Rodrigo Sutiq Callapiña was a native

Inca 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 History of the Incas, Inca ...

who successfully claimed his

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

in colonial

Spanish America Spanish America refers to the Spanish territories in the Americas during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term "Spanish America" was specifically used during the territories' Spanish Empire, imperial era between 15th and 19th centur ...

in 1569.

Overview

In the late 16th century, the Spanish developed a

political system In political science, a political system means the form of Political organisation, political organization that can be observed, recognised or otherwise declared by a society or state (polity), state. It defines the process for making official gov ...

that depended heavily on the

social status Social status is the relative level of social value a person is considered to possess. Such social value includes respect, honour, honor, assumed competence, and deference. On one hand, social scientists view status as a "reward" for group members ...

and

prestige Prestige may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films *Prestige (film), ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett: woman travels to French Indochina to meet up with husband *The Prestige (film), ''The Prestige'' (fi ...

of the individual. Natives who were not nobility were expected to pay

tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

es, perform public labor, and personal service for the Spanish. Because of this pressure

n natives began to manipulate both the legal system and their traditional

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

to prove their noble lineage. In 1569, Rodrigo Sutiq Callapiña successfully claimed his nobility by linking his bloodline to Manqo Qhapaq and Qoya Qori Kuka. Manqo Qhapaq was the mythic ancient Inka ancestor, known as the first Inka, and Qoya Qori Kuka was a great female warrior who defended

Cuzco 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 province and department. The city was the capital of the Inca Empire unti ...

and was later imbued into a stone as a spiritual protector.

The Callapiña document

The main document used to assess Rodrigo Sutiq Callapiña is called the Callapiña Document, which he gave to the Spanish to prove his noble lineage. The document mostly details

testimony Testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. Law In the law, testimon ...

that was given in Cuzco in 1569. The original Callapiña document was later used by Rodrigo’s two grandsons, who also

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...

ed for noble status and had a copy of their grandfather's investigation as the main evidence for their petition. Callapiña had a total of eight

witness In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

es testify to affirm his lineage. The witnesses ranged from 85 to 132 years old, and were already recognized as descendants of the Inka nobility in Cuzco. The Callapiña Document is a document that reveals the connections between elite families in Cuzco and the sixteenth-century “reconstructions” of the mytho-historical tradition of the origin of Manqo Qhapaq. Rodrigo combined, in his ancestral claim (from his paternal ancestors), descent from both Tampu T’oqo and Sutiq T’oqo. Tampu T’oqo connected him to the Inka nobility in Cuzco, and Sutiq T’oqo linked him with an

ayllu The ''ayllu'', a family clan, is the traditional form of a community in the Andes, especially among Quechuas and Aymaras. They are an indigenous local government model across the Andes region of South America, particularly in Bolivia and Peru. ...

of the Maskas, a division of the Tambos ethnic group from the Pacarigtambo area. When trying to deconstruct the methodology used to claim nobility, it seems that the Inka

origin myth An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place a ...

was being manipulated among high-class individuals in Cuzco wishing to exploit the benefits that came with being represented by the Spanish colonial administrative system.

Andean peoples and the Spanish administration

Rodrigo is an example of the way

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

people tactfully manipulated their traditional histories to take action through colonial procedures. By doing this, they were able to slightly shape the administrative system that was being forced upon them.Gary Urton, The History of a Myth: Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Inkas. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990), 52. This example runs counter to the myth that Andean natives being colonized were simply overtaken by the system. Rodrigo Callapiña instead demonstrates that Andean natives sought to weave themselves into the fabric of the newly imposed administration by finding and exploiting

loophole A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow vertic ...

s, and also creatively manipulating their own histories to better their own social standing.

References

{{Reflist 16th-century Peruvian people Peruvian politicians of Quechua descent