The first Inka, Manco Capac Inka, from Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, The First New Chronicle and Good Government (or El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno), c. 1615, p. 86 (image from The Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen)
“The hermit priest Martín de Ayala instructs Guaman Poma and his parents in the Christian faith,” from Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, The First New Chronicle and Good Government (or El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno), c. 1615, p. 17 (image from The Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen
Guaman Poma
Guaman Poma was a perfect source to pull from to learn about an inside perspective; from a christian Inka man living in the era of transition and seeing the affects of Spanish influence on the native people of south America. Poma’s book about the ideology of hybrid lifestyle, and art is one of the best ways to get an inside perspective from the Natives, Inka side of the Spanish ruling. I chose to use these art pieces because it comes from a man of indigenous backgrounds (Inka) and his perspective of life when the Spanish came. The image is from a part of his life with his parents and the transition into christianity. As the other image shows the way Guaman Poma made his people and how he depicted the native people or the spanish; Guaman Poma's drawings tend to pay little attention to the details of individual faces, though he does render detailed clothing. The fact that Guaman lived through the transitional art stage. He witnessed the productions of hybrid art which ties together both native art styles and the spanish art works. He had a half brother who was part Spanish and also a priest; his brother is the one who converted the family to christianity he also taught Poma to speak different languages as well as writing. Poma wrote the New chronicle; he became an artist during this time a lot of his art depicted his perspective of the past and the colonial present he lived through.
Mappa Mundi of the Indies of Peru, showing the quatripartite division of the Inka empire of Tawantinsuyu, from Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, The First New Chronicle and Good Government (or El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno), c. 1615, p. 1001-02 (image from The Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen)
While some other artists and map makers may borrow from medieval European mapping traditions, Guaman Poma blends them with Andean concepts of space and symbols. He keeps the use of Adean concepts through his book to communicate the importance of his culture's way of communication and identification. The map Shows the Andean region (mappa mundi means "map of the world"). The mappa mundi offers a nice example of these concepts. The couple in the center is the Sapa Inka Tupac Yupanqui (an early Inka king) and his coya (queen consort) Mama Ocllo (who was also his sister). The suyus, or regions, of Chinchaysuyu and Antisuyu represent hanan (upper) positions, while Cuntisuyu and Collasuyu are hurin (lower). While the hanan regions are considered superior, they also complement the lower regions.
Executioner: the cruel parish priest metes out punishment indiscriminately. Page 596 from Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, The First New Chronicle and Good Government (or El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno, c. 1615 (image from The Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen)
Bad confession. Page 590 from Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, The First New Chronicle and Good Government (or El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno, c. 1615 (image from The Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen)
Guaman Poma’s vivid imagery provides some visual resources that reveal the often violent treatment that indigenous people endured under their Spanish rulers.
example above: An indigenous women (pregnant) being kicked by the priest.
We can tell she's indigenous because of her clothing; she wears a lliclla (shawl) fastened with a tupu (garment pin) that opens to reveal tocapu-like designs on her dress underneath. These are traditional clothing of Indigenous people.
“The first half of Guaman Poma’s illustrated manuscript provides a comprehensive description of Inka imperial history as well as an encyclopedic account of life under Inka rule, covering topics as diverse as the ritual calendar, agricultural practice, religious beliefs, different ways of burying the dead, and the various professions of the empire’s inhabitants. The second half of the manuscript details the abuses committed by the Spaniards during the early period of colonial rule in the Viceroyalty of Peru.” ( “Bad Confession” in Guaman Poma’s The First New Chronicle and Good Government by Dr. Ananda Cohen-Aponte. Created by Smarthistory. Paragraph 2)
Guaman Poma and The First New Chronicle and Good Government
Throughout his manuscript, Guaman Poma uses space to communicate the Andean people’s notions of power-specifically the complementary concepts of hanan (upper) and hurin (lower). The suyus, or regions, of Chinchaysuyu and Antisuyu represent hanan (upper) positions, while Cuntisuyu and Collasuyu are hurin (lower). While the hanan regions are considered superior, they also complement the lower regions. Neither could exist without the other, and represent broader binary yet complementary concepts like male/female or left/right. The importance of his book for hybrid art is what it tells us about pre-Hispanic Andean peoples, especially the Inka. While the Inka had an advanced recording system that used knots on cords, called khipus, researchers have not yet been able to translate them. So our best source of knowledge for the ways of the Inka native people was to read from the perspective of an Inka citizen transitioning into christian beliefs. Within the book Guaman illustrates many images and basically with all his images it is almost like another language or way of communicating by showing these images in his book to reach all people who come across the book. Guaman Poma’s images are some of the only surviving visual sources that show the often violent treatment that indigenous people endured under the Spanish rulers.