The History of the Conquest of Peru

The History of the Conquest of Peru

The Conquest Of Peru

by

"Congestae cumulantur opes, orbisque rapinas Accipit."

Claudian, In Ruf., lib. i., v. 194.

"So color de religion

Van a buscar plata y oro

Del encubierto tesoro."

Lope De Vega, El Nuevo Mundo, Jorn. 1.

The most brilliant passages in the history of Spanish adventure

in the New World are undoubtedly afforded by the conquests of

Mexico and Peru, - the two states which combined with the largest

extent of empire a refined social polity, and considerable

progress in the arts of civilization. Indeed, so prominently do

they stand out on the great canvas of history, that the name of

the one, notwithstanding the contrast they exhibit in their

respective institutions, most naturally suggests that of the

other; and, when I sent to Spain to collect materials for an

account of the Conquest of Mexico, I included in my researches

those relating to the Conquest of Peru.

The larger part of the documents, in both cases, was obtained

from the same great repository, - the archives of the Royal

Academy of History at Madrid; a body specially intrusted with the

preservation of whatever may serve to illustrate the Spanish

colonial annals. The richest portion of its collection is

probably that furnished by the papers of Munoz. This eminent

scholar, the historiographer of the Indies, employed nearly fifty

years of his life in amassing materials for a history of Spanish

discovery and conquest in America. For this, as he acted under

the authority of the government, every facility was afforded him;

and public offices and private depositories, in all the principal

cities of the empire, both at home and throughout the wide extent

of its colonial possessions, were freely opened to his

inspection. The result was a magnificent collection of

manuscripts, many of which he patiently transcribed with his own

hand. But he did not live to reap the fruits of his persevering

industry. The first volume, relative to the voyages of Columbus,

was scarcely finished when he died; and his manuscripts, at least

that portion of them which have reference to Mexico and Peru,

were destined to serve the uses of another, an inhabitant of that

New World to which they related.

Another scholar, to whose literary stores I am largely indebted,

is Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, late Director of the Royal

Academy of History. Through the greater part of his long life he

was employed in assembling original documents to illustrate the

colonial annals. Many of these have been incorporated in his

great work, "Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos," which,

although far from being completed after the original plan of its

author, is of inestimable service to the historian. In following

down the track of discovery, Navarrete turned aside from the

conquests of Mexico and Peru, to exhibit the voyages of his

countrymen in the Indian seas. His manuscripts, relating to the

two former countries, he courteously allowed to be copied for me.

Some of them have since appeared in print, under the auspices of

his learned coadjutors, Salva and Baranda, associated with him in

the Academy; but the documents placed in my hands form a most

important contribution to my materials for the present history.

The death of this illustrious man, which occurred some time after

the present work was begun, has left a void in his country not

easy to be filled; for he was zealously devoted to letters, and

few have done more to extend the knowledge of her colonial

history. Far from an exclusive solicitude for his own literary

projects, he was ever ready to extend his sympathy and assistance

to those of others. His reputation as a scholar was enhanced by

the higher qualities which he possessed as a man, - by his

benevolence, his simplicity of manners, and unsullied moral

worth. My own obligations to him are large; for from the

publication of my first historical work, down to the last week of

his life, I have constantly received proofs from him of his

hearty and most efficient interest in the prosecution of my

historical labors; and I now the more willingly pay this

well-merited tribute to his deserts, that it must be exempt from

Physical Aspect Of The Country. - Sources Of Peruvian

Civilization. - Empire Of The Incas. - Royal Family. - Nobility.

Of the numerous nations which occupied the great American

continent at the time of its discovery by the Europeans, the two

most advanced in power and refinement were undoubtedly those of

Mexico and Peru. But, though resembling one another in extent of

civilization, they differed widely as to the nature of it; and

the philosophical student of his species may feel a natural

curiosity to trace the different steps by which these two nations

strove to emerge from the state of barbarism, and place

themselves on a higher point in the scale of humanity. - In a

former work I have endeavoured to exhibit the institutions and

character of the ancient Mexicans, and the story of their

conquest by the Spaniards. The present will be devoted to the

Peruvians; and, if their history shall be found to present less

strange anomalies and striking contrasts than that of the Aztecs,

it may interest us quite as much by the pleasing picture it

offers of a well-regulated government and sober habits of

industry under the patriarchal sway of the Incas.

The empire of Peru, at the period of the Spanish invasion,

stretched along the Pacific from about the second degree north to

the thirty-seventh degree of south latitude; a line, also, which

describes the western boundaries of the modern republics of

Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili. Its breadth cannot so easily

be determined; for, though bounded everywhere by the great ocean

on the west, towards the east it spread out, in many parts,

considerably beyond the mountains, to the confines of barbarous

states, whose exact position is undetermined, or whose names are

effaced from the map of history. It is certain, however, that its

breadth was altogether disproportioned to its length. *1

The topographical aspect of the country is very remarkable. A

strip of land, rarely exceeding twenty leagues in width, runs

along the coast, and is hemmed in through its whole extent by a

colossal range of mountains, which, advancing from the Straits of

Magellan, reaches its highest elevation - indeed, the highest on

the American continent - about the seventeenth degree south, *2

and, after crossing the line, gradually subsides into hills of

inconsiderable magnitude, as it enters the Isthmus of Panama.

This is the famous Cordillera of the Andes, or "copper

mountains," *3 as termed by the natives, though they might with

more reason have been called "mountains of gold." Arranged

sometimes in a single line, though more frequently in two or

three lines running parallel or obliquely to each other, they

seem to the voyager on the ocean but one continuous chain; while

the huge volcanoes, which to the inhabitants of the table-land

look like solitary and independent masses, appear to him only

like so many peaks of the same vast and magnificent range. So

immense is the scale on which Nature works in these regions, that

it is only when viewed from a great distance, that the spectator

can, in any degree, comprehend the relation of the several parts

to the stupendous whole. Few of the works of Nature, indeed, are

calculated to produce impressions of higher sublimity than the

aspect of this coast, as it is gradually unfolded to the eye of

the mariner sailing on the distant waters of the Pacific; where

mountain is seen to rise above mountain, and Chimborazo, with its

glorious canopy of snow, glittering far above the clouds, crowns

the whole as with a celestial diadem. *4

The face of the country would appear to be peculiarly unfavorable

to the purposes both of agriculture and of internal

communication. The sandy strip along the coast, where rain

rarely falls, is fed only by a few scanty streams, that furnish a

remarkable contrast to the vast volumes of water which roll down

the eastern sides of the Cordilleras into the Atlantic. The