El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega's Comentarios Reales de los Incas has long been on the reading list. Using the translation of Maria Jolas, based on the annotated French edition of Alain Gheerbrant, provides easy access to one of the major sources on the Inca. This blog's ongoing obsession with the past of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean has, of course, led us to South America. Although the Andean civilizations of South America were very distinct from the Taino, it is interesting to read about other cultures in precolonial South America. In addition, references to the Inca emperors during the final stage of the Haitian Revolution, perhaps due to the mistaken belief that the indigenes of the island originally came from Peru, has always sparked a desire to learn more about the Inca. Of course, the Taino were not from Peru. But one must wonder why the idea was influential enough on Dessalines and how the memory of a great indigenous empire in South America may have shaped him.
But let us return to El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. A mestizo born to a mother from the Inca royal family and a Spanish conqueror, he was part of both worlds. However, his desire to portray Inca civilization as a great, peaceful society in which the rulers were, with the exception of Atahualpa the usurper, expanding the empire through persuasion and eradicated sinful customs like human sacrifice, idolatry and sodomy, is contradicted by other sources. And due to his devout Catholicism and Spanish heritage, El Inca Garcilaso also sought to justify the Spanish conquest since it spread the light of the Gospel. That said, the great Inca civilization, radiating from Cuzco, a city he compared to Rome, was almost preparing Peru for Christianity. The Incas, believing themselves to descend from the Sun when their first ruler, Manco Capac appeared, promoted the worship of the Sun and attempted to end the idolatries and human sacrifices committed by various subject peoples. In addition, their wondrous roads, monuments, palaces, promotion of a uniform language, and spread of their culture through state-directed migration and provincial administrators and vassals assimilated into Cuzco's culture and rituals suggest Peru was a "civilized" land of peace, laws, justice and equality.
Clearly, El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega exaggerated a little bit and downplayed customs of the Inca that were abhorrent to European or Christian perspectives. Furthermore, he relied on oral traditions passed down from his mother's family, sources from one camp of the Inca elite and likely to have promoted a vision of their past as benevolent, excellent rulers. According to this narrative, the Incas, the sons of the Sun, consistently expanded their empire (often through peaceful means), built wondrous palaces and temples to the Sun, and established an orderly society in which everyone received their subsistence. This version of the history of the Inca rulers did not completely omit setbacks and internal discord. Occasionally, some of the more "savage" Indians on the frontiers of the Empire rebelled, dissimulated or resisted conquest. But overall, until the conflict over the throne between Atahualpa and Huascar, the Inca rulers were almost invariably great, just, lovers of the poor, conquerors, and able administrators. Thus, one must be cautious with El Inca Garcilaso's portrayal of the 12 Inca rulers.
Despite the aforementioned limitations of his work, his Royal Commentaries are nonetheless a major source of information on a major indigenous civilization from within (or, partly internal). His detailed references to the khipu, for instance, reveal how knots could be used so skillfully to record numbers for imperial administration. At other points in the text, he mentioned the use of quipus to record a speech of Atahualpa in Cajamarca. Elsewhere quipu and those trained in their use could also use them to record history, a process not fully explained by our mestizo historian. According to him, quipucamayoc learned, via oral tradition and memorization, how to record speeches, events, and historical narratives that they sometimes recited to curacas and Inca rulers. Consequently, khipu must have served a function besides counting people or supplies for administrative purposes. Exactly how, for example, were khipu used to record speeches is unknown. Perhaps it was truly through oral traditions and the use of quipu as a mnemonic device that allowed them to be used for recording narrative? It is a pity El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega left Peru without learning more about this topic. His royal connections and ties to those closer to Inca traditions could have potentially elucidated khipu to him and enriched his historical reconstruction of the Inca past. That would have resulted in a history that went beyond earlier chronicles written after the conquest or the traditions and stories passed down from his mother's family.
Besides the overview of the Inca rulers, El Inca's account also includes some interesting reports, legends, and traditions of maritime expeditions and visitors across the sea. One of the Inca rulers, according to Sarmiento, even left for a maritime expedition of 9 months from the coast of modern Ecuador. Topa Inca Yupanqui supposedly returned after the discovery of the islands of Auachumbi and Ninjachumbi. He also brought back "black" men, gold and a copper chain. The annotated edition of the text suggests this Inca ruler may have reached Easter Island. However, the references to gold, copper, and "black" men are somewhat uncertain. Did the Inca ruler really travel with 20,000 people on balsas specifically constructed for a Pacific voyage? The traditions as reported by Sarmiento are surprisingly detailed but include mention of "horse" bones brought back to Cuzco. Since the Inca were, according to El Inca Garcilaso, unfamiliar with and amazed by horses when they encountered the Spanish, surely it must have been some other type of animal. What to make of the gold and brass chair is also unclear, but the "black" people may have been Melanesians? Of course, El Inca Garcilaso's earlier comments about fishing and ships suggest "rudimentary" shipbuilding technology and very little seafaring beyond a short distance from the coast. But coastal populations later subjected by the Inca could have had provided the skills, labor and technology for a large-scale Inca expedition into the Pacific. After all, genetic evidence of contact between populations related to indigenous peoples of Colombia and those in Polynesia hint at contacts, which could have included navigational and sailing knowledge. El Inca Garcilaso even reported a legend about "giants" from across the sea with beards and long hair who stayed on the coast in the distant past. Last but certainly not least, one of the late Inca emperors may have even plotted to conquer as far north as what is now Colombia's Caribbean coast, perhaps illustrating Inca knowledge of the Pacific and Atlantic.
As for why the Inca of all indigenous civilizations, appealed to Dessalines, who even associated the Indigenous Army with them, a number of theories have been proposed. Since El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega had been available in French and other pro-independence movements had drew from his work and the history of the Incas, perhaps the Haitians were also recalling the past of a grand indigenous empire that, going by El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega's analysis, was an advanced state that administered its territories well. The quasi-utopian society described by the Peruvian probably influenced Dessalines through his educated secretaries and supporters. As proposed by Geggus, perhaps the theory of a Peruvian origin of the Taino that was in a novel published during the Haitian Revolution also contributed to the fascination with the Inca among the Taino.
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