Guaman Poma de Ayala's “New Chronicle and Good Government” A testimony on the health of the Indigenous populations in XVIth century Peru

Abstract

elipe Guaman Poma de Ayala’s illustrated autograph manuscript of nearly 1200 pages: Nueva coronica y buen gobierno (New Chronicle and Good Government), probably written between 1600 and 1615, has particular importance as a rich, in-depth account of early colonialism, seen in an indigenous perspective. The book is attested at the Royal Library of Denmark for more than two centuries. It is available online as a searchable digital edition. Guaman Poma’s work, addressed to King Philip III of Spain, was also explicitly intended for the hierarchy of the state and the church and for a more general public, both Spanish and native. Some critical messages are reserved to Quechua language speakers. A full-blooded native, Guaman Poma descended from members of an ethnic community, the mitmaqkuna, sent with special privileges by the Inka to settle a newly conquered area. His family, including the priest Martin de Ayala, his halfbrother and instructor, appears to have had a special linkage with the hospital of Huamanga (today: Ayacucho). This situation, as well as the proximity of mercury