Juan Wallparrimachi Mayta (

Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal . For centuries, it was the location o ...

, 1793–1814) was a

Bolivian Bolivian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Bolivia ** Bolivian people ** Demographics of Bolivia ** Culture of Bolivia * SS ''Bolivian'', a British-built standard cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries ...

poet and pro-independence guerrilla fighter who wrote in

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

. He worked in his people's tradition while also producing

décima A décima is a ten-line stanza of poetry. The most popular form is called décima espinela after Vicente Espinel (1550–1624), a Spanish writer, poet, and musician from the Siglo de Oro who used it extensively throughout his compositions. The d� ...

in indigenous language. His work fell into relative neglect.

Biography

Wallparrimachi was born in the village of

Macha Macha () was a sovereignty goddess of ancient Ireland associated with the province of Ulster, particularly the sites of Navan Fort (''Eamhain Mhacha'') and Armagh (''Ard Mhacha''), which are named after her.Koch, John T. ''Celtic Culture: A H ...

, in the

Chayanta Province Chayanta is a province in the northern parts of the Bolivian Potosí Department. Its capital is Colquechaca. Location Chayanta province is one of sixteen provinces in the Potosí Department. It is located between 18° 23' and 19° 6' South and ...

of the

Potosí Department Potosí (; Aymara language, Aymara: ''Putusi''; qu, P'utuqsi) is a Departments of Bolivia, department in southwestern Bolivia. It comprises 118,218 km2 with 823,517 inhabitants (2012 census). The capital is the city of Potosí. It is most ...

in Bolivia. The grandson of a Portuguese Jew, and the son of an indigenous mother from

Cuzco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru; ...

, Peru, and a Spanish father, who both died shortly after his birth. He was raised by indigenous people and later recruited by the guerrillas Manuel Ascensio Padilla and

Juana Azurduy de Padilla Juana Azurduy de Padilla (July 12, 1780 – May 25, 1862) was a guerrilla military leader from Chuquisaca, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (now Sucre, Bolivia).Pallis, Michael “Slaves of Slaves: The Challenge of Latin American Women” (Lon ...

, with whom he fought against the Spanish government. As he only knew the surname of his maternal grandfather, he adopted it. He died at the age of 20, in an 1814 battle in the

Bolivian War of Independence Bolivian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Bolivia ** Bolivian people ** Demographics of Bolivia ** Culture of Bolivia * SS ''Bolivian'', a British-built standard cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries ...

, under the command of his leader and protector, Juana Azurduy. He has passed into immortality as a "poet-soldier" in Bolivian literature.

References

1793 births 1814 deaths People from Chayanta Province Bolivian male poets Quechua-language poets 19th-century Bolivian poets 19th-century male writers Bolivian people of Spanish descent Bolivian people of Peruvian descent {{Bolivia-writer-stub