Nueva Crónica y Buen Gobierno

El Primer Nueva Coronica " [sic] " y Buen Gobierno, is a Peruvian chronicle of the early 17th century. Its author, the indigenous Peruvian Felipe Guaman Poma of Ayala, sent it as a handwritten manuscript to the Spanish royal court, and its location for the next several centuries is unknown. The scholar Richard Pietschman discovered the manuscript at the Royal Library Denmark in Copenhagen in 1908; Paul Rivet published a facsimile edition in Paris in 1936.

Some researchers believe that the manuscript traveled from Spain to Denmark via the library of the Count-Duke of Olivares, in Spain, part of which was sold to Cornelius Pedersen Lerche, ambassador of Denmark in Spain. Nevertheless, this is only a theory.

Content

The chronicle covers ancient Andean history, the rise of the Inca empire, the Spanish conquest in the 1530s, and early colonial society and government. Guaman Poma's discussion of Inca rule describes religion, social order, legislation, annual festivals and economic organization, as well as the functions of the different social groups. His narrative of Inca and pre-Inca times is often inaccurate according to modern understandings, but reflects how the Incas were remembered in the early colonial period, as well as Guaman Poma's distinctive ideas. Approximately half the book is dedicated to a description and harsh critique of Spanish colonial rule; scholars consider this section of the book as a uniquely valuable and reliable historical source. The book contains a large number of detailed illustrations which are often reproduced in books and articles about pre-conquest and colonial Peru. Guaman Poma dedicated the book to King Philip III of Spain, in the hope of improving colonial rule, but there is no evidence that the king ever saw the book.

Reprint

Hackett Publishing, abridged edition, 2006, ISBN 0872208419

Bibliography

Adorno, Rolena. "Writing and Resistance in Colonial Peru", Texas University Press, 2000

External links

* [http://www.kb.dk/elib/mss/poma/index-en.htm "Guaman Poma - El Primer Nueva Corónica Y Buen Gobierno"] – A high-quality digital version of the Corónica, scanned from the original manuscript.