The Inca Garcilaso

Abstract

José Toribio Polo presents a biography of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, born in Cusco in 1539, the son of the Spanish conquistador of the same name and the Ñusta Isabel Chimpu Ocllo. The article narrates his early years in Peru, where he witnessed the civil wars and the establishment of the viceroyalty administration.  Later, the author refers to his trip to Spain at the age of twenty, from where he never returned. Garcilaso’s literary works are detailed: the translation of the "Dialoghi di Amore," "La Florida del Inca," and his masterpiece, the "Comentarios Reales" (Royal Commentaries), published in 1609. The author defends the Inca against critics who question his veracity, arguing that his an indispensable source for Inca history, despite being written from memory and with filial idealization; his testimony though corrects errors of early Spanish chroniclers.