History of the Incas

Translated into english

The History of the Incas may be the best description of Inca life and mythology to survive Spanish colonization of Peru.

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, a well-educated sea captain and cosmographer of royalty, wrote the document in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire, just forty years after the arrival of the first Spaniards.

The royal sponsorship of the work guaranteed Sarmiento direct access to the highest Spanish officials in Cuzco. It allowed him to summon influential Incas, especially those who had witnessed the fall of the Empire.

Sarmiento also traveled widely and interviewed numerous local lords (curacas), as well as surviving members of the royal Inca families.

As an account of the history of the Incas it is unsurpassed in its accuracy, presenting evidence gained directly from the Incas themselves circa 1570 AD.