Customer Reviews

The First New Chronicle and Good Government

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This book is an essential for anyone traveling to indigenous areas of Peru or Ecuador. Guaman Poma asserts his unique, proud identity and decries the Spaniards for having created the very problems their missionaries tried to solve. Perhaps most interesting is his fusion of Incan myths with Christian ones. As he is writing to the Pope, he has to navigate this fine line between Christianity and Inca, and his numerous crossed out portions (translated anyway as they were left legible) tell of his stress over this fact. Not the most engaging or exciting story, but definitely worth it for the rich context and subtleties.

This is a book of drawings by the author, a Peruvian of mixed Indian/Spanish ancestry. He was only two generations removed from the conquest. It's important to understand that he wasn't Incan himself, rather his Indian family had been officials in the Empire but not ethnically Incan. Bizarrely, this book was "discovered" in a libarary in Copenhagen Denmark- in 1908! Pretty incredible if you think about, even more so when you consider that is one of the best sources on Pre-Contact Incan civilization (It has...pictures...) Poma's perspective is largely one of indignation and outrage on behalf of the Native Population's treatment at the hands of the Spaniards.

In fact, the introduction explains that the function of this book originally was to obtain for the author the Spanish granted title of "Indian Advocate." It's certainly worth seeking out, first because, as a picture book you can read it in five minutes, and second, it is really interesting to see the Pre-Contact civilization depicted so accurately.