Pedro Cieza De León
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Pedro Cieza de León ( Llerena,
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
c. 1518 or 1520 –
Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
, Spain July 2, 1554) was a Spanish
conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...
and chronicler of
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
and Popayán. He is known primarily for his extensive work, ''Crónicas del Perú'' (The Chronicle of Peru), which has been a source of knowledge for centuries for different disciplines such as history, philology, geography, biology, anthropology, botany and zoology. He wrote this book in four parts, but only the first was published during his lifetime; the remaining sections were not published until the 19th and 20th centuries.


Early life

His father, Lope de León, was a shopkeeper in the town, and his mother, Leonor de Cazalla, was a native of Llerena. There is scant documentary evidence of the young Cieza de León’s childhood, and little is known of his early life before his voyage to the Americas. Given the fact that he left home at 13, it is unlikely that Cieza de León received more than a rudimentary education. In 1536, in Córdoba, at 16 or 18, Cieza de León was greatly surprised to learn of the discovery of the land of the
Incas The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...
and so decided to go to
Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
to embark on his journey to South America, to see for himself the artifacts of
precious metals Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Precious metals, particularly the noble metals, are more corrosion resistant and less chemically reactive than most elements. They are usual ...
which had been brought to Spain from Cajamarca. In light of the prohibition of entry into the Spanish colonies for Jews and Jewish converts to Catholicism, Alonso López and Luis de Torres attested for Cieza de León that he was not prohibited. Pedro López de Cazalla, secretary of Spanish
conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...
Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo, Spain, to a poor fam ...
, conqueror of the Incan Empire, was also his first cousin.


In South America

Cieza de León participated in various expeditions throughout South America and he saw the deplorable state into which the Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu) had fallen. He made note of the sharply reduced population of almost all areas as a result of the Spanish conquest, as also their violence towards the local population. He complained about the state of affairs, writing:
I do not approve of the overthrow of power in any way, but I still mourn the extortion and ill-treatment inflicted by the Spaniards on the Indians, enslaved by cruelty, despite their nobility and the high dignity of their people. Because of this, all these valleys, which were densely populated in the past, are now almost deserted, as many people know.
During Cieza's travels in Peru, he helped found a number of cities. These activities include the following: * 1536 and 1537: Expedition to San Sebastián de Buenavista and to Urute with Alonso de Cáceres. * 1539: Foundation of San Ana de los Caballeros ( Popayán Province), with Jorge Robledo. * 1540: Foundation of Cartago (Popayán Province). * 1541: Foundation of Antioquía (Popayán Province). * He took possession of an encomienda in Cartagena of Indies, which he granted to
Sebastián de Belalcázar Sebastián Moyano y Cabrera, best known as Sebastián de Belalcázar (; c. 1490 – April 28, 1551) was a Spanish conquistador. Belalcázar, also written as Benalcázar. He is known as the founder of important early virreinal cities in the northw ...
. * 1547: Cieza de León participated in missions headed by Pedro de la Gasca in support of the royalist campaign against Gonzalo Pizarro's rebellion. * 1548: He reached the "City of Kings" (present-day
Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
), where he started his career as a writer and official chronicler of the
New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...
. During the following two years he traveled across the Peruvian territory, collecting interesting information he would later use to develop his works. * 1550: He visited the city of
Cusco Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous Cusco Province, province and Cusco Region, department. The city was the cap ...
in the month of August, after the harvests had been got in, and where he witnessed many customs.


Later life and the fate of his writings

Cieza de León returned to Seville, Spain, in 1551 and married a woman named Isabel López de Abreu. In this city he published, in 1553, the first part of the chronicles of Peru ''(Primera Parte)''. He died the following year, leaving the rest of his work unpublished. His ''Second Part of Chronicles of Peru'', describing the Incas, was translated by
Clements Markham Sir Clements Robert Markham (20 July 1830 – 30 January 1916) was an English geographer, explorer and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president fo ...
and published in 1871. In 1909, the fourth part of his chronicle, focusing on the civil wars among the Spanish conquerors, was published under the title ''Third Book of the Peruvian Civil Wars''. The third part of Cieza de León's ''Crónicas del Perú,'' which examined the discovery and conquest of Peru by the Spaniards, was considered by historians to be lost. The document eventually turned up in a
Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...
library, and historian Francesca Cantù published a Spanish version of the text in 1979. The ''Chronicle of Peru'' itself , superbly planned and structured, consists of four parts: *The first part (1553), published during the author's lifetime, consists of a general geographical overview, a description of the customs of the Indians and the founding of cities by the Spaniards in Peru, Popayán, Charcas and
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
. From this edition, a second printing was made in
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in 1554. The distribution of the First Part of the ''Chronicle of Peru'' is known from Cieza's will: in Medina del Campo Juan de Espinosa sold one hundred and thirty copies, in Toledo thirty - Juan Sanchez de Andrade, and eight - Diego Gutierrez from Los Rios de Cordoba. Juan de Casalla from
Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
contracted to sell more than a hundred copies. Books were also sent to
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
and Santo Domingo. *The second part, ''On the Dominion of the Incas of Yupanqui'', was published post-mortem in 1871, being a translation of the original work. The original work was published in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
in 1877, with an additional printing in 1883. The work is a fundamental chronicle of the period of Inca rule in Peru. Almost all of this part, as the famous historian
Marcos Jiménez de la Espada Marcos Jiménez de la Espada (1831–1898) was a Spanish Zoology, zoologist, Herpetology, herpetologist, explorer and writer, born in Cartagena, Spain, although he spent most of his life in Madrid, where he died. He is known for participating i ...
later noted, "was fraudulently appropriated by one of our most famous chroniclers: a literary crime that entailed as a consequence that the humble and industrious soldier, conquistador and explorer of the first, bypassed the entire country, which he described and delved into all the events, which he told about in his wonderful work, which, before anyone else managed to understand and organize the mysterious chronicles of the times preceding the Conquest, found itself replaced by the one who, until today, had the upper-hand among those who wrote about Peruvian antiquities, even by
Inca Garcilaso de la Vega Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (12 April 1539 – 23 April 1616), born Gómez Suárez de Figueroa and known as El Inca, was a chronicler and writer born in the Viceroyalty of Peru. Sailing to Spain at 21, he was educated informally there, where he li ...
." Concerning the work, ''The Dominion of the Incas'', Raul Porras Barrenechea said: "It is admirable that in such a turbulent time as the years from 1548 to 1550, when Cieza was in Peru, he was able to write a work so thorough, so reliably and reliably documented, and such maturity, about the history and institutions of the Incas. The history of the Incas was a natural given for Cieza, as an adult. No one can dispute his primacy regarding the Incan power. The history of the Castilian chronicler immediately introduced the Incas into world history."Jose Roberto Paez. ''Pedro Cieza de Leon''. www.kuprienko.info (A. Skromnitsky) (November 23, 2009). *The third part is an extensive narrative that describes the ''Discovery and Conquest of Peru'', although only a small part of it has survived, made famous in 1946 by the Lima newspaper ''El Mercurio Peruano'' and the researcher Rafael Loredo, who discovered it in the Escorial Library (Madrid, Spain). A significant part of it was included in his ''General History'' by Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas. *The fourth part, entitled ''Civil Wars in Peru'', is the most extensive. It is divided into five books: **"War of Salinas", which concerns the confrontation between
Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo, Spain, to a poor fam ...
and Diego de Almagro, and ends with his death; **"The Chupas War", which summarized the last years of Pizarro's life, the reign of Vaca de Castro and the defeat of Diego de Almagro "the Younger"; **"War in Quito", which tells the story of the revolt of the grantees of the
encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish Labour (human activity), labour system that rewarded Conquistador, conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors provided the labourers with benefits, including mil ...
system, called ''encomenderos'', under the command of Gonzalo Pizarro and the death of Viceroy Blasco Nunez Vela. These three books were published in the 19th century, and it is unknown whether the author completed the last two: "War in Huarino" and "War in Jaquihaguana". The manuscripts of the last two books have not been found. Pedro Cieza de León's historical works led the historian Raúl Porras to coin him the phrase: "the premier chronicler of the Indies."


Significance

Though his works are historical and narrate the events of the
Spanish conquest of Peru The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, also known as the Conquest of Peru, was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. After years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 168 Spaniards, ...
and the civil wars among the Spaniards, much of their importance lies in his detailed descriptions of geography, ethnography, flora and fauna. He was the first European to describe some native Peruvian animal species and vegetables.


Works

*Cieza de León, Pedro de.
''The Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru, translated by Clements R. Markham.''
London: Hakluyt Society, 1883. (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ) *Cieza de León, Pedro de. ''The Travels of Pedro de Cieza de León, AD 1532–50, Contained in the First Part of His Chronicle of Peru, translated by Clements R. Markham.'' London: Hakluyt Society, 1883. (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ) *Cieza de León, Pedro de. ''The War of Las Salinas, translated by Clements R. Markham.'' London: Hakluyt Society, 1923 (1883). *Cieza de León, Pedro de. ''The War of Quito, translated by Clements R. Markham.'' London: Hakluyt Society, 1913 (1883). *Cieza de León, Pedro de. ''The War of Chupas, translated by Clements R. Markham.'' London: Hakluyt Society, 1917 (1883). *Cieza de León, Pedro de. ''The Incas of Pedro de Cieza de León, translated by Harriet de Onis.'' Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959. *Cieza de León, Pedro de. ''The Discovery and Conquest of Peru: Chronicles of the New World Encounter, edited and translated by Alexandra Parma Cook and Noble David Cook.'' Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998.


Notes


Sources

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cieza de Leon, Pedro 16th-century births 1554 deaths Historians of Peru People from Campiña Sur (Badajoz) Extremaduran conquistadors Scholars of the Incan civilization 16th-century Spanish historians 16th-century Spanish explorers Spanish people of Jewish descent Conversos