Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala
Self-portrait of Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala, listening to stories from ancient Indigenous people. Their headdresses show they are from different places and have different ranks.
Born	c. 1535 San Cristóbal de Suntuntu, Ayacucho
Died	after 1616 Lima, Peru
Occupation	Chronicler
Notable work	El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno

Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala (born around 1535 – died after 1616) was a Quechua nobleman. He is famous for writing about and speaking out against the bad treatment of native people in the Andes mountains. This happened after the Spanish took over Peru. Today, Guamán Poma is well-known for his illustrated book, Nueva corónica y buen gobierno.

About Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala
- Early Life and Work
- His Noble Family
His Famous Book: Nueva corónica y buen gobierno
- Why His Book Is Special
Guamán Poma and Fray Martín de Murúa
What His Name Means
See also

About Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala

Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala came from a noble family in the Lucanas province of Peru. His family was directly related to an important Indigenous leader named Huaman-Chava-Ayauca Yarovilca-Huanuco.

Guamán Poma spoke several Quechua and Aru languages very well. He probably learned Spanish when he was young. He learned to read and write in Spanish, even though his grammar wasn't perfect. He wrote in his 1615 book that he was "eighty years of age." This made many people think he was born in 1535, soon after the Spanish conquered Peru in 1533. However, he might have used "80" to mean "very old," and other clues suggest he was born around 1550.

Most of what we know about Guamán Poma's life comes from old writings. He likely grew up in the Lucanas province and lived most of his life near Huamanga, a central area in Peru.

Early Life and Work

It is thought that Guamán Poma first left his hometown to work as an interpreter. He helped a Spanish priest named Cristóbal de Albornoz. This priest was trying to stop the native people from practicing their old religions in small Quechua towns.

Later, in the late 1580s and early 1590s, Guamán Poma worked for another Spanish priest, Martín de Murúa. In 1594, he was hired by a Spanish judge in Huamanga who dealt with land ownership. However, in late 1600, all his property was taken away, and he was forced to leave Huamanga. This event led him to travel across the country, and it was likely when he started writing his most famous book.

His Noble Family

The Huamán family was wealthy within the Inca Empire, both before and after the Spanish conquest. It was common for ruling families to marry each other to keep their power. The Huamán family (also called Waman in Quechua) were a special group of warriors and landowners in many parts of the Inca Empire. They respected the wild hawk, a bird that lives only in the high mountains of Peru.

Guamán Poma was connected to Inca royalty through three different family lines. For example, one ancestor was Tarco Huaman Inca, who was related to Inca rulers like Mayta Capac and Lloque Yupanqui.

During the Spanish takeover, the large Huamán family was treated harshly. The Spanish feared that the native people would try to overthrow their rule and claim back their land. Because of this, much of the family's gold and treasures were hidden and shared among their relatives. Many family members moved to different areas in Peru and Ecuador. The main landowners were in places like Pariamarca, Santiago de Huaman, Quito, and Huamanga.

There is a story that says direct descendants of the Inca Huaman rulers are secretly protected. They are waiting for the right time to take back control of the Peruvian Empire and bring order back. Some Andean tales say that one day, "...the Hawk will fly high, where the Sun surrenders..."

His Famous Book: Nueva corónica y buen gobierno

The author on his way to Lima. The text says: "The author walks with his son, Don Francisco de Ayala. He leaves the province for the City of Kings Lima to report to His Majesty. And he leaves with no money, poorly dressed for walking in winter..." His dogs are named "Amigo" (friend) and "Lautaro."

In the 1560s and 1570s, Guamán Poma worked as a Quechua translator. He helped a priest named Fray Cristóbal de Albornoz stop a native religious movement called Taki Unquy. This movement tried to bring back old beliefs instead of Christian ones.

In the late 1590s, Guamán Poma went to court many times. He tried to get back land and noble titles in the Chupas valley that he believed belonged to his family. These lawsuits did not go well for him. He lost the cases, and in 1600, he lost all his property and was forced to leave the towns he once ruled.

Guamán Poma's most important work was El primer nueva corónica [sic] y buen gobierno (The First New Chronicle and Good Government). This book was 1,189 pages long and mostly written in Spanish, with some parts in Quechua. He used the old spelling "Corónica" instead of "Crónica." His book is the longest and strongest criticism of Spanish rule written by a native person during that time.

He wrote the book between 1600 and 1615 and sent it to King Philip III of Spain. In the book, he described the unfairness of colonial rule. He argued that the Spanish were like foreign visitors in Peru. He wrote, "It is our country, because God has given it to us." Sadly, the king never received the book.

Why His Book Is Special

Guamán Poma's book is special for many reasons:

Drawings: It has amazing drawings (398 pages are full-page drawings). The book also includes his 'Mapa Mundi de Reino de las Indias.' This was a map of the Inca Empire drawn like the maps medieval European mapmakers used, placing Cusco, the Inca capital, at the center of the world.
Unique View: It shows the perspective of a noble from a smaller province. Most other native writings from that time came from the nobles of Cusco, the old Inca capital.
Language: He often used Quechua words and phrases in his Spanish book. This has helped scholars learn more about the Quechua language.

Guamán Poma suggested a new way to govern Peru. He called it a "good government." This new system would combine Inca social and economic ideas with European technology and Christian beliefs. It would be made to fit the needs of the Andean people. He wrote that native governments treated their people much better than the Spanish did. He asked King Phillip to put native people in positions of power.

It's important to know that even though he didn't like Spanish rule, he still respected the Spanish king. Back then, kings were often seen as chosen by God. Guamán Poma was a strong Catholic and held the Spanish king in very high regard. In his writing, he wanted to suggest changes and also tell the king about the unfair things happening. He believed the king, as God's representative, would not allow such injustices if he knew about them.

The original book has been kept in the Danish Royal Library since the 1660s. But it wasn't seen by the public until 1908, when a German scholar named Richard Pietschmann found it. Later, in 2001, a high-quality digital copy of the book was put online by the Danish Royal Library.

Guamán Poma and Fray Martín de Murúa

For a long time, experts wondered if Guamán Poma's book was connected to Fray Martín de Murúa's Historia general del Piru (1616). Some thought Guamán Poma might have helped Murúa write his book. In 2007–2008, a project at the Getty Research Institute proved there was a direct link.

Researchers found that Murúa's book included drawings by Guamán Poma. They realized that Guamán Poma was part of a team of writers and artists who worked for Murúa. Murúa's project started in the 1580s, but Guamán Poma only joined as an illustrator shortly before 1600. Still, his work on Murúa's book was very important.

Interestingly, Guamán Poma later criticized Murúa in his own book. He even drew a picture of the friar hitting and kicking a native woman. This drawing was titled "The Mercedarian friar Martín de Murúa abuses his parishioners and takes justice into his own hands." According to scholar Rolena Adorno, after 1600, Guamán Poma became an author himself. He strongly disagreed with Murúa's limited view, which he had seen in Murúa's original book. This made him want to write his own account.

Guamán Poma wrote about Andean history even before the Incas. He also gave a long and very critical look at colonial society, which was unique among other writings of that time. Guamán Poma's artistic skills grew from his work with Murúa, but he also developed new styles. He showed a strong desire to argue against and make fun of the abuses of colonial rule. Both Murúa and Guamán Poma, working separately and together, created important records of how a missionary writer and a native artist-writer interacted in early colonial Peru.

What His Name Means

Guaman's name means "Falcon" or "Eagle." In his time, a Falcon was seen as a symbol of a "Supreme Existence." Someone with the name "Falcon" was highly respected in the Inca and older cultures. Poma's name meant "Puma" in the Quechua language. In today's Quechua spelling, it would be written as Waman Puma.

In his own writings, he signed his name as Felipe (or Phelipe) Guamán Poma de Ayala. He placed his Quechua name between his Spanish baptismal name and the family name of a Spanish conquistador connected to his family. Guamán Poma wrote about the meaning of all his names in his book. He seemed to want his name to show that his Quechua identity was at his core, even though it was surrounded by Spanish names.