The History Of Peru

Understanding the recent social unrest and political developments in Peru requires a thorough understanding of the country's past

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Develops not only the historical rise of the modern country, but the cultural traditions upon which it evolved, matured, and is still distinguishing itself.

Available in English for the first time, An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru is a firsthand account of the Spanish invasion, narrated in 1570 by Diego de Castro Titu Cusi Yupanqui - the penultimate ruler of the Inca dynasty - to a Spanish missionary and transcribed by a mestizo assistant. The resulting hybrid document offers an Inca perspective on the Spanish conquest of Peru, filtered through the monk and his scribe. Titu Cusi tells of his father's maltreatment at the hands of the conquerors; his father's ensuing military campaigns, withdrawal, and murder; and his own succession as ruler. Although he continued to resist Spanish attempts at "pacification," Titu Cusi entertained Spanish missionaries, converted to Christianity, and then, most importantly, narrated his story of the conquest to enlighten Emperor Phillip II about the behavior of the emperor's subjects in Peru. This vivid narrative illuminates the Incan view of the Spanish invaders and offers an important account of indigenous resistance, accommodation, change, and survival in the face of the European conquest. Informed by literary, historical, and anthropological scholarship, Bauer's introduction points out the hybrid elements of Titu Cusi's account, revealing how it merges native Andean and Spanish rhetorical and cultural practices. This new English edition will interest students of colonial Latin American history and culture and of Native American literatures.

"This book examines how the entity called "Peru" gradually came into being, and how the narratives that defined it evolved over time. It is an account of Peruvian historiography, one that makes a contribution not only to Latin American studies but also to the history of historical thought at large. The book traces the contributions of key historians of Peru, from the colonial period through the present, and teases out the theoretical underpinnings of their approaches. It demonstrates how Peruvian historical thought critiques both European history and Anglophone postcolonial theory. And this book's readings of Peru's most influential historians, from Inca Garcilaso de la Vega to Jorge Basadre, are subtle and powerful. This book examines the development of Peruvian historical thought from its misty colonial origins in the sixteenth century up to the present day. It demonstrates that the concept of "Peru" is both a strange and enlightening invention of the modern colonial imagination, an invention that lives on today as a postcolonial wager on a democratic political future that can only be imagined in its own historicist terms, not those of European or Western history."--Descripción del editor.

Speaking at a 1913 National Geographic Society gala, Hiram Bingham III, the American explorer celebrated for finding the "lost city" of the Andes two years earlier, suggested that Machu Picchu "is an awful name, but it is well worth remembering." Millions of travelers have since followed Bingham's advice. When Bingham first encountered Machu Picchu, the site was an obscure ruin. Now designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Machu Picchu is the focus of Peru's tourism economy. Mark Rice's history of Machu Picchu in the twentieth century—from its "discovery" to today's travel boom—reveals how Machu Picchu was transformed into both a global travel destination and a powerful symbol of the Peruvian nation. Rice shows how the growth of tourism at Machu Picchu swayed Peruvian leaders to celebrate Andean culture as compatible with their vision of a modernizing nation. Encompassing debates about nationalism, Indigenous peoples' experiences, and cultural policy—as well as development and globalization—the book explores the contradictions and ironies of Machu Picchu's transformation. On a broader level, it calls attention to the importance of tourism in the creation of national identity in Peru and Latin America as a whole.