TAHUANTINSUYO'S DESTINY IN THE HANDS OF AN INTERPRETER

Abstract

The reconstruction of events that took place in Cajamarca on 16 November 1532 requires the description of the overall picture of the encounter between two completely different cultures: the Inca and the Spanish empires. During this contact, there were several protagonists exchanging their words: the Inca King Atahualpa, the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, the friar Vicente de Valverde and Álvarez de Toledo. The interpreter played a leading role in that meeting, acting as the linguistic mediator who bridged the gap between the Inca King and the Spanish Authorities, on behalf of the Crown and the Church. There is thus a need to analyse what happened in that encounter from the past to understanding the present, given that from this moment onwards, the fall of the whole empire and its system began. To this purpose, we are going to analyse the versions of different eyewitnesses, such as Francisco de Jerez, Hernando Pizarro, Pedro Pizarro, Diego de Trujillo and Miguel de Estete. Likewise, we are going to study the accounts provided by their contemporary chroniclers, such as the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Francisco López de Gómara, Juan Díez de Betanzos or Antonio de Herrera.