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| Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua | |
|---|---|
| Name | Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua |
| Birth date | c. 16th century |
| Birth place | Cusco |
| Nationality | Inca Empire / Viceroyalty of Peru |
| Occupation | chronicler; scribe; ethnographer |
| Notable works | Relación de antigüedades deste reyno del Pirú (attributed manuscript) |
Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua was an indigenous chronicler and manuscript author active in the early colonial period of the Viceroyalty of Peru. He is principally associated with a short pictorial and textual work recording Inca traditions, cosmology, and visual representations of pre-Columbian iconography combined with Christian references. His manuscript has been cited in discussions of Andean memory, colonial tribute, and the transmission of indigenous knowledge to colonial officials and clergy.
Pachacuti Yamqui is thought to have been born in or near Cusco during the late period of the Inca Empire and to have lived into the early decades of the Viceroyalty of Peru, interacting with figures tied to Franciscan and Dominican missions as well as colonial administrators. His milieu overlapped with actors from the Repartimiento and Encomienda systems, and his circles likely included indigenous elites linked to the former Inca nobility, local curacas, and colonial clergy involved in producing catechetical materials. Contemporary events relevant to his life include the civil disputes after the conquest of Peru and reforms associated with the Council of Trent era Spanish administration in the Americas.
The composite name reflects indigenous and Christian naming practices imposed and adopted in the colonial milieu: "Juan" indicates baptismal affiliation with Catholic Church rites administered by orders such as the Franciscans and Jesuits, while "Pachacuti" evokes the Inca ruler Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui and the Andean concept of renewal linked to figures like Túpac Amaru II in later memory. "Yamqui" and "Salcamaygua" are indigenous family or ayllu-associated names resonant with genealogical links to Cusco elites and regional lineages recorded in colonial probanzas and genealogical testimonies. His identity has been discussed in relation to indigenous intermediaries who negotiated cultural production under Spanish legal frameworks, including ties to Notaries and Spanish colonial institutions such as the Audiencia of Lima.
The principal document attributed to him, often cited as the Relación de antigüedades deste reyno del Pirú or a variant compilation, combines pictorial panels, captions, and brief explanatory texts describing Inca rites, iconography, and cosmological diagrams. The manuscript includes visual motifs comparable to those in quipu records, schematic representations resembling depictions by chroniclers like Bernabé Cobo, and parallels to annals referenced by Garcilaso de la Vega (El Inca), José de Acosta, and Guaman Poma de Ayala. Editions and studies of the text have been employed alongside primary sources preserved in archives such as the Archivo General de Indias and manuscript collections in Spain and Peru.
Pachacuti Yamqui's document has been utilized by historians and ethnographers studying Inca iconography, colonial acculturation, and the preservation of indigenous cosmologies. Scholars have compared his panels to sources by Diego de Torres Rubio, Martín de Murúa, and Fray Martín de la Cruz while situating his testimony within debates framed by ethnohistory methods promoted by figures like Julio C. Tello and John Murra. His work has informed interpretations of ritual spaces, sacred topography such as Sacsayhuamán and the Qorikancha, and relationships between Andean visual systems and Christian iconography introduced by missionaries like Bartolomé de las Casas. Comparative studies link his representations to material culture studies conducted at sites investigated by archaeologists including Hiram Bingham III and Max Uhle.
The manuscript reflects syncretic engagement with Catholicism and Andean ritual practice, showing how indigenous narrators mediated evangelization efforts led by orders such as the Dominicans and Augustinians. Its production participates in colonial practices of providing indigenous explanations to Spanish officials and clergy, comparable to catechisms and confessionary manuals produced by missionaries like Francisco de Vitoria-era influencers and utilizable in ecclesiastical courts. The work addresses concepts tied to Andean ritual specialists such as paqos and huacas and engages with symbols that later scholars have linked to resistance narratives manifest in uprisings associated with figures like Túpac Amaru II and earlier postconquest rebellions.
Pachacuti Yamqui's manuscript remains a touchstone for interdisciplinary research across history, anthropology, and art history, cited in critical editions and analyses by modern scholars working in institutions like the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia del Perú and universities in Lima, Madrid, and Cambridge. His contributions have been reassessed in light of methodological shifts introduced by historians such as Natalie Zemon Davis-influenced microhistory approaches and by anthropologists utilizing indigenous perspectives advocated by José María Arguedas and María Rostworowski. The document continues to inform debates over provenance, authorship, and the role of indigenous scribes in shaping colonial knowledge circulated through archives like the Biblioteca Nacional del Perú and collections in the Real Academia de la Historia.
Category:Colonial Peru Category:Indigenous chroniclers of the Americas