“antes destruida que conocida”

Comentarios reales is turning out to be an interesting read and there were a variety of themes that caught my interest. Last class it was mentioned how the “discovery” of the Americas profoundly affected the European worldview. In the first chapter Garcilaso de la Vega gives us a glimpse into what were supremely important philosophical, scientific and religious debates at the time. For example, Garcilaso de la Vega shows that “en contra de lo que de esta Tórrida Zona los filósofos dijeron, que no imaginaron jamás que en ella pudiese haber nieve,” there is in fact snow in the Andean countries, and the hot regions of the torrid zone are not uninhabitable as commonly believed. In trying to revise what is known about the New World, Garcilaso de la Vega appeals to both the scientist (with direct observation: “yo nací en la Tórrida Zona … y me crecí en ella hasta los veinte años”) and the theologian (using Bible-based logic: “no es de imaginar, cuanto más creer, que partes tan grandes del mundo las hiciese Dios inútiles”).

At many times throughout the text Garcilaso de la Vega laments that many Spaniards reporting back from the Americas have got it all wrong for not knowing indigenous languages and not thoroughly understanding their culture(s); this continent and its people were “antes destruida que conocida.” Garcilaso de la Vega must be one of the first to raise the issue of who is to write authoritative account of the indigenous people. Who has legitimacy? According to Garcilaso de la Vega: “será mejor que se sepa por las propias palabras que los Incas lo cuentan, que no por la de otros autores extraños”. He repeats how he, due to being born and raised in Peru, is the legitimate one to tell these stories, and in many cases he collected information from Incan communities themselves. This is a stage further in the transition between Europeans writing about Latin America for other Europeans, to Latin Americans recording their experiences for their own literary creation and historical records. The perspectives of someone who was more of an “insider” of Latin American culture are very interesting, such as his appraisal of the Incan government, which indirectly compares this “benevolent imperialism” with the violent and exploitative Spanish one.