Pedro Cieza de Leon sailed from Cadiz in 1532 at the age of barely 14, and began to write a journal in his early 20s. In 1547 he joined the Spanish army which was recruiting soldiers to retake Peru from a rebellious Gonzalo Pizarro in Cusco. He marched the length of Peru, along the highlands of what is now Colombia and through Ecuador before descending to the coast, travelling with the army to Lima and then ascending the mountains for the decisive battle. Afterwards he travelled further South, to Cusco and then to Alke Titicaca and into present day Bolivia to Potosi, before returning to Lima via Arequipa and the coast.
He did, in fact, a thorough circuit of much of the former Inca empire, as a modern backpacker might in three or six months. But his three years in the army were spent travelling from town to town on foot, asking questions and observing carefully, so that he writes
“Oftentimes, when the other soldiers were resting, I was tiring myself by writing. Neither fatigue nor the niggedness of the country, nor the mountains
and rivers, nor intolerable hunger and suffering, have obstructed my two duties, writing, and following my flag and my captain.”
He sailed back to Spain in 1550 and published his work a few years later. For many, it is the most reliable source on colonial Peru, without an agenda of aggrandising the Inca or exculpating the spanish.
Chapter X1
Before these Indians gave battle to Captain Cesar, they took their gold to the temple which they had built (according to their own account) in honour of the devil ; and, when the Spaniards came there, digging in a certain part, they found a vault with the entrance towards the setting sun, in which there were many vases full of very fine ornaments of gold, altogether more than 21 quintals,^ worth upwards of 40,000 ducats. They related that further on there was another house that contained more treasure, and they also stated that they found others still more rich in the valley. Afterwards, when we arrived with Vadillo, we found the burial places opened, and the house or temple burnt.
Chap XV
2.5 leagues before Anzerma, (Santa Ana de los Caballeros). Beyond, there is a small valley clear of trees, and a little farther on we came to a large and beautiful valley, very populous, with the houses all new, and close to each other. Some of them were very large, and the fields were full of maize crops and edible roots. Afterwards, the inhabitants of this valley left their old home, fleeing from the cruelties of the Spaniards, and took refuge in some wild and lofty mountains, which overhang the valley called Cima.
Chap XVII
The towns between Antiocha and Ama
They are great traders….there is a great quantity of salt, and many traders carry it over the mountains and obtain in exchange great sums of gold, cotton cloths, and other things which they require. When we entered this valley of Aburra, the detestation we conceived for the natives was such that we hung them and their women to the boughs of trees by their hair, and, amidst grievous moans, we left their bodies there, while their souls went down to hell.
The land is very fertile in this valley of Aburra, and several rivers flow through it. Further on there is a very large ancient road, and others by which the people communicate with those to the eastward
Cap XVIII
This province of Arma, whence the town took its name, is very large and populous, and the Richest in this part of the country; it contains twenty thousand Indians capable of bearing arms, not counting women and children, or did so when I wrote this, which was at the time when Christian Spaniards first entered the country.
Cap XIV
After leaving Antioquia one comes to a small hill called Corome, which is in a little valley where used to be a populous village of Indians ; but since the Spaniards came as conquerors, the Indians have greatly diminished in numbers.
In the ravine of the river there is a village, which is not very large, owing to the wars which have destroyed the population.
Cjap XIX
…these lands, where only ten or fifteen Christians together conquer and subdue one thousand to ten thousand of these Indians. I do not believe, however, that this arises from our merits, for we are indeed great sinners ; but because God chooses to punish these people by our means, and therefore permits these events to happen as they do.
Chap XXI
If the Spaniards had not come, all the gold in the country would certainly have been offered to the devil, or buried with the dead, for the Indians neither want it, nor seek it for any other purpose. They do not pay any wages with it to their men of war, nor do they want it except as ornaments when alive, and to be placed by their sides when dead. Therefore, it seems to me that we are bound to bring them to a knowledge of our holy Catholic faith, without showing them that our only wish is to fill our pockets.^
Chap XXIII
They are not great eaters, but all the Indians we met with are generally addicted to excessive drinking.
Chap XXIV
… in the year 1547. At the time when the viceroy, Blasco Nunez Yela, was embarrassed by the movements of Gonzalo Pizarro and his followers^ a great pestilence spread over the whole kingdom of Peru, which began on the other side of Cuzco, and pervaded the whole country. People without number died. The illness consisted of a headache accompanied by raging fever, and presently the pain passed from the head to the left ear, when it became so great that the patient did not last more than two or three days. The pestilence reached this province.
Now there is a river, about half a league from the city of Cartago, called Consota, and near it there is a small lake where they make salt from the water of a spring. Many Indian women were one day assembled there, making salt for the households of their lords, when they saw a tall man with his belly open and bowels hanging out, holding two boys by the hand. When he came to the women, he said, ” I promise you that I have to kill all the women of the Christians, and all those of your people, and it shall be done presently.” As it was day time the Indian women showed no fear, but related the occurrence in a laughing way when they went to their homes. In another village of the neighbourhood, called Giraldo Gilestopina, they saw the same figure on horseback, galloping over all the hills and mountains like the wind. In a few days the pestilence and ear-ache came on in such a manner, that most of the people died, the Spaniards losing their Indians bound to service, so that few or none were left ; in addition to which such terror prevailed that the very Spaniards seemed to be fearful and afraid. Many women and boys affirmed that they saw the dead with their own eyes walking again.
Chao XXVI
All this valley, from the city of Cali to these rapids, was formerly very populous, and covered with very large and beautiful villages, the houses being close together and of great size. These villages of Indians have wasted away and been destroyed by time and war; for, when the Captain Don Sebastian de Belalcazar, who was the first captain to discover and conquer this valley, made his entry, the Indians were bent on war, and fought with the Spaniards many times to defend their land, and escape from slavery. Owing to these wars, and to the famine which arose on account of the seeds not having been sown, nearly all the Indians died. There was another reason which led to their rapid extermination. The Captain Belalcazar founded, in the midst of the Indian villages in this plain, the city of Cali, which he afterwards rebuilt on its present site. The natives were so determined not to hold any friendship with the Spaniards (believing their yoke to be heavy) that they would neither sow nor cultivate the land ; and from this cause there was such scarcity that the greater part of the inhabitants died. When the Spaniards abandoned the first site the hill tribes came down in great numbers, and, fall ing upon the unfortunates who were sick and dying of hunger, soon killed and ate all those who survived. These are the reasons why the people of this valley are so reduced that scarcely any are left.
Chap XXX
The banks of this river were once very populous, but the people have been extirpated by time and by the war which they waged with the captain Belalcazar, who was the first to discover and conquer them. Although he was one cause of their rapid destruction, yet another cause of it was their evil custom and accursed vice of eating each other. The remains of these tribes and nations consist of a diminished race on both banks of the river, who are called Aguales, and who are subject to the city of Cali.
Chap XXXV
Pedro refers to the The curious dying confession of Marcio Serra de L jesama, addressed to Philip II in 1589, is another instance of these stony- hearted men being moved at last. {Calancha^ i, cap. 15, p. 98.). After telling the simple truth concerning the poor Indians, their former happy state, and the desolate misery to which the Spaniards had reduced them, the guilty wretch thus concludes : “I pray to God that he will pardon me, for I am the last to die of all the conquerors and discoverers ; it is notorious that there are none surviving except I alone, in all this kingdom nor out of it ; and I now do what I can to relieve my conscience.”
explanation
Don Mancio Serra de Leguisamo, last of the Peruvian conquistadores, sought divine redemption by confessing the sins of his people in the preamble of his will: “[W]e found these kingdoms in such good order, and the said Incas governed them in such wise that throughout them there was not a thief, nor a vicious man, nor an adulteress, nor was a bad woman admitted among them, nor were there immoral people. The men had honest and useful occupations. The lands, forests, mines, pastures, houses and all kinds of products were regulated and distributed in such sort that each one knew his property without any other person seizing it or occupying it, nor were there law suits respecting it… “…the motive which obliges me to make this statement is the discharge of my conscience, as I find myself guilty. For we have destroyed by our evil example, the people who had such a government as was enjoyed by these natives. They were so free from the committal of crimes or excesses, as well men as women, that the Indian who had 100,000 pesos worth of gold or silver in his house, left it open merely placing a small stick against the door, as a sign that its master was out. With that, according to their custom, no one could enter or take anything that was there. When they saw that we put locks and keys on our doors, they supposed that it was from fear of them, that they might not kill us, but not because they believed that anyone would steal the property of another. So that when they found that we had thieves among us, and men who sought to make their daughters commit sin, they despised us.” Source: Sir Clements Markham, The Incas of Peru, Second Edition (London: John Murray, 1912), 300.
Introduction/Overview of Peru, Capiyulo XXXVI
Some of these rivers send their waters to the South Sea, entering by the sandy deserts which I have mentioned, and the humidity of their water gives rise to very beautiful valleys with great rows of trees. The valleys are two or three leagues broad, and great quantities of algoroha trees grow in them, which flourish even at great distances from any water. Wherever there are groves of trees the land is free from sand, and very fertile and abundant. In ancient times these valleys were very populous, and still there are Indians in them, though not so many as in former days.
To prepare their fields for sowing, they lead channels from the rivers to irrigate the valleys, and the channels are so well made, and with so much regularity, that all the land is irrigated without any waste. This system of irrigation makes the valleys very green and cheerful,
Chap XL
In the neighbourhood of the city of Quito there are many flocks of what we call sheep, but they are more like camels. Further on I shall treat of these animals, of their shape, and of the different sorts of these sheep of Peru, as we call them. There are also many deer, rabbits, partridges, pigeons, doves, and other game. Of provisions, besides maize, there are two other products which form the principal food of these Indians. One is called potatoe, and is a kind of earth nut, which, after it has been boiled, is as tender as a cooked chestnut, but it has no more skin than a truffle, and it grows under the earth in the same way.
Tliis root produces a plant exactly like a poppy.
CHAP XLI
Aroudn Llacta Cunga, Callo, near Quito These Indians eat early in the morning, and they eat on the ground without troubling themselves much about cloths or napkins. After they have eaten their maize, with meat or fish, they pass all the rest of the day in drinking chlcha,^ or wine made from maize, always holding the cup in their hands. They are very careful and rderly in their festive songs, the men and women holding hands, and going round to the sound of a drum. They recount former events in their songs and ditties, but they always go on drinking until they are very drunk.
XLIII
In former times, before the Spaniards gained this kingdom, there were great quantities of sheep in these mountains of the kind peculiar to this country, and a still greater number of huanacos and vicunas. But the Spaniards have slaughtered so many, that now there are scarcely any left.
Chap L P 183
In the important temple of Pachacamac they held a she fox in great veneration, and worshipped it.
LVIII P 211
There used to be great flocks of llamas, the sheep of Peru, but now there are very few, owing to the way the Spaniards have destroyed them. The clothes of these Indians are of llama wool, and also of vicuna wool, which is better and finer. There are also some guanacos, which frequent the desert heights.
The ancient temples, which are generally called huacas, are now ruined and desecrated, the idols are broken, and the devil is thus badly wounded in these places. Where he was once, for the sins of men, so reverenced and esteemed, the cross is now planted. Truly we Spaniards should ever give infinite praise to our Lord Grod for this.
P 213
From this valley of Tumbez a journey of two days brings the traveller to the valley of Solana, which was thickly peopled in former days, and contained edifices and store-houses. The royal road of the Yncas passes through these valleys, with pleasant shady trees on either side. Leaving Solana, the road next comes to Pocheos, on a river also called Pocheos, though some call it the Maycahuilca, because there is a chief or lord of that name in the valley. This valley was once very thickly populated indeed, as we are led to suppose from the numerous remains of great buildings. These buildings, though now in ruins, prove that the valley was as populous as the natives describe, and they also show the great estimation in which the Kings Yncas held this place, for here there were royal palaces and other buildings. Time and wars have so entirely obliterated them that nothing can be seen noAV but vast numbers of great tombs of those dead who once cultivated all the fields in this valley.
Chapter LX
P217
The Caciques and officers, by order of the Yncas, made a road fifteen feet wide through these coast valleys, with a strong wall on each side. The whole space of this road was smooth and shaded by trees. These trees, in many places, spread their branches laden with fruit over the road, and many birds fluttered amongst the leaves. In every valley there was a principal station for the Yncas, with depots of provisions for the troops. If anything was not ready, a severe punishment was inflicted, and if any of those whose duty it was to traverse the road, entered the fields or dwellings of the Indians, although the damage they did was small, they were ordered to be put to death. The walls on each side extended from one place to another, except where the sand drifted so high that the Indians could not pave the road with cemeut, when huge posts, hke beams, were driven in at regular intervals to point out the way. Care was taken to keep the road clean, to renew any part of the walls that was out of repair, and to replace any of the posts which might be displaced by the Avind in the deserts. And the note to the text is added Zarate thus describes this coast road of the Yncas. ” Through all the valleys of the coast which are refreshed by rivers and trees (which are generally about a league in breadth) they made a road almost forty feet broad, with very thick embankments on either side. After leaving the valleys the same road was continued over the sandy deserts, posts being driven in and fastened by cords, so that the traveller might not lose his way, neither turning to one side nor to the other. The road, like that in the Sierra, is five hundred leagues long. Although the posts in the desert are now broken in many parts, because the Spaniards, both in time of war and peace, used them for lighting fires, yet the embankments in tlie valleys are still for the most part entire.” Hlstoria del Peru., lib. i, caj).
P 218
All those who hve in these mountains are called 8erranos, and those who inhabit the coast are called Yuncas ; and in many parts of the mountains where the rivers flow, as the mountains are very high, the plains are sheltered and warm, and in some of them there is as much heat as there is on the coast. The inhabitants who live in these warm valleys and plains, although they are strictly in the mountains, are also called Yuncas. Throughout Peru, when they speak of these warm and sheltered places between the mountains, they call them Yuncas, and the inhabitants have no other name, though they may have in their own districts. Thus, those who live in the parts already mentioned, and all who live in the coast valleys of Peru, are called Yuncas, because they live in a warm land.
The native lords of these valleys … were attended by buffoons and dancers, who were always jesting, while others played and sang. Each lord had a great building in his Valley…Round the building there was an open space where they had their dances. When the lord ate, a great concourse of people assembled, and drank their beverage made from maize or from roots. …Although there were three or four tribes of these Yuncas, they all had the same rites and customs. They spent many days and nights at their banquets and drinking bouts ; and certainly it is marvellous the quantity of chicha that these Indians drink,
indeed the glass is scarcely ever out of their hands. They used to receive the Spaniards with great hospitality when they passed near their dwellings, and to treat them honourably. Now they do not do so, because, when the Spaniards broke the peace…..they were detested by the Indians on account of the cruel way in which they treated them. The fault lies in those who have been sent here to govern,… I approve of nothing in the present rule, but rather deplore the extortion, cruel treatment, and violent deaths with which the Spaniards have visited these Indians, without considering the nobility and great virtue of their nation.
Nearly all the rest of these valleys are now almost deserted, having once been so densely peopled, as is well known to many persons.
P236
Next to the wonderful roads, these irrigating channels are the most convincing proofs of the advanced civihsation of the Yncas. Once nearly all the coast valleys were supplied with them, and thousands of acres were reclaimed from the desert ; but, owing to the barbarism or neglect of the Spaniards, they nearly all went to ruin very soon after the conquest.
P 246 The Santa valley
In former days the valley of Santa was very populous, and there were great chiefs who, at first, even defied the Yncas. They say of them that it was more by intrigue and a display of friendship than by force of arms, that they were induced to acknowledge the Yncas as their lords. Afterwards the Yncas honoured them, and held them in great esteem, and the chiefs erected grand edifices by order of the Yncas. This valley is one of the largest of any we have passed. A great and rapid river flows through it, which is much swollen when the season in the 8ierra is winter, so that some Spaniards have been drowned in crossing from one side to the other.^There are now halsas for crossing in. The valley contained many thousands of Indians in former times, but now there are only four hundred ; and this is a lamentable thing to contemplate. That which I most admired, in passing through this valley, was the great number of burial-places, and that in all parts of the barren hills above the valley there were quantities of tombs made according to the custom of the Indians, and full of the bones of the dead. Thus the things that are most worthy of notice in the valley are the tombs of the dead and the fields which they cultivated when alive. They used to take great channels of water from the river, with which they irrigated the land. But now there are few Indians, and most of the fields which were once cultivated, are converted into woods, ground overgrown with brambles, and such dense thickets that, in some places, it is difficult to make a way through them.
P 247 Paramonga
rom Guarmay the road leads to Parmonga, which is no less pleasant than the other valleys, but I beHeve that it contains no Indians at all who avail themselves of its fe tlity. If, by chance, a few remain, it must be in the upper parts near the foot of the mountains, for we saw nothing but trees and wild thickets. There is one thing worth seeing in this valley, which is a fine well-built fortress, and it is certainly very curious to see how they raised water in channels to irrigate higher levels. The buildings were very handsome, and many wild beasts and birds were painted on the walls, which are now all in ruins and undermined in many places by those who have searched for buried gold and silver. In these days the fortress only serves as a witness to that which has been.
About two leagues beyond the fortress of Guarco is a rather large river called Lunahuana, and the valley which it forms is like all the rest. Six miles further on is the large and beautiful valley of Chincha….
When the Marquis Don Francisco Pizarro with his thirteen companions, discovered the coast of this kingdom, it was said on all sides that Chincha was the fairest and best part of it. As to the origin of the Indians of Chincha, they say that, in time past, a quantity of them… arrived at this valley of Chincha, where they found many inhabitants, but all of such small stature that the tallest was barely two cubits high. The new comers being valiant, and the natives cowardly and timid, the former gained possession. They also affirm that all the natives perished….These Indians thus became lords of the valley; they flourished and multiplied, and built their villages close together. They say that they heard a certain oracle near a rock, and that they all hold the place to be sacred. They call it ChincJia and Camay. They affirm that the Indians of this valley increased so rapidly in numbers and in power, …. are said to have set out to rob the provinces of the Sierra at the time that the first Yncas were founding the city of Cuzco. They are said to have done much mischief in Soras and Lucanas, and to have got as far as the great province of the CoUao,
whence, after having taken great spoils, and gained many victories, they returned to their valley. Here they and their descendants Uved, given up to their pleasures and amusements, with over many women, and following the same rites and customs as the other tribes.The valley was so populous, that many Spaniards say, that when the Marquis conquered it, it contained more than 25,000 men. At present, I believe, that there are barely 5000, such have been the strifes and misfortunes they have gone through. The lord ship of this valley was also safe and prosperous until the valiant Ynca Yupanqui extended his rule in this direction…his valley is one of the largest in all Peru, and it is a beautiful thing to see its channels of water and groves of trees, and the great abundance of fruit, …There are scarcely any sheep of the country, because the wars between the Christians have caused their destruction.
There were an immense quantity of burial-places made on the surrounding arid heights. The Spaniards opened many of them, and obtained a great quantity of gold. …The native
Indians were fond of dancinog, and the chiefs went about with much ceremony and parade, and were reverenced Ly their vassals….The large population of this great valley has been reduced by the long civil wars in Peru, and because many natives have been taken away to carry burdens for the Spaniards. After leaving the beautiful province of Chincha, and travelling over sandy wastes, the traveller reaches the refreshing valley of Yca, which was not less rich and populous than the others. A river flows through it, which, during some months in the year when the season is summer in the Sierra, has so little water that the inhabitants of the valley feel the want of it. In the days of their prosperity, before they were subdued by the Spaniards, and when they enjoyed the government of the Yncas, besides the channels with which they irrigated the valley, they had one much larger than the rest, brought with great skill from the mountains in such wise that it flowed without reducing the quantity of water in the river.^ Now that this great channel is destroyed, they make deep holes in the bed of the river when it is dry, and thus they obtain water to drink, and for watering their crops.
-chap LXXVI
The city of Arequipa is built in the valley of Quilca, fourteen leagues from the sea, in the most healthy and best part for building. The situation and climate of this city is so good that it is praised as the most healthy in all Peru, and the most pleasant. The country yields very good wheat, of which they make excellent bread. The jurisdiction of the city extends from Acari to Tarapaca, and there are also some villages belonging to it in the province of Condesuyo. Hubinas, Chiquiguanita, Quimistaca, and Collaguas are villages belonging to this city, which were formerly very populous, and possessed many flocks of sheep. The civil wars of the Spaniards have now destroyed the greater part both of the natives and of the sheep.
P 286
The Conchucos, the great provinces of Huaylos, Tamara, Bombon, and other districts large and small, are under the jurisdiction of this city of Leon de Huanuco ; they are all very fertile and productive, yielding many edible roots which are wholesome and nourishing, and good for the sustenance of animal life. In former times there was so great a number of flocks of sheep that they could not be counted, but the late wars have caused their destruction to such an extent that very few remain.
From this valley of Yea the road leads to the beautiful rivers and valleys of Nasca, which were also very populous in times past, and the streams were made to irrigate the fields. The late wars destroyed by their cruelty (as is well known) all these poor Indians. Beyond these valleys of Nasca is that of Acari, and further on are those of Ocoiia, Camana, and Quilca, in which there are great rivers. Notwithstanding that at the present time these valleys contain few inhabitants, in former times they were populous, but the wars and calamities have reduced their numbers of late years until there are now few left.
Eleven leagues beyond Caxamarca there is another large province called Huamachuco, which was once very populous…… a beautiful river flows through it, on the banks of which grow wheat, vines, figs, oranges, lemons, and many other plants which have been brought from Spain….. In ancient times there were buildings for the chiefs in the meadows and dales of this vaUey, and many cultivated fields for them and for the temple of the sun…..
In the principal part of the province there is a great plain, where the tampus and royal palaces were built, amongst which there are two the thickness of which was twenty-two feet, and the length as much as a horse^s gallop, all made of stone, embellished with huge beams, over which the straw was laid with much skill. Owing to the late troubles the greater part of the population of this province has perished.
…..
Before the Spaniards arrived there were great flocks of sheep in the province of Huamachuco, and in the lofty and uninhabited mountains there were other wild kinds, called guanacos and vicunas, which resemble those which are domesticated.
Durante los años 1610-1611 elcentro de las campañas de extirpación fueron lurin y hanan Yauyos en la amplia carta anua de 1611, el jesuita Juan Sebastián de la Parra explica en detalle a sus superiores de Roma como hicieron tabla rasa con lasdivinidades de los Yauyos: « [ … ] con otro tanto numero de indyos, y con el /su juez en esta causa mucho maslejos q. el primero, y por vnos / caminos muy peligrosos a deshazer el famoso ydolo Xamuna q. dizen fue vn// un hombre muy valeroso q. ayudo los yndios deestas tierras en ciertas guerras, des-/pues de las cuales vinoa este çerro, y que se convirtió en un grande risco; llamanle / también Huaranca Xamuna porq. dizen q. eratan valeroso q. con ser vno, quando / era nesessario se hazia mill, de tal manera q. pareçia una bandada depaxaros / con lo qual vençia a sus contrarios. Desbaratose aquel adoratorio ; y baxados de alli / otros muchosidolos, y Huacas y tantos q. apenas se daua mano el Doctor a mandar / desbaratar, y poner Cruzes en sulugar. Sacaronse tambien de sepulcros muy / çelebrados mas de dozientos cuerpos muertos, y todos sequemaron, solo se guardo un cuerpo de vn indio llamado Tutayquiri q. con hauer mas de oçhoçientos añosque / passo esta tan entero q. admira po q. no le falta diente, ni muela, ni dedo en pies, / y manos, guardole eldoctor Auila para traerle a Lima, y q. le vean los Principes. / El 3 dia se hizo mas obra, la qual y el modo q. le vuo en los dos dias pasados en desttruyr los idolos se vera mexor por las mismas palabras del P.e Fabian de Ayala [ … ] » (P OLIA M. 1999: 306-307)(18).
as elsewhere in Latin America…
out of hatred of the other, to create and sustain class and race inequalities, and from an amoral and pathological thirst for power still seen today not only in the gangs of narco-criminals who control national power structures, including government, police, army and legal institutions, but in the day to day management of schools and businesses.
The Spanish invaders used “Extirpacion of the Idolatrias” together with administrative measures as a means of dominating the native people. If it were just a desire for wealth it would have been sufficient to control and tax them through the encomiendas and reducciones, exploit their labour and take their lands. But the pathology went beyond that. It was culturally destructive bullying for pleasure, abuse of power for its own sake, This naked glory in the abuse of power is evident today in Peru´s congress, in its class system, and on the streets of the capital on a daily basis.