narration, they stood in great humility, with eyes cast on the ground and
hands lowered. They could very well do this for there were among them
some men with very good memories, sound judgments, and subtle genius, and
full of reasoning power, as we bear witness, who have heard them even in
these our days.
“As soon as the king understood what was related to him, he caused other
aged men to be called, and charged them with the duty of learning the
songs which were handed down from memory, and to prepare others touching
the events which might occur in his own reign.”
[Sidenote: _Guerra de Quito_]
Besides these works dealing with his travels and the history and
institutions of the Inca kingdom, Cieza de León wrote a history of the
conquest and the civil wars of Peru. Only a part of this work has been
published, the first part of the _Guerra de Quito_, edited by Jiménez de
la Espada. This was printed in Madrid in 1877. The fate of the rest of
the manuscript is unknown. The part here published is the third book
of the Civil Wars of Peru, and gives an account of the conflict between
Gonzalo Pizarro and Blasco Núñez Vela near the city of Quito. It opens
with the departure of Blasco Núñez Vela from San Lucar in Spain to assume
his duties as the first viceroy of Peru. It describes the journey of
the viceroy and his arrival in Peru, the effect of the introduction of
the New Laws, the appeal to Gonzalo Pizarro to become the leader of the
revolt against the viceroy, the reception of Núñez Vela at Lima, and the
course of the rebellion until a short time before the triumph of Gonzalo
Pizarro and the death of the viceroy near Quito.[27]
[Sidenote: Cieza de León’s plan]
Cieza’s work was designed to consist of four parts: 1. Geography
and description of Peru; 2. History of the Incas and of the ancient
civilization of Peru; 3. Discovery and conquest of Peru; 4. The civil
wars of the conquistadores of Peru. In his _Obras completas_ (VIII,
143-150) Barros Arana discusses the question as to what extent this
programme was carried out by the author.
VIII
[Sidenote: Girolamo Benzoni]
[Sidenote: Benzoni goes to America]
Girolamo Benzoni, the author of _La Historia del mondo nuovo_, was a
contemporary of Cieza de León. He was born at Milan about 1519, and at
the age of twenty-one he undertook a voyage to America, moved by the
marvellous stories of adventure and of quickly acquired wealth that
were circulated in Europe. His route to the port of departure led him
to Medina del Campo, thence to Seville and down the Guadalquivir to
San Lucar. At this port he embarked for the Canary Islands, fearing
that as a foreigner he would not be permitted to take passage directly
from Spain to the Indies. After two months spent in the islands, he set
out for America, and in the course of time we find him involved in the
unfortunate enterprises of Governor Ortal in Venezuela, attracted by the
governor’s promise of riches. More fortunate, however, than many of the
governor’s followers, he escaped alive, although desperately ill. That he
did not suffer a worse fate was due in a large measure to the care taken
of him by Antonio de Castiglioni, a priest, who accompanied him to the
island of Margarita. Later he embarked for Porto Rico, and sailed thence
to Santo Domingo, where he was in 1544, and where he remained for eleven
months. In the course of his subsequent wanderings he visited Cuba,
Tierra Firme, Nombre de Dios, Panama, Cartagena, Nicaragua, Guatemala,
and Peru. During some parts of these journeys, he suffered extremely from
hunger, particularly in Nicaragua. Of his last years in America and his
return to Italy, he gives the following account:
[Sidenote: Leaves America on Gasca’s order]
“Three years after my arrival in Peru, I found myself possessed of some
thousands of ducats, and quite tired of remaining in these countries.
Moreover, President Gasca had ordered all foreigners to quit the country,
in consequence of its having been reported to him by some Spaniards that
the Levantines, that is that we were false and cruel, and had caused
the death of some of them. Therefore, when I was at Guayaquil, I availed
myself of a large boat that arrived there laden with merchandise from
Panama, to return to my own country. Accordingly, as soon as the master
of it was ready, I embarked on the 8th of May, 1550. We sailed, and in
the port of Zalaga we found President Gasca, who was going to Panama to
cross over to Spain. He ordered our master to sail in company with him,
for otherwise he was going alone. But as the bark had to take in a cargo
of maize, the master requested to be left behind on account of business.
The President started, and we remained until the vessel was loaded.
Sailing soon after this, we arrived at Manta, where the vessel struck a
rock and sank, all the passengers and crew, however, were saved, with the
greater part of their gold and silver.
[Sidenote: Benzoni in Nicaragua]
“The bark being wrecked, as here described, it became necessary to wait
for another passage; and at the end of fifty days, a vessel arriving
from Lima, we started on her and soon arrived at Panama. Hearing there
that the president had sailed from Nombre de Dios for Spain with all
the ships, I went to Nicaragua. There I had a long and severe disease,
so that at the end of four years, being then in Guatemala, and ships
arriving from Spain, I went to Puerto de los Caballos, whence I sailed;
but after navigating a few days, when we were near the island of Cuba,
there arose a very severe storm, which drove the ship on shore, and
almost all the specie on board was lost; scarcely could the crew be
saved. After thirty-four days of hard labour and great dangers, we
entered the port of Havana, expecting to find the fleet there; but it had
sailed eight days before for Spain.
[Sidenote: Benzoni’s return to Spain]
“I remained at Havana very discontented on two accounts: firstly, from
having lost part of my small property in the wreck already mentioned;
and, secondly, because we found that the fleet had sailed; but on
hearing how it had been lost, I praised God for his divine grace that
preserved me from it, and did not permit me to embark, for otherwise
I should undoubtedly have been lost with the others. Ten months after
these events the Indian fleet arrived at Havana, consisting altogether
of fourteen vessels, large and small. We soon sailed, with the help of
Providence, and in thirty-nine days, though undergoing a frightful storm
on the voyage, we reached a Portuguese island, commonly called Madera.
“Having taken on board there bread and wine and other provisions, we
again set sail. At the end of eight days, on the 13th of September, 1556,
we entered the port of San Lucar de Barameda, and thence proceeded to
Seville. As soon as I was cleared, I went to Cadiz, and having embarked
in an urca, at the end of two months I reached Genoa, where I rejoiced
exceedingly, and soon afterwards arrived at Milan; always praising the
Majesty of God, His power, and that of our Saviour, for having granted me
the grace to see so many strange things, and so much of the world, and
so many foreign countries; and for having liberated me out of so many
serious trials. When I reflect, it seems to me impossible that a human
body could have undergone so much—_che un corpo humano habbia potuto
supportar tanto_.”
[Sidenote: Fernández’s _Relación_]
Juan Fernández’s _Relación_, dealing with the social disturbances of
Peru, after the death of Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza (1551-1552) and the
causes from which they proceeded is a clearly written and trustworthy
document, which remained unpublished until 1865. It is especially
valuable as a critical investigation of the principal causes and events
of Girón’s rebellion.[28] Its author was the fiscal of the audiencia of
Lima, and arrived in Peru either with Pedro de la Gasca or with Viceroy
Antonio de Mendoza, probably with the latter.
CHAPTER IV
PERUVIAN AND CHILEAN HISTORIANS, 1550-1600.
I. _José de Acosta._ II. _Garcilaso de la Vega._ III. _Pedro
Sarmiento de Gamboa; Polo de Ondegardo._ IV. _Cristóbal de
Molina; Cabello de Balboa._ V. _Pedro de Valdivia._ VI. _Alonso
de Góngora Marmolejo._ VII. _Pedro de Mariño de Lovera._
I
[Sidenote: Gasca’s work]
[Sidenote: Antonio de Mendoza & successors]
At the beginning of the second half of the sixteenth century a temporary
calm brooded over the affairs of Peru. President Gasca had allayed the
factional disturbances, but his administration, if it had produced
peace, had nevertheless brought little satisfaction to the contending
parties. A new attempt was now made to set up a viceroy. In the meantime
the audiencia controlled public affairs, but in 1551 Antonio de
Mendoza arrived in Lima as the viceroy of Peru. With the prestige of
his long reign in Mexico, he undertook the task of establishing order
in the unorganized colony, but he died the following year, leaving the
governmental authority again in the hands of the audiencia. In 1555
Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza accepted the vacant office, and a line of more
or less distinguished successors continued the viceregal administration
to the end of the century.[29]
[Sidenote: State of Lima]
During these decades the Peruvian government acquired its normal and
stable character, largely through the legislative activity of Viceroy
Francisco de Toledo. Lima gradually increased in population and acquired
many of the institutions which later characterized its social life,
such as the university, the tribunal of the Crusada, the inquisition,
and various monasteries. In the meantime the mines of Upper Peru,
particularly those of Potosí, continued to pour out their riches,
making Lima the market at which the precious metals were exchanged for
imported European wares. The increasing wealth was attended by a more
elaborate style of living, by the growth of more formal and refined
manners, by the multiplication of religious ceremonies, and by the rapid
acquisition of property by the Church. At the same time, as the creoles
in the population increased in numbers, they became conspicuous for their
ostentation, and, by departing from the severe manners and customs of the
Spaniards, added a certain lightness and freedom to social intercourse.
But in spite of the persistent call of these circumstances to practical
affairs, a number of persons appeared in the colony during this period,
who by their writings indicated that not all the world was absorbed
in contemplating the output of the mines, the gains of trade, or in
rivalling one another in the display of newly-acquired wealth. Some of
these by their office in the Church were expected to stand aloof, and
did stand aloof, from the ordinary economic activity of the community;
in fact, this period and the half-century following were especially
noteworthy for their literary production, both in Peru and in Chile.
[Sidenote: Acosta]
[Sidenote: Acosta with Toledo]
In Peru José de Acosta, Garcilaso de la Vega, and Pedro Sarmiento became
especially prominent. These men were better equipped by education than
most of the writers who had described the events of the conquest from
personal observation. Acosta was a professor of theology in Lima, and
the Church expected to have its influence extended by his eloquence as
a preacher. His principal work is entitled _Historia natural y moral de
las Indias_. The first book deals chiefly with Peruvian affairs, but
the fifth, sixth and seventh books refer extensively to conditions and
institutions in Mexico. The author was born in Spain in 1540, and his
boyhood was passed with his parents in the town of Medina del Campo. He
became a Jesuit in 1553 and went to America in 1570. The intervening
years had been spent in study, so that when he set out for the Indies he
had already acquired a vast amount of knowledge. He landed at Cartagena,
went to Nombre de Dios and thence across the Isthmus to Panama. From
Panama he proceeded to Peru, and arrived at Callao in 1571. Peru was then
under the vigorous rule of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo (1569-1581), who
at this time was absent from Lima, engaged in making an inspection of the
viceroyalty. Acosta was ordered to join the viceroy’s other assistants,
particularly Polo de Ondegardo and Juan Matienzo. He accompanied Toledo,
and was a member of the expedition directed against the Chiriguana
Indians.
[Sidenote: Offices in Lima]
After his return to Lima he resumed his duties as professor of theology,
and retained this post until the middle of 1575, when he became rector
of the Colegio Máximo de San Pablo. The next year he was promoted to
the office of provincial of the Jesuit province of Peru, succeeding the
first provincial, Portillo. Acosta’s term as provincial expired in 1580.
He resided for some years at the missionary station of Juli, near Lake
Titicaca, and during this period his time was divided between missionary
work and writing. The Jesuits had established a college at Juli to
facilitate the study of the native languages. Holguín had resided there,
and his Quichua grammar is an important contribution to knowledge of that
language. Bertonio, also sometime a resident there, performed a similar
service by his Aymará dictionary.
[Sidenote: Acosta at Council of Lima]
Acosta removed from Upper Peru to Lima near the end of Toledo’s reign.
The viceroy’s administration, through his prolific and generally wise
legislative activity, contributed greatly to the orderly establishment
of the viceroyalty, but by his unjust condemnation and execution of the
Inca he incurred the displeasure of the king, and died in disgrace.
Under Martín Enríquez (1581-1586) Toledo’s successor, was held the third
ecclesiastical Council of Lima. At the last sitting Acosta delivered what
has been characterized as “an elegant and learned oration”; he also wrote
the history of the council. At this council he was theological adviser,
and was appointed to edit the acts of the council.
A little later Acosta went to Mexico, where after a short sojourn,
covering the year 1586, he returned to Spain in 1587 taking with him for
publication various manuscripts written by him during the fifteen years
of his residence in America. He was in Madrid in 1588, and in this year
he began the publication of the work on which his reputation as a writer
chiefly rests, his _Historia natural y moral de las Indias_. The complete
work under this title was, however, not published until 1590, the date of
the Seville edition.[30]
[Sidenote: _Historia natural y moral_]
The first four books treat of the natural history of the Indies. Of these
the first and second were written in Latin, while Acosta was in Peru, and
were translated into Spanish by him after his return to Spain, where
all the rest of the work was written. The fifth, sixth and seventh books
contain what the author calls the moral history of the Indies, embracing
such subjects as are involved in the organization and development of
society.
The numerous editions of this work indicate somewhat the strength of the
early demand for information regarding America. Large numbers of persons
were solicitous to know about the climate and its fitness for securing
human health; the metals, plants, and animals; the rites and ceremonies
of the inhabitants; the laws and government; and the wars with the
Indians. The nature of the contents of the work suggested the designation
of the author as the Pliny of the New World.
After an extensive discussion of the views held by ancient writers,
sacred and profane, concerning the geography and the natural phenomena of
the Indies, Acosta touches on the project of cutting a canal across the
Isthmus. He wrote:
[Sidenote: Acosta on a Panama canal]
“Some have discoursed and propounded to cut through this passage of
seven leagues, and to joyne one sea to the other, to make the passage
from Peru more commodious and easie, for that those eighteen leagues of
land betwixt Nombre de Dios and Panama is more painfull and chargeable
than two thousand and three hundred by sea, whereupon some would say it
were a means to drowne the land, one sea being lower than another. As
in times past we finde it written, that for the same consideration they
gave over the enterprise to win the Red Sea with the Nile, in the time
of King Sesostris, and since, in the Empire of the Ottomans. But for my
part, I hold such discourses and propositions for vaine, although this
inconvenient should not happen, the which I will not hold for assured,
I believe there is no humane power able to beat and breake downe those
strong and impenetrable mountains, which God hath placed betwixt the two
seas, and hath made them most hard rockes, to withstand the furie of two
seas. And although it were possible to men, yet in my opinion they should
feare punishment from heaven in seeking to correct the workes which the
Creator by his great providence hath Ordained and disposed in the forming
of this universall world.”[31]
[Sidenote: Food products]
Among the food-products described, Acosta makes mention of the potato,
saying that “The Indians use another kinde of roote, which they call
Papas. These rootes are like the ground nuttes; they are small rootes
that cast out many leaves. They gather the Papas, and dry it well in the
Sunne, then beating it they make that which they call _Chuñu_, which
keeps many daies, and serves for bread. In this realme there is great
trafficke of _Chuñu_, the which they carry to the mines of Potosí; they
likewise eat of these Papas boyled or roasted. There is one sweete kinde
which grows in hot places, whereof they do make certain sauces and minced
meats which they call _Locro_.”[32]
In writing of coca, Acosta calls attention to an article, the use of
which under the Indian régime was subject to severe restrictions,
enforced by a religious sanction, but since then these restrictions have
been removed, with many of the evil consequences that were doubtless
feared by the paternal government of the Incas:
[Sidenote: Acosta on coca]
“The Indians esteeme it much, and in time of their Kings Yncas it was
not lawfull for any of the common people to use this coca without
licence from the governor. Their use is to carry it in their mouthes,
chawing it and sucking out the juyce, but they swallow it not. They
say it gives them great courage, and is very pleasing unto them. Many
grave men holde this as a superstition and a mere imagination; for my
part, and to speak the truth, I perswade not my selfe that it is an
imagination but contrariwise, I thinke it works and gives force and
courage to the Indians; for we see the effects which cannot be attributed
to imagination, as to go some daies without meat, but only a handfull of
coca, and other like effects.”[33]
II
[Sidenote: Garcilaso de la Vega]
[Sidenote: Parents of Garcilaso]
By his ancestry Garcilaso de la Vega was connected with some of the most
distinguished families of Spain, the families of Mendoza and Vargas.
His father was the son of Alonso de Hinestrosa de Vargas, whose wife
was Blanca Suárez de Figueroa, a descendant of that Garcilaso de la
Vega on whom the name was originally conferred for his famous duel with
the gigantic Moor on the Vega of Granada. This name was adopted by the
historian’s father as that of a maternal ancestor. The son of Hinestrosa
de Vargas thus became Garcilaso de la Vega. This Garcilaso de la Vega
was born in the city of Badajoz in Estremadura in 1506. At the age of
twenty-five, in 1531, he went to America as a captain of infantry, at
the time of Pedro de Alvarado’s return to resume the government of
Guatemala. He became a member of Alvarado’s ill-fated expedition to
Quito, that landed at Caraques in March, 1534. After Alvarado’s surrender
to Almagro, Garcilaso de la Vega entered the service of Pizarro, and was
sent to subdue the natives about the port of Buenaventura. Owing to the
difficulties of the march and the loss of a large part of his men he was
obliged to abandon the undertaking. He then went to Lima, where he found
Pizarro besieged by the Indians. His next service was in the campaign for
the relief of Cuzco, that appeared to be in danger of falling into the
hands of the insurgent natives.
[Sidenote: Garcilaso the elder]
During the conflict between Pizarro and Almagro that resulted in the
death of Almagro, Garcilaso de la Vega was established at Cuzco. Chimpa
Ocllo, a young Indian princess, baptized as Doña Isabel, was living at
Cuzco at that time. She was a granddaughter of Inca Tupac Yupanqui.
Her father was a brother of the distinguished king, Huayna Capac, the
twelfth in the line as given by Cieza de León. She was thus a cousin of
the unfortunate Atahualpa. In 1540 she gave birth to a child who became
the historian, and whose father was Garcilaso de la Vega. The childhood
and youth of the younger Garcilaso was spent in Cuzco, the capital from
which members of his mother’s family had ruled the famous Indian kingdom.
During these early years his father was engaged in the civil wars that
afflicted the unhappy country; at first on the side of Pizarro, and later
taking part in the rebellion led by Gonzalo Pizarro against the first
viceroy of Peru, Blasco Núñez de Vela. One of the earliest recollections
of the historian was the triumphal entry of the forces into Cuzco after
Gonzalo Pizarro had put down his enemies.
Garcilaso de la Vega, the elder, once more changed his allegiance; he
deserted the cause of Gonzalo Pizarro, and fled from Cuzco to Lima. But
the party of the viceroy, which he had hoped to join was overthrown, and
the viceroy had departed.
[Sidenote: Garcilaso at Cuzco]
Although pardoned by Gonzalo Pizarro, Garcilaso de la Vega went over
to the forces of Gasca at the battle of Jaquijaguana in 1548. Between
this event and the rebellion of Girón in 1553 he resided at Cuzco, and
after the failure of this rebellion he was appointed corregidor and
governor of that city and province. As the principal figure in the civil
administration of the province, his house became the centre of the social
activity of the city. Thus in the turmoil and rebellions and the quieter
life that followed, the younger Garcilaso de la Vega, was in a more
favourable position than any other historian had occupied for acquiring
a correct view of the history and institutions of the two races here in
conflict.
[Sidenote: Garcilaso the younger]
A suggestion of the opportunities the young Garcilaso de la Vega enjoyed
for acquiring knowledge of the institutions and spirit of his mother’s
people is found in his statement that while she lived in Cuzco, her
native town, “almost every week some of the male and female relations,
who escaped the cruelty and tyranny of Atahualpa, came to visit her. On
the occasion of these visits their usual conversation was on the subject
of the origin of the Yncas, of their majesty, of the grandeur of their
empire, of their greatness, of their mode of government in peace and
war, and of the laws which they ordained for the good of their subjects.
In short, they omitted nothing relating to the flourishing period of
their history in the course of these conversations.”[34]
[Sidenote: Garcilaso in Spain]
As Garcilaso de la Vega advanced toward maturity, he became his father’s
agent in superintending his estates and acquired much information about
Peru through journeys. After his father’s death he determined to go to
Spain. Here he was received with kindness by his father’s relatives, and
such generosity by others as might be accorded to one born in America. He
entered the army of Philip II as a captain, and took part in the campaign
against the Moriscos under Don Juan de Austria. On his retirement from
active military service, he became a resident of Córdoba, where he was
compelled by his poverty to adopt a very modest style of living. He was
not only in debt when he left the army, but under a certain cloud of
public disfavour by reason of his father’s connexion with Pizarro’s
rebellion. It is quite possible that his consciousness of this prejudice
deepened his piety for his native land and the kingly race from which he
was descended and persuaded him to set forth their virtues and the nobler
qualities of their rule, and not to omit the wrongs they had suffered at
the hands of the Spaniards.
[Sidenote: _Los comentarios reales_]
Garcilaso de la Vega’s principal work is _Los comentarios reales_. This
was based not only on information acquired during his early life at
Cuzco, but also on later contributions made by his former associates in
Peru; for as soon as he decided to write this history, he communicated
with his old schoolfellows and asked them to help him by sending accounts
of the particular conquests which the Incas had made in the provinces of
their families. They took up his project and caused to be brought out
from the archives the accounts which their relatives possessed, and sent
them to him; it was thus, he said, “that I obtained the records of the
deeds and conquests of each Inca.”[35]
The first part of _Los comentarios reales del Perú_ was published at
Lisbon in 1609, and the second part was first published at Córdoba in
1617. The author died in 1617 and was buried in the cathedral of Córdoba.
A second edition was published at Madrid in 1723, and a third edition at
the same place in 1829.[36]
[Sidenote: _La Florida del Inca_]
An earlier work by Garcilaso de la Vega, _La Florida del Inca, historia
del adelantado Hernando de Soto, gobernador y capitán-general del reino
de la Florida, y de otros heroicos caballeros españoles e indios_,
was published in Lisbon in 1605. Written in an agreeable style, it
was received with great favour, and for it the writer would have been
accorded distinction, even if he had not later produced a more important
book. Much of the consideration enjoyed by Garcilaso and the popularity
of his writings were due to the fact that he revealed to Europeans of
his day a hitherto unknown kingdom, and set it before them idealized by
the piety and patriotic emotions of an exile.[37]
[Sidenote: Markham on Garcilaso]
[Sidenote: Garcilaso’s accuracy]
Sir Clements R. Markham, in his introduction to the _Narratives of the
Rites and Laws of the Yncas_, makes this interesting note concerning
Garcilaso’s memory and the accuracy of his statements:
“Garcilaso wrote from memory, forty years after he had left Peru, with
the aid of letters from correspondents. His main object was to publish
a commentary, correcting the errors of Spanish authors who professed to
give a history of the Yncas without being acquainted with their language.
In doing this, he added much precious information from the storehouse of
his own memory, and the more his work is sifted and examined, the more
clearly does it appear that he was scrupulously truthful, and that,
allowing for the disadvantage under which he laboured, his statements
are wonderfully accurate. Perhaps the excellence of the Ynca’s memory
is best shown in the topographical details. He gives the conquests of
each successive Ynca, mentioning the places through which the conquerors
marched in the gradual acquisition of their vast empire. He enumerates
three hundred and twenty places in Peru, yet, in describing the marches,
he does not make a single mistake, nor give one of these places out of
its order, or in the wrong position. When Garcilaso’s routes of each of
the conquering Yncas are placed on a map, they present convincing proofs
of the remarkable accuracy of the author.”
[Sidenote: Prescott on Garcilaso]
Another phase of Garcilaso’s writing is presented by Prescott (_Conquest
of Peru_, I, 469-473), where he affirms that Garcilaso de la Vega
“wrote to effect a particular object. He stood forth as counsel for his
unfortunate countrymen, pleading the cause of that degraded race before
the tribunal of posterity. The exaggerated tone of panegyric consequent
on this becomes apparent in every page of the work. He pictures forth
a state of society, such as an Utopian philosopher would hardly venture
to depict.” His work “is addressed to the imagination more than to sober
reason. We are dazzled by the gorgeous spectacle it perpetually exhibits,
and delighted by the variety of amusing details and animated gossip
sprinkled over its pages. The story of the action is perpetually varied
by discussions on topics illustrating its progress, so as to break up the
monotony of the narrative, and afford an agreeable relief to the reader.
This is true of the first part of his great work. In the second there
was no longer room for such discussion. But he has supplied the place
by garrulous reminiscences, personal anecdotes, incidental adventures,
and a host of trivial details—trivial in the eyes of the pedant—which
historians have been too willing to discard as below the dignity of
history.”
Referring to the edifices constructed at Cuzco by the Indians under the
Incas, Garcilaso de la Vega gives expression to the astonishment which
many persons since his day have experienced:
[Sidenote: Ancient buildings at Cuzco]
“The Yncas, kings of Peru, built wonderful edifices, whether fortresses,
temples, gardens, palaces, store-houses, roads, or other works. All
excited admiration, as may still be seen by their ruins, though these
remains give but an inadequate idea of the complete edifice.
“The grandest and most superb work that they ordered to be built, to show
their power and majesty, was the fortress of Cuzco. Its magnificence
would be incredible to those who have not seen it, and even those who
have gazed upon it with attention are induced to imagine, and even to
believe, that such works must have been completed by enchantment, and
that they were made by demons rather than by men. For the multitude of
stones, so many and of such size, that are placed on the three circling
lines (being more like rocks than stones), excite astonishment and
wonder, as to how they could have been cut from the quarries whence they
were brought. For these Indians had neither iron nor steel for cutting
and working the stones.
“It is an equal wonder how the stones could have been brought from the
quarry; for the Indians had neither bullocks nor carts. Besides, no cart
could bear the weight of such stones, neither could any bullocks draw
them. They were drawn by the force of men’s hands, hauling at stout
cables passed round them.”[38]
[Sidenote: Destruction of Inca edifices]
On a later page Garcilaso de la Vega expresses regret that the Spaniards
did not preserve the fortress as they found it:
“The Spaniards should have preserved the fortress, and even repaired it
at their own cost, that future ages might see how great had been the
valour of those who took it, of which it would have been an eternal
memorial. But not only have they not maintained it; they have themselves
dismantled it to build the private houses they have now in Cuzco. In
order to save the cost, delay, and trouble which the Indians expended on
preparing dressed stones for building, the Spaniards pulled down all the
masonry walls within the circle of the fortress, and there is not a house
in the city which has not been partly built with those stones, at least
among those that the Spaniards have erected.”[39]
III
[Sidenote: Sarmiento’s career]
A further contribution to the history of the Inca kingdom was made
by Pedro Sarmiento, who not only held a high place among the Spanish
navigators of the sixteenth century but also merits consideration among
the writers of his time. He was born at Alcalá de Henares about 1532. His
father was Bartolomé Sarmiento, a native of Pontevedra in Galicia, whose
wife was of a Biscayan family named Gamboa. Pedro passed the period of
his childhood and youth in his father’s house at Pontevedra, near the
little port of Bayona; but at the age of eighteen he entered the military
service of Spain, and was a soldier from 1550 to 1555, when he succumbed
to the desire to seek adventures and fortune in America. His sojourn
in Mexico and Guatemala left no important record in the history of the
period. In 1557 he arrived in Peru, then under the rule of Viceroy
Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, Marqués de Cañete, who had made his solemn
entry into Lima on June 29, 1556.
[Sidenote: Social unrest and sedition]
The rebellions of Gonzalo Pizarro and Girón had been put down, but the
spirit of discontent and hostility to the government was manifest in many
quarters. The judges of the audiencia were leaders of opposing factions;
the corregidores were supporting practically independent military forces,
and their unlawful acts imposed intolerable burdens on persons subject to
their authority. Everywhere there were smouldering embers of sedition.
The viceroy faced this condition of affairs with a grim determination to
bring peace to the troubled society. He gathered and held subject to his
order the arms and munitions that were scattered among the corregidores.
The prominent disturbers of the peace he disarmed and sent into exile.
He caused Tomás Vásquez, the lieutenant of Girón, to be executed, and
ordered the corregidores to impose the same punishment upon turbulent and
dangerous persons within their districts. And to furnish a vent to the
restlessness of adventurers, he encouraged the organization of exploring
expeditions, of which the most notorious was that of Pedro de Ursúa, that
finally fell under the control of the brutal Lope de Aguirre.
[Sidenote: The viceregal court]
[Sidenote: Persecution of Sarmiento]
Another phase of the viceroy’s activity was the setting up of the
viceregal establishment, where the vice-queen presided, and introduced
much of the ceremonious life of a European Court. At this time the
question of the aims and ambitions of the Incarial family began to
excite inquiry if not alarm, and the prominence of this subject induced
Sarmiento to study seriously the history of the Incas. This subject
claimed his attention for a number of years after his arrival in Lima.
But during his residence at the capital he was persecuted by the
Inquisition. The charges against him were trivial, and for one alleged
offence he was condemned to the absurd punishment of hearing mass in
the cathedral at Lima, divested of his clothing and holding a candle in
his hand. In addition to this penalty, it was ordered that he should be
perpetually banished from the Indies. But by appealing to the Pope he
was released from the penalty of banishment, and permitted to reside
in Cuzco and other parts of Peru until 1567. Still, this senseless
persecution was continued until his public services obtained for him the
protection of the government.
[Illustration: Page 2 of the MS. of Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa]
[Sidenote: _Segunda parte de la historia general_]
During these ten years he made various journeys throughout the country
in pursuit of information concerning the Incas. Of the results of these
investigations there remains _Segunda parte de la historia general
llamada índica_. Other parts, if any others were written, have not come
to light. The manuscript of this second part includes a dedication to
the king that was written at Cuzco and signed by Sarmiento on March 4,
1572. The work as designed by the author was to consist of three parts.
The second, and apparently the only part written, contains the history
of the Incas. It treats of the early rulers of Peru and their principal
officers, the settlement of Cuzco, the legends concerning the origin
of the Incas, the entrance of Manco Capac into the region of Cuzco,
the subsequent wars with other tribes, the reigns of Tupac Yupanqui
and Huayna Capac, and the civil wars between Huascar and Atahualpa, of
which the Spaniards took advantage on their arrival in Peru. Sarmiento
fixes the beginning of the Inca dynasty at the year 565, thus making its
continuance a little less than a thousand years.[40]
[Sidenote: Continued persecution]
[Sidenote: Sarmiento pursues Drake]
[Sidenote: Voyage to the Strait]
[Sidenote: Thomas Cavendish]