Suma y Narración de los Incas
Also known as: Sum and Narrative of the Incas, Suma y narracion de los Incas
A mid-16th century Spanish chronicle by Juan de Betanzos, recounting Inca origin myths, dynastic genealogies, and narratives of conquest, compiled from indigenous oral accounts.
Description
The *Suma y Narración de los Incas* is one of the earliest and most important colonial chronicles of the Inca Empire. Written by Juan de Betanzos, a Spanish interpreter married to an Inca noblewoman, it provides detailed accounts of Inca cosmogony, dynastic history, and the events surrounding the Spanish conquest. Its narrative preserves origin myths such as the emergence from Pacaritambo, the deeds of Manco Cápac and his successors, and the civil war between Huáscar and Atahualpa. As a chronicle closely informed by native informants, it stands as a rare testimony of pre-Columbian oral traditions rendered into Spanish prose, offering invaluable insight into Andean worldviews, rituals, and political structures.
Historiography
The *Suma y Narración* survives in a single manuscript discovered in the late 19th century and first published in 1880. Betanzos, who knew Quechua fluently, drew heavily on testimonies of his wife Doña Angelina Yupanqui, an Inca noblewoman, making it a rare case of indigenous oral tradition preserved through a European intermediary. Modern scholarship views it as one of the most faithful and early sources on Inca myth, history, and ritual. It has been compared with other Spanish chronicles such as those of Cieza de León and Garcilaso de la Vega.
Date Notes
Composed between 1551 and 1557 by Juan de Betanzos, based on oral testimonies including his Inca wife Doña Angelina Yupanqui, niece of Atahualpa
Archetypes
Major Characters
- Juan de Betanzos
- Manco Cápac
- Mama Ocllo
- Topa Inca Yupanqui
- Huayna Cápac
- Atahualpa
- Viracocha
Myths
- Pre-Inca Origins and Migrations
- Founding Myths of Regional Lords
- Inca Sun Worship and Conquests
Facts
- Written by Juan de Betanzos, a Spanish interpreter fluent in Quechua.
- Compiled between 1551 and 1557.
- Based heavily on the testimony of Doña Angelina Yupanqui, Betanzos's Inca wife.
- Provides detailed Inca dynastic genealogies and succession.
- One of the earliest European accounts of Inca origin myths.
- Includes the narrative of the civil war between Huáscar and Atahualpa.
- Describes Inca ritual practices and sacred geography.
- Preserves oral tradition in Spanish prose form.
- Rediscovered in manuscript form in the 19th century.
- Published in 1880 for the first time.