Pre-Hispanic and Colonial Peruvian Literature: Oral Traditions, Chronicles and Quechua

Pre-Hispanic Culture

Pre-Hispanic: Before the Spanish conquest, the ancient cultures of Peru developed rich traditions. The arrival of the Inca Empire was more important in the oral traditions of southern Peru, and their thoughts were recorded through quipus and quilcas. Writing and memory were sacred in those times.

Pre-Hispanic Literature: Before the arrival of the Spanish, literature had distinct forms:

• Anonymous literature: Authors did not sign their works, and they did not write about their own feelings. The work belonged to the whole community.
• Agrarian literature: Agricultural land and work were the main subjects.
• Oral literature: Knowledge was passed from parents to sons orally, through generations.

Quechua Language

Quechua: Official language of Tahuantinsuyo, it had two branches:

• Official branch: Used by the state.
• Popular branch: Used for education. Songs and poems were part of the literature transmitted orally.

Quechua, the most important language of the Inca Empire, was the first language of the Inca Empire. In the sixteenth century, Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás produced the first grammar of Quechua. Today more than 4 million people speak it, spread over 3 countries, including Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia.

Linguistic Reality of Peru

In 1542, after the arrival of the Spanish, many different languages were spoken throughout the territory. Besides Quechua, Aymara and Puquina were spoken.

Spanish: In the sixteenth century, Spanish was spreading. Its pronunciation was similar to Castilian, although some people pronounced the letter H like a soft J. There were two types of Spanish: coastal and Andean. The expansion of Spanish was the cause of the disappearance of many indigenous languages.

The Conquest and Literature

Conquest: Literature had two branches: the popular, where ballads and romances were coplas, and the cultured, which was the Chronicle.

• Coplas and romances: The rugged men who arrived on our continent wrote the first coplas, which were sung and often mocked and ridiculed by their bosses. Romances express more intimate feelings and had an epic genre.
• Chronicles: Chronicles tell historical events and also express the thoughts of the Chroniclers.

Spanish Chroniclers

Pedro Cieza de León wrote The Señorío of the Incas, and Juan Betanzos wrote narratives of the Incas.

Indigenous Chroniclers

Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti wrote Antigua relación de este reino del Perú, and Titu Cusi Yupanqui wrote Instrucciones for Licenciado Lope García. Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala was the major indigenous chronicler.

Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala

Guaman Poma de Ayala: He was the most important indigenous chronicler, and the son of Miguel Guaman Poma. His work, titled Nueva corónica y buen gobierno, does not only present the present and the past, but also criticizes the King of Spain. It was a long letter addressed to the King, explaining what was happening in the territory. His work also describes the social classes of the Inca world:

• 1st Age, Camayoc: Brave men who served the Inca and went to war between 25 and 50 years old.
• 2nd Age, Puric Macho: People around 70 years old who worked the fields, gathered straw and firewood, and cleaned the houses.
• 3rd Age, Rocto Macho: People between 80 and 150 years old, who were very old, could not sleep well, made ropes and cared for the poor.
• 4th Age, Camayoc Quipu: Those who were blind or lame. They married among themselves and could still walk and work.
• 5th Age, Sayapayac: Young people between 18 and 20 years old who were messengers. They could not eat anything containing fat, and ate corn to gain strength.
• 6th Age, Mactacona: Young people between 12 and 18 years old who helped to guard the sheep and birds, and hunted for the main caciques, educated with humility and obedience.
• 7th Age, Tocatalloc Uamracuna: Children between 9 and 12 years old who hunted birds and ate their meat, and wore clothes made by the Inca.
• 8th Age, Pucllacoc Uamracuna: Very playful children aged 5 to 9 years, who were punished by their parents and played with their younger siblings.
• 9th Age, Locac Uamracuna Llull: Babies who began to walk at about 5 years old, who ate only bread, and whose care was left to others.
• 10th Age, Uaua Quirapicac: Newly born infants who were nursed at the breast, and who were cared for by their mothers until they could no longer be carried.

Garcilaso Inca de la Vega

Garcilaso Inca de la Vega: Born Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, the first mestizo of Peruvian origin, he combined in his works the cultures of both worlds. His comments reveal the royalty of the Incas of the past and the true Inca Empire. His work was published in two parts: the first in 1609, which describes the past of the Incas, and the second in 1617, which covers the rebellions of the Incas, the conquest, and the wars between the conquistadors.