History of the Incas

by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa

The Viceroy's intercourse with Polo de Ondegardo informed him respecting the administrative system of the Incas, so admirably adapted to the genius of the people, and he had the wisdom to see that there was much to learn from it. His policy was to collect the people, who, to a great extent, were scattered over the country and hiding from the Spaniards, in villages placed near the centres of their cultivated or pasture lands. He fixed the numbers in each village at 400 to 500, with a priest and Alcalde. He also ordered the boundaries of all the parishes to be settled. Spanish Corregidors were to take the places of the Tucuyricoc or governors of Inca times, and each village had an elected Alcalde approved by the Corregidor. Under him there were to be two overseers, a Pichca pachaca over 500, and a Pachaca as assistant. Another important measure was the settlement of the tribute. The name "tribute" was unfortunate. The system was that of the Incas, and the same which prevailed throughout the east. The government was the landlord, and the so-called "tribute" was rent. The Incas took two-thirds for the state and for religion, and set apart one-third for the cultivators. Toledo did much the same, assessing, according to the nature of the soil, the crops, and other local circumstances. For the formation of villages and the assessment of the tribute he promulgated a whole code of ordinances, many of them intended to prevent local oppression in various forms.

The Viceroy next took up the questions of the position of yana-cunas or domestic servants, and of forced service. Both these institutions existed in Incarial times. All that was needed were moderate laws for the protection of servants and conscripts, and the enforcement of such laws. Toledo allowed a seventh of the adult male population in each village to be made liable for service in mines or factories, fixed the distance they could be taken from their homes, and made rules for their proper treatment. It is true that the mita, as it was called, was afterwards an instrument of cruel oppression, that rules were disregarded, and that it depopulated the country. But this was not the fault of Toledo.

The Viceroy gave much attention to the mining industry, promoted the introduction of the use of mercury in the extraction of silver, and founded the town of Huancavelica near the quick-silver mine. His personality pervaded every department of the state, and his tasas or ordinances fill a large volume. He was a prolific legislator and a great statesman.

His worst mistake was the policy he adopted with regard to the family of the Incas. He desired to establish the position of the King of Spain without a rival. He, therefore, sought to malign the preceding dynasty, persecuted the descendants of the Incas, and committed one act of cruel injustice.

When Atahualpa put his half-brother Huascar, the last reigning Inca, to death, there remained three surviving sons of their father the great Inca Huayna Ccapac, named Manco, Paullu, and Titu Atauchi, and several daughters. After his occupation of Cuzco, Pizarro acknowledged Manco Inca as the legitimate successor of his brother Huascar, and he was publicly crowned, receiving all the insignia on March 24th, 1534. He escaped from the Spaniards and besieged them in Cuzco at the head of a large army. Forced to raise the siege he established his head-quarters at Ollantay-tampu, where he repulsed an attack led by Hernando Pizarro. He was, however, defeated by Orgoñiez, the lieutenant of Almagro, and took refuge in the mountainous province of Vilcapampa on the left bank of the Vilcamayu. From thence he made constant attacks on the Spaniards, maintaining his independence in this small remnant of his dominions. Some of the partisans of Almagro took refuge with him, and he was accidentally killed by one of them in 1544, after a not inglorious reign of ten years.

He left two legitimate sons, named Sayri Tupac and Tupac Amaru, by his wife and niece the Princess Ataria Cusi Huarcay, daughter of his ill-fated brother Huascar. This marriage was legalized by a bull of Pope Paul III in the time of the Viceroy Marquis of Cañete, 1555—1561. He had also an illegitimate son named Cusi Titu Yupanqui, and a daughter named Maria Tupac Usca, married to Don Pedro Ortiz de Orue, one of the first conquerors[9].

[Note 9: Diego Ortiz de Orue was born in the village of Getafe, near Madrid. He went out to Peru in 1559, and at once began to study the Quichua language. He was encomendero of Maras, a village overlooking the valley of Yucay. By the Inca princess he had a daughter named Catalina married to Don Luis Justiniani of Seville, descended from the Genoese family. Their son Luis was the grandfather of Dr Justo Pastor Justiniani who married Manuela Cataño, descended from Tupac Inca Yupanqui. Their son Don Pablo Justiniani was Cura of Laris until his death in 1858, and was a great depository of Inca lore. He had a very early copy of the Inca drama of Ollanta.]

Sayri Tupac succeeded as fourteenth Inca of Peru. On the arrival of the Marquis of Cañete as Viceroy in 1555, he caused overtures to be made to Sayri Tupac through his aunts, who were living at Cuzco with their Spanish husbands, Juan Sierra de Leguisano and Diego Hernandez. It was finally arranged that the Inca should receive 17000 castellanos of rent and the valley of Yucay. On October 7th, 1557, Sayri Tupac left Vilcapampa with 300 followers, reaching Andahuaylas on November 5th. He entered Lima on January 6th, 1558, was cordially greeted by the Viceroy and received investiture, assuming the names of Manco Ccapac Pachacuti Yupanqui. He went to live in the lovely vale of Yucay. He had been baptized with the name of Diego, but he did not long survive, dying at Yucay in 1560. His daughter Clara Beatriz married Don Martin Garcia Loyola. Their daughter Lorenza was created Marchioness of Oropesa and Yucay, with remainder to descendants of her great uncle Tupac Amaru. She was the wife of Juan Henriquez de Borja, grandson of the Duke of Gandia.

On the death of Sayri Tupac, his illegitimate brother, Cusi Titu Yupanqui assumed sovereignty, owing to the youth of the legitimate brother Tupac Amaru, both remaining in Vilcapampa.

Paullu Tupac Yupanqui, the next brother of Manco Inca, was baptized with the name of Cristóval. He accompanied Almagro in his expedition to Chile, and was with young Almagro at the battle of Chupas. Eventually he was allowed to fix his residence on the Colcampata of Cuzco, at the foot of the fortress, and by the side of the church of San Cristóval. From the terrace of the Colcampata there is a glorious view with the snowy peak of Vilcañota in the far distance. Paullu died in May, 1549, and was succeeded on the Colcampata by his son Carlos Inca. He had two other sons named Felipe and Bartolomé. From the latter was descended the late Archdeacon of Cuzco, Dr Justo Salmaraura Inca.