Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 2 (of 8) / Spanish Explorations and Settlements in America from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century Papyras Classics

← Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 2 (of 8) / Spanish Explorations and Settlements in America from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century

Chapter 28

Critical Essay on the Sources of Information

THE king of Spain instituted the office of historiographer of the Indies, and that post was held for upwards of half a century by the learned Antonio de Herrera, who died in 1625. All the official reports and correspondence were placed in his hands, and he had the use of a great deal of material which is now lost; so that he is indispensable as an authority. His great work, Historia General de las Indias Occidentales, covers the whole ground from 1492 to 1554, and is divided into eight decades, in strict chronological order. The history of the conquest of Peru and of the subsequent civil wars is recorded with reference to chronological order as bearing on events in other parts of the Indies, and not connectedly. The work first appeared in 1601 and 1615, in five folio volumes, and was republished in 1730. The English version by Stevens, in six octavo volumes (1725), is worthless. The episode relating to the descent of the river Amazon by Francisco de Orellana (Herrera, dec. vi. lib. ix.), was translated by Clements R. Markham, C. B., and printed for the Hakluyt Society in 1859 as a part of the volume called Expeditions into the Valley of the Amazons.

Francisco Lopez de Gomara was another compiler, who never personally visited Peru, and is best known for his history of the conquest of Mexico. His narrative of the conquest of Peru forms an important part of his work entitled Historia de las Indias. Although he was a contemporary, and had peculiarly good opportunities for obtaining trustworthy information, he was careless in his statements, and is an unsafe authority.

Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés, born in 1478 of an old Asturian family, was an eye-witness of the events on the isthmus which directly led to the discovery of Peru. He went out with the governor Pedro Arias in 1513, and was at Panamá when Pizarro and Almagro were fitting out their first expedition. He afterwards resided for many years in Hispaniola, and at his death, in 1557, he was chronicler of the Indies, the predecessor of Herrera. He was devoted to historical composition, interspersing his narrative with anecdotes and personal reminiscences; but most of his works long remained in manuscript. His two chapters on the conquest of Peru cover the ground from the landing of Pizarro to the return of Almagro from Chili.

It is, however, a relief to escape from compilers, and to be able to read the narratives of the actual actors in the events they describe. The first adventurer who attempted to discover Peru was the adelantado Pascual de Andagoya, and he has recorded the story of his failures. Born of a good stock in the province of Alava, Pascual went out to Darien when very young, with the governor Pedro Arias, in 1514. After the failure of his first attempt he was in Panamá for some years, and in 1540 received the government of the country round the Rio San Juan, the scene of Pizarro’s early sufferings. Here he founded the town of Buenaventura; but having got into a dispute with Benalcazar respecting the boundaries of their jurisdictions, Andagoya returned to Spain, where he remained five years. He accompanied the president Gasca to Peru, and died at Cusco on the 18th of June, 1548. He had broken his leg, but was recovering, when fever supervened, which carried him off. Gasca reported that his death was mourned by all, because he was such a good man, and so zealous in the service of his country. The historian Oviedo, who knew him well in the early days of the Darien colony, speaks of Andagoya as a noble-minded and virtuous person. He was a man of some education; and his humane treatment of the Indians entitles his name to honorable mention. His interesting narrative long remained in manuscript at Seville, but it was at length published by Navarrete. An English translation, by Clements R. Markham, C. B., with notes and an introduction, was printed for the Hakluyt Society in 1865.

Francisco de Xeres, the secretary of Pizarro, wrote his account of the early days of the conquest of Peru on the spot, by order (March, 1533) of his master. He left Spain with Pizarro in January, 1530, returned to Seville with the first instalment of gold from Caxamarca in July, 1534; and his narrative, which embraces the period between these dates, was printed at Seville in the same year. This edition and that of 1547, printed somewhat carelessly at Salamanca, are extremely rare. The third and best-known edition was published at Madrid in 1749 in the Barcia Collection, Historiadores primitivos de las Indias. Italian editions appeared in 1535, and in 1556 in Ramusio; and a French version was published at Paris by M. Ternaux-Compans in 1837. An English translation, with notes and an introduction by Clements R. Markham, C. B., was printed for the Hakluyt Society in 1872. There is a freshness and reality in the story told by Xeres, owing to his having been an eye-witness of all the events he describes, which the more elaborate accounts of compilers cannot impart. Xeres has increased the value of his book by inserting the narrative of Miguel Astete, who accompanied Hernando Pizarro on his expedition to Pachacamac.

Hernando Pizarro wrote a letter to the royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo, which goes over the same ground as the narratives of Xeres and Astete, but is of course much briefer. It is peculiarly valuable as containing the observations of the man of highest rank in the expedition who was able to write. The letter is dated November, 1533, and was written on his way to Spain with the treasure. Oviedo gives it in his Historic General, and it is printed by Quintana in his Vidas de Españoles celebres. It was translated into English by Clements R. Markham, C. B., and printed for the Hakluyt Society in 1872 in the volume of Reports on the Discovery of Peru.

Pedro Sancho, the notary, wrote a note of the distribution of the ransom of Atahualpa, with a list of the conquerors and the amount each received. It is contained in the inedited work of Francisco Lopez de Caravantes, and was reprinted by Quintana in his Vidas de Españoles celebres. An English translation by Clements R. Markham, C. B., was printed for the Hakluyt Society in 1872, in the volume already cited. See also Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 414, for an Italian version, in which form it was used by Robertson and Prescott.

Vicente de Valverde, the Dominican friar who accompanied Pizarro in the conquest of Peru and took part in the imprisonment and murder of Atahualpa, was made bishop of Cusco in 1536. On his way to Spain, in 1541, he landed on the island of Puna, in the Bay of Guayaquil, was seized by the natives, and put to death with his brother-in-law and twenty-six other Spaniards. He wrote a detailed Carta-relacion on the affairs of Peru, which is still inedited. He also addressed letters to the emperor Charles V., which contain original information of great value. A copy of one, dated Cusco, April 2, 1539, was among Sir Thomas Phillipps’s collection of manuscripts. It is frequently quoted by Helps.

Pedro Pizarro, a cousin of the conqueror, went out as his page in 1530, when only fifteen. He was an eye-witness of all the events of the Conquest, and of the subsequent civil wars, having retired to Arequipa after the assassination of his patron. Here he probably wrote his Relaciones del Descubrimiento y Conquista de los Reynos del Peru, finished in 1571. It is a plain, unadorned statement of facts, but of the highest value as an authority. It remained in manuscript for centuries, but was at length printed in the Coleccion de documentos inéditos para la historia de Espana, v. 201-388.

The death-struggle between the Pizarros and the old marshal Almagro is fully told in the above general histories; but light is also thrown upon the story from other directions. Among the manuscripts in the National Library at Madrid there is an autobiography by a young scapegrace of noble birth named Alonzo Enriquez de Guzman, comprising a period from 1518 to 1543, from his nineteenth to his forty-fourth year. The early part reminds one of the adventures of Gil Blas; but in 1534 he went to Peru, and was a principal actor in the events which took place between the departure of Almagro for Chili in 1535 and his execution in 1538. Don Alonzo seems to have quarrelled with Hernando Pizarro during the siege of Cusco, and warmly espoused the cause of Almagro, who made him one of his executors. The latter portion of the autobiography, including a long letter to the emperor on the conduct of Hernando Pizarro, is very interesting, while the frankness of Don Alonzo’s confessions as regards his own motives is most entertaining. The Life and Acts of Don Alonzo Enriquez de Guzman was translated and edited by Clements R. Markham, C. B., and printed by the Hakluyt Society in 1862. It had up to this time escaped notice.

The last years of the marquis Pizarro were occupied in laying out and building the capital of Peru, and we are indebted to the researches of the learned Peruvian, Don Manuel Gonzalez de la Rosa, for having discovered the most detailed account of the founding and early history of Lima among the manuscripts in the Biblioteca Colombina at Seville. The Historia de la Fundacion de Lima was written by the Jesuit Bernabé Cobo between 1610 and 1629, and was first printed under the superintendence of Dr. De la Rosa in the Revista Peruana.

The story of the murder of Pizarro is told in the general histories, and there are some additional particulars in Montesinos. A very laudatory life of the marquis, which, however, contains the results of original research, is contained in the Varones Ilustres del Nuevo Mundo, by Fernando Pizarro y Orellana (Madrid, 1639). This work also contains Lives of Pizarro’s brothers and of Almagro.

But by far the best life of Pizarro, both as regards literary merit and conscientious research, is contained in the Vidas de Españoles Celebres by Don Manuel Josef Quintana. Quintana also gives the texts of the original agreement (1526) between Pizarro, Almagro, and Luque, and of the capitulation (July 26, 1529, at Toledo) between Queen Juana and Pizarro. These documents are also given by Prescott in the Appendix to the second volume of his Conquest of Peru.

After the assassination of Pizarro, the licentiate Vaca de Castro, having defeated the younger Almagro, succeeded as governor of Peru, and the history of his rule is told in his own letters. The first is to the emperor, reporting his arrival at Santo Domingo, and is very brief. The second, also to the emperor, is from Quito, and announces the assassination of Pizarro and the rebellion of Almagro the lad. The third is addressed to the emperor from Cusco, after the battle of Chupas, and is a straightforward statement of his proceedings. The fourth is a long letter from Cusco to his wife on private affairs. There is also a long letter on the revolt of young Almagro and the battle of Chupas from the municipality of Cusco to the emperor. These letters are included in the great official volume of Cartas de Indias published at Madrid in 1877, pp. 463-521. The Vida y elojio del licenciado Vaca de Castro, Gobernador del Peru, was written by Antonio de Herrera, the chronicler of the Indies.

A good historian accompanied the ill-fated viceroy Blasco Nuñez de Vela to Lima. Augustin de Zarate was comptroller of accounts for Castile, and was sent out with the first viceroy to examine into the financial affairs of Peru. He collected notes and materials during his residence at Lima, and began the compilation of a history from the discovery by Pizarro to the departure of Gasca, when he returned to Spain. He had access to the best official sources of information, and his work is not without value; but he was strongly prejudiced, and his style is tedious and inelegant. He assigns as the reason for not having begun his narrative in Peru, that Carbajal had threatened any one who should attempt to record his exploits. In the earlier portions he relied on the testimony of the actors still living; but for the later part he was himself a spectator and actor. He had not intended to publish it in his lifetime; but the commendation of the emperor, to whom it was shown, induced him to depart from his purpose. The original manuscript of Zarate is or was preserved at Simancas; and Muñoz has disclosed how the printed volume differs considerably from it, in suppressing things too frankly stated, and in taking on a literary flavor not in the draft. Muñoz supposed that Florian d’Ocampo performed this critical office in passing the book through the press. His Historia del Descubrimiento y Conquista de la Provincia del Peru was printed at Antwerp in 1555, and a folio edition appeared at Seville in 1577; but the best edition of Zarate is in the Barcia Collection, vol. iii. It was included in 1853 in the Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, vol. xxvi.

A more important narrative of the civil war, which ended with the death of the viceroy Blasco Nuñez, was written by Pedro de Cieza de Leon, and has been recently published. Cieza de Leon landed in South America when he was barely fifteen, in the year 1534, and during his military service he conceived a strong desire to write an account of the strange things that were to be seen in the new world. “Oftentimes,” he wrote, “when the other soldiers were reposing, I was tiring myself by writing. Neither fatigue, nor the ruggedness of the country, nor the mountains and rivers, nor intolerable hunger and suffering have ever been sufficient to obstruct my two duties; namely, writing, and following my flag and my captain without fault.” In 1547 he joined the president Gasca, and was present at the final rout of Gonzalo Pizarro. He was many years in Peru, and he is certainly one of the most important authorities on Ynca history and civilization, whether we consider his peculiar advantages in collecting information, or his character as a conscientious historian. He lived to complete a great work, but unfortunately only a small portion of it has seen the light. The first and second parts of the Chronicle of Cieza de Leon have been published, but they relate to Ynca civilization and are discussed in a chapter in the first volume of the present work. The third part, treating of the discovery and conquest of Peru by Pizarro, is inedited, though the manuscript is believed to have been preserved. Part IV. was divided into five books relating the history of the civil wars of the conquerors. Only the third book has been published in the Biblioteca Hispano-Ultramarina. It was very ably edited by Don Márcos Jiménez de la Espada (Madrid, 1877), and is entitled La Guerra de Quito. The volume begins with the departure of the viceroy Blasco Nuñez de Vela from Spain, and consists of fifty-three chapters in the first part, the concluding portion forming a subsequent volume.

The proceedings of the president, Pedro de la Gasca, were recorded by himself in very full reports to the Council of the Indies, which almost amount to official diaries. The first, dated at Santa Marta on his way out, July 12, 1546, has been published in the official volume of Cartas de Indias (Madrid, 1877). Other published correspondence throws light on the astute proceedings of the president while he was at Panamá. His instructions to Lorenzo de Aldana, his letters to Gonzalo Pizarro, and the detailed report of his agent Paniagua have been published in the Revista de Lima, 1880. His report to the Council of the Indies, when on his way to attack Gonzalo Pizarro at Cusco (dated Andahuaylas, March 7, 1548), has not been edited. But the Chilian historian Don Diego Barros Arana has published the long despatch from Gasca to the Council, dated at Cusco, May 7, 1548, in which he describes the rout of Sacsahuana, the executions of Gonzalo Pizarro and Carbajal, and the subsequent bloody assize at Cusco. The document frequently quoted by Prescott (in book v. chap. iii. of his history) as Relacion del Licenciado Gasca MS. is an abridged and mutilated copy of this despatch of May 7, 1548, from the Muñoz Collection, and is preserved at Simancas. The sentence pronounced on Gonzalo Pizarro is published in the Revista Peruana (1880), from the original manuscript of Zarate’s Chronicle. Gasca continues his narrative in the despatches to the Council, dated at Lima, Sept. 25 and Nov. 26, 1548, which are also published by Barros Arana. There are six other despatches of the president from Lima, dated in 1549, in the Cartas de Indias. The invaluable papers of the president Gasca are not in the Archives at Seville, but have been preserved by his family.

But the best-known historian of the period during which the president Gasca was in Peru was Diego Fernandez de Palencia, usually called “el Palentino,” from the place of his birth. He went out to Peru, served in the army which was raised to put down the rebellion of Giron, and having collected materials for a history, he was appointed chronicler of Peru by the viceroy Marquis of Cañete. Fernandez first wrote the history of the rebellion of Giron, in the suppression of which he was personally engaged; and afterwards he undertook to write a similar account of the rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro and the administration of Gasca. Fernandez is a very painstaking writer, and no history of the time enters so fully into detail; yet it is pleasantly written, and the graver narrative is frequently relieved by anecdotes of personal adventures, and by amusing incidents. He is however a thorough-going partisan, and can see no redeeming feature in a rebellion, nothing but evil in the acts of rebels. His book is called Primera y Secunda Parte de la Historia del Peru, que se mando escrebir á Diego Fernandez, vecino de la ciudad de Palencia. It was published at Seville in 1571 (folio; primera parte, pp. 142; segunda parte, pp. 130). This is the only edition.

The first part of the work of the Ynca Garcilasso de la Vega relates to the history and civilization of the Yncas, and is discussed in the first volume of the present work. But the second part is a general history of the discovery of Peru, and of the civil wars down to the termination of the administration of the viceroy Toledo in Peru, and to the death of the governor Loyola in Chili. Like the first part, the second is rather a commentary than a history, for the Ynca quotes largely from other writers, especially from the Palentino, always carefully indicating the quotations and naming the authors. But his memory was well stored with anecdotes that he had heard when a boy; and with these he enlivens the narrative, while often a recollection of the personal appearance or of some peculiarity of the historical character whose deeds he is recording enables him to give a finishing touch to a picture. His father was a conqueror and an actor in most of the chief events of the time; his mother, an Ynca princess, and born in the city of Cusco; so the future author had special advantages for storing up information. He was born in 1539, but a few years after the conquest and one year after the death of Almagro. He passed his school days at Cusco, with many other half-caste sons of the conquerors, and went to Spain in 1560, dying at Cordova in 1616. The first part of his great work on Peru originally appeared at Lisbon in 1609, the second part at Cordova in 1617. The second and best edition of the two parts appeared at Madrid in 1723. The English translation of Sir Paul Rycaut (1688) is worthless, and there has never been a complete English version of the second part, which is entitled Historia General del Peru. The episode of the expedition of Gonzalo Pizarro to the land of cinnamon (part ii. lib. iii.) was translated by Clements R. Markham, C.B., and printed for the Hakluyt Society in 1859.

The licentiate Fernando Montesinos is an authority of some reputation, but chiefly valuable for his studies of native lore. He was altogether upwards of fifteen years in Peru. He was there a century after the conquest. His Memorias Antiguas Historiales exclusively relate to Ynca history; but his Annales contain a history of the conquest and of subsequent events, and include some original documents, and a few anecdotes which are not to be found elsewhere.

The authorities for the final settlement of Peru, after the crushing of the spirit of revolt by the Marquis of Cañete, are a good deal scattered. A learned account of the life and administration of Andres Marquis of Cañete himself will be found in the admirable Diccionario Histórico-Biografico del Peru by General Mendiburu, published at Lima in 1880; which also contains a Life of his successor, the licentiate Lope Garcia de Castro.

The viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo has left a deeper mark on the history of Peru by his Libro de Tasas and Ordenanzas relating to mines and the treatment of Indians. The transactions with reference to the judicial murder of Tupac Amaru and the persecution of the Ynca family are briefly related by Garcilasso de la Vega; but there is a much more detailed account in the Coronica Moralizada del Orden de San Augustin en el Peru by Fray Antonio de la Calancha, published at Barcelona in 1638. Calancha also gives the remorseful will of Mancio Sierra de Leguizamo, whose life-story is fully related by Don José Rosendo Gutierrez in the Revista Peruana (tomo ii. 1880).

The story of the capture and execution of Tupac Amaru by the viceroy Toledo is told in very full detail by Baltasar d’Ocampo, who was an eye-witness. His narrative has all the charm of honest truthfulness; and yet the incidents, thus simply related, are as interesting as the most ingeniously constructed romance. Unfortunately the story, as told by Ocampo (Descripcion de la Provincia de San Francisco de Villcapampa), has never been printed. It is among the manuscripts of the British Museum.

Polo de Ondegardo, the learned lawyer, was the principal adviser of the viceroy Toledo. He arrived in Peru before the president Gasca, and held the important posts of corregidor of Potosi and of Cusco. He had a profound knowledge of the Ynca system of government, and his two Relaciones, addressed to the Marquis of Cañete and the Conde de Nieva, discuss the land tenures, colonial policy, and social legislation of the natives. His labors were all undertaken with a view to adapting the best parts of the Ynca system to the new polity to be instituted by the Spanish conquerors; and his numerous suggestions, from this standpoint, are wise and judicious. A feeling of sympathy for the Indians, and the evidence of a warm desire for their welfare pervade all his writings. There is another rough draft of a report by Polo de Ondegardo, a manuscript in the National Library at Madrid, which contains much information respecting the administrative system of the Yncas; and here, also, he occasionally points out the way in which native legislation might usefully be imitated by the conquerors. This report of Polo de Ondegardo was translated by Clements R. Markham, C.B., and printed for the Hakluyt Society in 1873 in the volume called Rites and Laws of the Incas. It is believed that Polo de Ondegardo died at Potosi in about the year 1580.

The other adviser of the viceroy Toledo was a man of a very different character, a hard, relentless politician, indifferent alike to the feelings and the physical well-being of the conquered people. Judge Matienzo wrote a work in two parts on the condition of the people, the mita, or forced labor, the tribute, the mining laws, and on the duties of the several grades of Spanish officials. The Gobierno de el Peru of Matienzo is a manuscript in the British Museum.

The whole body of ordinances and regulations relating to the aboriginal people and their treatment by the conquerors is fully explained and discussed by Dr. Don Juan de Solorzano, a profoundly learned jurist, and member of the Council of the Indies, in his Politica Indiana (Madrid, 1648). The history of encomiendas in Peru is well and ably discussed by Enrique Torres Saldamando in the Revista Peruana (vol. ii. 1880).

The second Marquis of Cañete, who was viceroy of Peru in the last decade of the sixteenth century, was best known for his conduct of the Araucanian war, when, as a young man, he was governor of Chili. That famous war formed the subject of the epic poem of Alonzo de Ercilla, the warrior-poet. Born at Bermeo on the shores of the Bay of Biscay, where the house of his ancestors is still standing, Ercilla began life as a page to the prince of Spain, and volunteered to go out and serve against the Araucanians, when news arrived of an outbreak and the death of Valdivia. Born in 1533, he was only twenty-one when he set out for Chili under the command of the youthful governor Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza. Ercilla was present at seven regular battles, and suffered much from hardships during the harassing campaigns. He returned to Spain in 1562, after an absence of eight years. His Araucana is a versified history of the war, in which he describes all the events in their order, enumerates the contending chiefs, with a few lines to denote the character or special characteristic of each, and is minutely accurate even in his geographical details. He tells us that much of the poem was composed in the country, and that by the light of the camp-fires at night he wrote down what had occurred during the day. Ticknor looks upon the Araucana as an historical rather than an epic poem; and he considers the descriptive powers of Ercillo—except in relation to natural scenery—to be remarkable, the speeches he puts in the mouths of Araucanian chiefs often excellent, and his characters to be drawn with force and distinctness. Pedro de Oña, in his Arauco Domado, praises the governor, Hurtado de Mendoza, the future Marquis of Cañete; and Lope de Vega made his Araucanian war the subject of one of his plays.

The Life of the viceroy Marquis of Cañete (Garcia) was written by Don Cristóval Suarez de Figueroa, a man of some literary fame in his day. When the marquis returned from Peru broken in health, he was treated with neglect and ingratitude; nor had he received full justice from Ercilla for his youthful exploits,—at least so thought his heirs when he died in 1599; and they applied to Suarez de Figueroa to undertake his biography, placing all the viceroy’s family and official papers in the author’s hands. The result was the Hechos de Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, cuarto Marques de Cañete, which was printed in 1613. It was reprinted in the Coleccion de Historiadores de Chile,—a work published in seven volumes at Santiago in 1864, edited by Don Diego Barros Arana. This work contains a very full account of the administration of the marquis while he was viceroy of Peru.

Pedro de Valdivia has written his own history of his conquest and settlement of Chili, in his letters to the emperor, Charles V. They are preserved in the Archives at Seville among the documents sent from Simancas, and have been published by Claudio Gaye in his Historia de Chile (Paris, 1846), and also in the first volume of the Coleccion de Historiadores de Chile (Santiago, 1864). The first of Valdivia’s despatches is dated from La Serena, Sept. 4, 1545, and the second from Lima, June 15, 1548. In the third he reports fully on the state of affairs in Chili, and refers to his own previous career. It is dated from Concepcion, Oct. 15, 1550. There are two others, dated Concepcion, Sept. 25, 1551, and Santiago, Oct. 26, 1552, which are short, and not so interesting.

Some discontented soldiers brought a series of fifty-seven accusations against Valdivia, which were considered by the president Gasca at Lima in October, 1548,—the result being acquittal. The Acta de Accusacion was published at Santiago in 1873 by Barros Arana, together with Valdivia’s defence and several other important historical documents. That accomplished Chilian historian has also edited a very interesting letter from Pedro de Valdivia to Hernando Pizarro, dated at La Serena on the 4th of September, 1545, which fell into the hands of the president Gasca, and remained among his papers; and when he was at Seville in 1859, he discovered one more unimportant letter from the Chilian conqueror to Charles V., dated at Santiago, July 9, 1549. The first book of the records of the Santiago municipality, called the Libro Becerro, embraces the years from 1541 to 1557. It has been published in the first volume of the Coleccion de Historiadores de Chile, etc. (Santiago, 1861), and contains the appointment of Valdivia as governor of Chili, the founding of Santiago, with the nomination of the first municipal officers, ordinances for mines, and other important entries.

There is thus ample original material for the opening chapter of the history of Chili. Moreover, the first connected work on the subject was written by one of the early conquerors. Gongora Marmolejo served under Valdivia, and was an eye-witness of all the stirring events of the time. His history begins at the discovery of Chili, in 1536, and is brought down to the year 1575. Written in Santiago, it is addressed to the president of the Council of the Indies; and though the style is confused, and often obscure, the narrative has the merit of impartiality, and supplies many interesting details. It also has annexed documents, including a letter from Gonzalo Pizarro to Valdivia giving an account of events in Peru, down to the death of Blasco Nuñez de Vela. The Historia de Chile of Gongora Marmolejo remained in manuscript in the Biblioteca de Salazar (H. 45) until it was edited by Don Pascual de Gayangos, in 1850, for the fourth volume of the Memorial Histórico Español. It has since been published in the Coleccion de Historiadores de Chile.

The story of the surprise and death of the governor, Martin Garcia de Loyola, and of the subsequent formidable rising of the Araucanians in 1598, was written in the form of a poem by Captain Fernando Alvarez de Toledo. The work has no literary merit, and is only valuable as an historical narrative. The manuscript is in the National Library at Madrid, and it was published by Don Diego Barros Arana, in the Collection d’Ouvrages inédits ou rares sur L’Amérique (Paris, 1861). An interesting modern account of the death of the governor Loyola, entitled La sorpresa de Curalava, was written by the accomplished Chilian, Miguel Luis Amunátegui, and published as one of his Naraciones Históricas (Santiago, 1876).

The history of Chili, which follows Marmolejo in point of time, is by Cordova y Figueroa, a native of the country, and a descendant of Juan de Negrete, one of the followers of Valdivia. Cordova y Figueroa was born at Concepcion in 1692, served with credit in a war with the Araucanians, and is believed to have written the history between 1740 and 1745. Beginning with the expedition of Almagro, it comes down to the year 1717, and is the most complete history that had been written up to that date. The manuscript was in the National Library at Madrid, and a copy was made for the Chilian government, under the auspices of Don Francisco S. Astaburriaga, who was then minister to Spain. It was published in the Coleccion de Historiadores de Chile.

In this review of works on the conquest and first settlement of Peru and Chili, those which refer only to the history and civilization of the Yncas, or to geography and natural history, have been omitted, as they receive notice in the chapter on ancient Peru in the first volume of this History.