Inca Garcilaso

In the early 17th century, the Lisbon printing house of Pedro Craesbeeck published La Florida, a chronicle about the failed expedition of Hernando de Soto to the northeastern region of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In the prologue, El Inca Garcilaso (1539–1616) claims to have drawn on the testimony of a veteran conquistador. Writing La Florida (1605) took him about twenty years. Despite his tendency to idealise the conquest, Garcilaso was aware of the injustices suffered by Native Americans. This awareness is reflected in his mention of his mother in the second sentence of the “Prologue to the Reader” in La Florida. His work presents an ennobling image of indigenous women. While exalting the conquistadors is common in chronicles, the elevation of indigenous figures—especially women—is far less so. By idealizing both groups equally, Garcilaso bridges these two worlds. This lecture will explore these idealized encounters, focusing in particular on the representation of indigenous women.