Excerpts from Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru

Reprinted from edition translated by Harold V. Livermore, 1966

Originally published in two parts as Comentarios reales de los Incas,
Part One (1609); and Historia general del Peru, Part Two (1617)

Garcilaso de la Vega (1539–1616), known as "El Inca," has been called the first classic author of the Americas. The Peruvian writer and historian's master work, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru (two parts, 1609 and 1617), presents a vivid chronicle of the personalities, events, customs, rites, and royal lineage from the Inca civilization's beginnings to the arrival of the Spaniards. The book is noted as great literature as well as useful—though somewhat romanticized—history.

Born in 1539 in Cuzco, Peru, shortly after the Spanish conquest of Peru (1533),...