Guaman Poma and the Attempt to Level with the King
My initial thoughts on the subsequent parts of the First New Chronicle and Good Government are that it seems to be more chronologically organized. It details key moments of conquest and the eventual demise of Inca rule. Whereas I do still have questions, I felt more confusion in the first half due to the amount of introductions involved. The language used by Guaman Poma in an attempt to either generate sympathy for the Indigenous or outline incompetent rule by the Spaniards carried two central themes. After each section that I read, the first thing I noticed was an effort to persuade the religious conscience of the King in his reports. The Corregidores, which are Spanish officials acting as “both judge and executive authority” (p.167) in a given province, are a great example of Guaman Poma’s language. They are first described as a governing authority harbouring “little fear of justice or of God” (p.167). He uses this exact phrase twice to almost portray characters that hav...