Cover of An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru

An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru

Titu Cusi Yupanqui

3 ideas

  1. Conquest as betrayal of reciprocal obligation

    Titu Cusi frames the war as a violation of Andean reciprocity. Manco welcomed the Spaniards, fed them and gave them treasure, and each gift was answered with fresh demands and more abuse instead of the return obligation a host is owed. On this account rebellion was not treachery by a vassal but the justified response of a partner whose generosity had been turned into a tool of extraction.

  2. Testimony as a diplomatic bargaining instrument

    The account was dictated to a friar, notarized and addressed to Philip II while Titu Cusi was negotiating his status with the Spanish crown. Read this way, the stress on Manco's early loyalty and on Spanish abuses builds a legal case that the Incas were wronged, legitimate lords rather than rebels. The narrative is evidence of events and also a move in a negotiation, and both readings change what each episode means.

  3. Viracochas: newcomers named through their literacy

    Titu Cusi says the Andeans first called the Spaniards viracochas, linking them to the creator deity. The reasons were their strange appearance and the fact that they were seen talking to white cloths, meaning they were reading letters. An unfamiliar technology like writing was taken as a sign of supernatural power, and that first label shaped how the Andeans initially responded to the invaders.

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