Encyclopedia of the Incas

The success of Inca agricultural policies is reflected in the rapid expansion of the
empire and in the fact that many of their terracing systems are still in use today.

Further Reading
Denevan, William. “Terrace Abandonment in the Colca Valley, Peru.” In Pre-Hispanic Agricultural Fields
in the Andean Region. Part I, edited by William Denevan, Kent Mathewson, and Gregory Knapp, 1–44.
B.A.R. International Series 359(i). Oxford: B.A.R., 1987.
Wright, Kenneth, and Alfredo Valencia Zegarra. Machu Picchu, A Civil Engineering Marvel. Reston, VA:
ASCE Press, 2000.
■MICHAEL A. MALPASS

TITU    CUSI    YUPANQUI,   DIEGO   DE  CASTRO

A   son of  the Inca    ruler   Manco   Inca    and grandson    of  Huayna  Capac,  the last

undisputed  king    of  Tahuantinsuyu,  Titu    Cusi,   as  he  is  usually referred    to, was

born    in  Cuzco,  probably    around  1533,   if  not a   little  later.  His history of  the

Spanish  invasion,   Historia    de  los     yngas,  “History    of  the     Incas”  (or

Instrucción as  it  is  commonly    known), is  one of  the few accounts    of  the Incas

authored    by  a   Native  Andean  and the only    one written by  a   member  of  the

Inca    nobility.   Titu    Cusi,   in  fact,   was the penultimate ruler   of  Vilcabamba, the

neo-Inca    state   founded in  the forested    fastness    of  Vilcabamba  by  Manco   Inca,

in  the wake    of  his failed  uprising    against the Spanish invaders    in  Cuzco,  in

1536.

In   1561,   Titu    Cusi    succeeded   his     brother     Sayri   Túpac   as  ruler   of

Vilcabamba.  Ongoing     negotiations    between     the     Spaniards   and     the

Vilcabamba   Incas—in    which   the     Spaniards   sought  to  lure    the     Incas   away

from    Vilcabamba  with    promises    of  rich    estates in  Cuzco’s Urubamba    valley

—had    reached a   stalemate   by  the time    Titu    Cusi    began   to  narrate his history

to  a   scribe. When    Titu    Cusi    died    in  1571,   succeeded   by  his brother Túpac

Amaru   I,  the destiny of  the Vilcabamba  Incas   had been    sealed  by  the 1569

arrival of  Viceroy Francisco   de  Toledo, who had resolved    to  end Inca    rule    in

Vilcabamba.

Titu    Cusi’s  account,    dated   1570,   is  addressed   to  Philip  II, king    of  Spain,  and

consists    of  four    parts.  The first   is  instructions    to  the Licentiate  (lawyer)    Lope

García  de  Castro  who was to  represent   Titu    Cusi    in  the courts  of  Spain.  Titu

Cusi     sought,     first,  to  restore     the     Incas   to  “good   favor”  in  the     eyes    of  the

Spanish  king,   and,    second,     to  impress     on  the     courts  the     suffering   he  had