Garcilaso de la Vega

Garcilaso de la Vega (1539?-1616), Peruvian writer, soldier, and noted historian of his country’s colonial period. He was born in Cuzco, the son of Sebastián de la Vega y Vargas, a Spanish conqueror of Peru; his mother was an Inca princess, niece of Huayna Capac. Garcilaso called himself “El Inca.” He went to Spain in 1560 and became a captain in the army. He eventually settled in Córdoba, Spain. He is best known for his two-part history of the Incas of Peru and the Spanish conquest of Peru, Comentarios reales de los Incas (1609 and 1617; Royal Commentaries of Peru, 1688). He also wrote a romanticized account of the expedition of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, entitled Florida del Inca (1605; Florida of the Inca 1951).