y name is Guaman Poma de Ayala. I was born a few years after the Spanish invasion of the Andes, a descendent of the Inca dynasty. Because of my noble heritage, I was raised in viceregal palaces. I was baptized a Christian and taught to read and write. For many years I served as an interpreter for the Spanish and, as part of my duties, I assisted church officials in stamping out native rituals. As the years passed, however, I could no longer ignore the sufferings of my subjugated people. I feared they would all die from Spanish diseases and forced labor, and all that was beautiful and true in our sacred traditions would die with them.I devoted the rest of my life to demanding justice for my people. I taught other Andeans to read and write so they could submit legal claims to recover their lands. In 1585 I began to write a long chronicle to King Philip III of Spain. It was a plea on behalf of my people, and I considered it my life’s most important work. I recorded the history and traditions of my people. I recorded all that had happened to them since the Conquest. I spoke about my people’s right to rule their own land. I called this chronicle Nueva corónica y buen gobierno. I completed it in 1615. I do not know if the king ever received it. I died without receiving his response.
My manuscript was discovered by a researcher at the Royal Library of Copenhagen in 1908. Today it serves anthropologists and historians as an important primary source on Andean culture and the early colonial period in Peru.
Sor Juana Inés de la CruzIndian Miner
Guaman Poma de AyalaConquistador/Settler
Canary Islander
Camina el autor con su hijo don Francisco de Ayala, "The author traveling with his son Francisco de Ayala". From El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno, Rolena Adorno and John Murra edition, Siglo Veintiuno Editores, Mexico D.F. 1980.