The Discovery and Conquest of Peru: Chronicles of the New World Encounter

522 Pages·1999·31.61 MB·English

by  Pedro de Cieza de Leon

The Discoveryand Conquest ofPeru
A bookin theseries
LatinAmericaintranslation/Entraducci6n/Emtradu~ao
SponsoredbytheDuke-UniversityofNorthCarolinaJointProgramin
LatinAmericanStudies

The
Discovery and
Conquest of Peru
CHRONICLES OF THE NEW WORLD ENCOUNTER
Pedro de Cieza de Leon
Editedand Translatedby
Alexandra Parma Cookand Noble David Cook
DukeUniversityPress DurhamandLondon
©1998DukeUniversityPress
AllrightsreservedPrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaper@
TypesetinDantewithCentaurdisplaybyTsengInformationSystems,Inc.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData appear on the lastprinted
pageofthisbook.
Thepreparationofthis workwas madepossibleby agrantfrom the National
EndowmentfortheHumanities,anindependentfederalagency.
TranslationofthebooksintheLatinAmericainTranslation/ EnTraducci6n/
EmTradu<;ao, acollaborationbetweentheDuke-UniversityofNorthCarolina
JointPrograminLatinAmericanStudiesandtheuniversitypressesofDukeand
theUniversityofNorthCarolina,issupportedbyagrantfrom theAndrewW.
MellonFoundation.
Translation andpublicationpermissionto print this workin the United States
was granted by the Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Cat6lica del
Peru.
Frontispieceart:SantiagotheMoorslayer-Indianslayer.FelipeGuamanPomade
Ayala,EIprimernuevacoronicaybuengobierno[1613J,f. 404.CourtesySigloVein
tiunoEditores.
Thoseofyoureadingthis, believemethatwhenI write,
I wouldratherleaveoutmuchofwhatI knowandpassitoverthan
toincludeevenasinglewordofwhatdidnothappen. And,goodand
honorablemen, thisyouwillcomprehendandlearnwithoutknowingit
whenyouseethemodestyandsimplicityofmystyle, whichseeksneither
verbositynorflowery wordsnorotherrhetoric, andonlywishestorelate
thetruthwithsinceritybecauseI believethatgoodwritingmustbe
likeonepersonconversingwithanother-andas
onespeaksandnomore.
Pedro de Ciezade Leon(Part Three, chapter7)

CONTENTS
ListofIllustrationsandMaps xvii
Prologue I
Introduction 5
I. AboutthediscoveryofPeru 37
II. About how Governor Pedrarias named Francisco Pi~arro captain of
theSouth Seaand howheleftPanamaforthediscovery 42
III. About how Captain Francisco Pi~arro left to explore the coastofthe
South Seaandwhythat kingdomwascalledPeru 48
IV. AbouthowMontenegro andseveral Spaniards returnedintheshipto
the Pearl Islands to getprovisions without bringinganything to eat ex
cept a dry cowhide and some bitterpalmettos, and about the hardship
and hungerenduredbyPi~arro andthosewhoremainedwith him 52
v. About how Montenegro arrived at the Pearl Islands and how he re
turnedwiththesuccor 56
VI. About how the captain and the Spaniards came upon an Indian vil
lage where theyfound somegold, how they landed in Pueblo Quemado
andfrom theresentashiptoPanama, andwhatelsehappened 59
Abouthowthe Indians attacked the Spaniards and thedifficulty the
VII.
captainwasinand howtheIndiansfled 63
About how Diego de Almagro left Panama with people and succor
VIII.
insearch ofhispartner, and about howthey injured his eyeand how he
wasunitedwith him 67
About how Diego de Almagro returned to Panama, where hefOund
IX.
thatPedrarias was recruitingpeoplefor Nicaragua, and what happened
to himaswellas hispartner, CaptainFranciscoPi~arro 71
x. About how Pi~arro and Almagro journeyed as far as the SanJuan
River, whereitwasagreed thatthepilot, BartolomeRui~ wouldexplore
alongthewesterncoastandAlmagrowouldreturnformorepeople 74
How when the Spaniards went in canoes lookingfor provisions, all
XI.
the Spaniards who went with theirCaptain Varela in one ofthe canoes
werekilled bytheIndians 78
CONTENTS
XII. About howPedro de los Rios cameasgovernorto Tierra Firme and
whatAlmagrodidinPanamauntilhereturnedwithpeople 80
XIII. About how the captains and the Spaniards embarked and sailed to
Atacames, andwhathappenedto them 83
XIV. Abouthowallthe Spaniardswantedto return to Panamaandcould
not, and how Diego de Almagro departed with the ships while Pi~arro
remainedon Gallo Island, andaboutthecoupletthattheysentto Gover
norPedrode losRios 87
xv. About how when Diego de Almagro arrived in Panama, Governor
PedrodelosRios, distressed bythedeathofsomanypeople, didnotallow
himtorecruitmore. Andhow[Rios]sentJuan Tafurtosetfree theSpan
iards, andwhatPi~arrodidwiththelettershispartnershadsenthim 91
XVI. About howJuan Tafur arrived where the Christians were and how
they were setfree, all ofthem wanting to return, except thirteen; and
theyandPi~arro remained 93
XVII. About how Captain Francisco Pi~arro remained on the deserted
islandandofthemanythingsheandhiscompanionsendured, andabout
thearrivaloftheshipsinPanama 97
XVIII. About howJuan Tafur arrived in Panama and how one ship re
turnedto Gorgona to CaptainFranciscoPi~arro 100
XIX. About how Captain Francisco Pi~rro and his companions left the
islandandwhattheydid
103
xx. About how the Indians who left the ship reported about the Span
iards, which thosefrom the land marveled at, and how they sent them
provisionsandwaterandotherthings
107
XXI. About how the captain ordered Pedro de Candia to go and see
whetherwhatAlonso de Molina said hesawin the land ofTumbe~ was
true
112
XXII. About how Captain Francisco Pi~arro continued the discovery and
whathappenedto him
116
XXIII. About how Captain Francisco Pi~arro turned around and landed
in some Indian villages, where things went wellfor him, and what else
happenedto him
120
viii
CONTENTS
XXIV.Abouthowthecaptaintookpossessionofthoselandsandwhatelse
hediduntilheleftthem 123
XXV. How Pi~arro arrived in Panama, where he tried to negotiate with
Pedro de los Rios to grant himpeople to return with, but becauseitdid
nothappen, hedecidedtogo to Spain 129
XXVI. About how Captain Francisco Pi~arro went to Spain to report to
the emperoraboutthe land he had discovered, andwhatAlmagrodid in
TierraFirme 133
XXVII. About how Captain Francisco Pi~arro arrived in Spain and was
giventhegovernanceofPeru 136
XXVIII. About how the Governor Don Francisco Pi~arro returned to
Tierra Firme, havingfirst sent certain Spaniards in aship to report on
whathehadnegotiated 141
XXIX. About how the Governor Don Francisco Pi~arro arrived at Nom
brede Dios andwhatoccurred between himandDiego deAlmagro;and
how in Panama they renewed theirfriendship andformed a newpart
nership 145
xxx. Abouthow GovernorDon Francisco Pi~arro left Panama and Cap
tain Diego de Almagro stayed there, and how Pi~arro entered Coaque
148
XXXI. About howPi~arro decided to send ships to Panama and Nicara
guawiththegoldthatwasfOund, and howsomeChristianscametojoin
him, andabouthowmanybecameill 152
XXXII. About how [Pi~arro] proceeded on his march, and [the Indians]
killedtwoofhisChristians, andBelalca~ar arrivedwithotherChristians
from Nicaragua, andwhatelsehappened 155
XXXIII. About how the governorproceeded on his march and there was
great discontent amongthe Spaniards, and about how messengers came
from Puna, [saying] that the islanders were determined to kill ourmen
159
XXXIV. About howthose ofthe island stillplanned to kill the Spaniards,
and TumbaM was imprisoned, and how the islandersfought with our
men 164
ix