Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa

Viage Al Estrecho de Magallanes

Sir Clements Robert Markham

Rare manuscript — one of the primary sources of information on pre-Conquest Incan history, traditions and chronology, gives full details of ceremonies, festivals and religious beliefs and provides detailed accounts of the origin of the Incas, ancient systems of land division, early settlements, biographical sketches of rulers, coming of the Spaniards, the execution of the last Inca emperor and much more. Also includes sensitively written account of events leading up to and including the execution of a young Incan prince. Of great interest to students of ancient South American cultures, this important document also contains a lexicon of Quichua words and a list of place names.

History of the Incas

History of the Incas is a work by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. It details the origins, myths and wars of the Incan Empire as a reading preparation for Phillip II.

Primary source of information on pre-Conquest Incan history, traditions and chronology. Full details of ceremonies, festivals, and religious beliefs, origin of the Incas, arrival of the Spaniards, much more. 2 maps. Bibliography.

The History of the Incas may be the best description of Inca life and mythology to survive Spanish colonization of Peru. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, a well-educated sea captain and cosmographer of the viceroyalty, wrote the document in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire, just forty years after the arrival of the first Spaniards. The royal sponsorship of the work guaranteed Sarmiento direct access to the highest Spanish officials in Cuzco. It allowed him to summon influential Incas, especially those who had witnessed the fall of the Empire. Sarmiento also traveled widely and interviewed numerous local lords (curacas), as well as surviving members of the royal Inca families. Once completed, in an unprecedented effort to establish the authenticity of the work, Sarmiento's manuscript was read, chapter by chapter, to forty-two indigenous authorities for commentary and correction. The scholars behind this new edition (the first to be published in English since 1907) went to similarly great lengths in pursuit of accuracy. Translators Brian Bauer and Vania Smith used an early transcript and, in some instances, the original document to create the text. Bauer and Jean-Jacques Decoster's introduction lays bare the biases Sarmiento incorporated into his writing. It also theorizes what sources, in addition to his extensive interviews, Sarmiento relied upon to produce his history. Finally, more than sixty new illustrations enliven this historically invaluable document of life in the ancient Andes.

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa

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