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El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega

Garcilaso de la Vega, (b. Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, c. 1539 in Cuzco, Peru, d. 1616) was an illustrious Peruvian poet and acclaimed writer who is recognized primarily for his contributions to Inca history, culture, and society. Garcilaso's accounts remain the most complete and accurate available. Because of the fact that there was also a Spanish author named Garcilaso de la Vega, he is more commonly known as "El Inca" Garcilaso de la Vega, or simply "El Inca Garcilaso".

Garcilaso de la Vega was born in Cusco, Peru on April 12, 1539.^[1] Garcilaso was the illegitimate son of Spanish Captain Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega Vargas.^[1] Garcilaso's mother, Palla Chimpu Ocllo, was descended from Inca nobility.^[1] Garcilaso lived with his mother the first ten years of his life and learned to speak both Quechua and Spanish.^[2] Garcilaso received a large inheritance when his father died and in 1560 decided to travel to Spain.^[2]

Born of Spanish aristocratic and royal Inca roots, he was the son of Spanish conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega y Vargas (died 1559) and Inca princess Isabel Suárez Chimpu Ocllo(or Palla Chimpu Ocllo), who was a daughter of Tupac Huallpa and a granddaughter (not a niece) of the powerful Inca Huayna Capac.^{[citation needed]}

After being widowed, his mother was married again to Juan de Pedroche and had two daughters, Ana Ruíz, who was married to her cousin Martín de Bustinza, and Luisa de Herrera, married to Pedro Márquez de Galeoto (the parents of Alonso Márquez de Figueroa).^{[citation needed]} A native Quechua speaker born in Cuzco, Garcilaso wrote accounts of Inca life, history, and the conquest by the Spanish. His writings were published as the Comentarios Reales de los Incas (translated complete into English in 1961 as The Incas).

Garcilaso arrived in Spain in 1561 and traveled to Montilla where he met his father's brother, Alonso de Vargas, who became Garcilaso's protector.^[2] Garcilaso soon traveled to Madrid to seek recognition for the rights of his father.^[2]

Garcilaso was educated in Spain after his father's death in 1560. At the time, marriages between the Spanish and native people of the Americas were not recognized in Spain. Garcilaso had to present his case in the Spanish courts in order to receive payment for his service to the crown. Embittered by his illegitimacy in Spain and proud of his Inca heritage, Garcilaso took on the name "El Inca" (in this context, "Inca" refers to the old ruling lineage group, not the general people).

He remained in Spain and did not return to his native country (now Peru) due to the danger his royal Inca lineage presented in uncertain times.

He entered Spanish military service in 1570 and fought in the Alpujarra mountains against the Moors after the Morisco Revolt. He received the rank of captain for his services to the crown.

He was married to Francisca de Moscoso, and had, at least, one daughter:

• Francisca de Moscoso, married to Martín Suárez de Toledo, and had issue (ancestors of Bernardino Caballero, President of Paraguay).

It was in Spain that Garcilaso wrote his famous Comentarios Reales de los Incas (1609) based on stories he had been told by his Inca relatives when he was a child in Cusco. The Comentarios contained two sections: the first about Inca life, and the second about the Spanish conquest of Peru. Many years later, when the uprising against colonial oppression led by Tupac Amaru II gained traction, a royal edict by Carlos III of Spain banned the Comentarios from being published in Lima due to its "dangerous" content. The book was not printed again in the Americas until 1918, but copies continued to be circulated.

Even before the Comentarios Reales, Garcilaso had also written his popular Historia de la Florida, an account of Hernando de Soto's expedition and journey of Florida. The work was published in Lisbon in 1605, becoming better known as the La Florida del Inca. It contains the chronicles of de Sotos's expedition according to information Garcilaso gathered during various years, and defends the legitimacy of imposing the Spanish sovereignty in conquered territories and submit them to Christian jurisdiction.

Garcilaso de la Vega's portrait and house circulated in Peru in this 70's "diez soles de oro" bill

Cusco's main stadium, Estadio Garcilaso de la Vega, was named after him in 1950.

1. ^ ^{a b c} Libros Peruanos. "Inca Garcilaso de la Vega."
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Cervantes Virtual. "Inca Garcilaso de la Vega" by José Carlos Rovira and Remedios Mataix.

• Fray Martín de Murua
• Diego Fernández

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Inca Garcilaso de la Vega

• Universidad Inca Garcilaso de la Vega - Peruvian University named in his honor