Encyclopedia of the Incas

been identified as the possible author of an anonymous account titled La
Conquista del Peru llamada la Nueva Castilla (The Conquest of Peru known
as New Castille). This important source, published in 1534, is the earliest
report on the events in Cajamarca and the months leading up to the encounter
(see Invasion, Spanish). Six months before Pizarro and his men reached
Cajamarca in November 1532, a small group reconnoitered the highlands of
Piura, in far northern Peru, where they first saw the impressive highland road
that linked Cuzco and Quito, marveling that it could easily accommodate six
horsemen riding abreast. They also explored settlements strung along the
royal road, which provided the first view of the empire’s sophisticated
storage system. They admired the buildings and the skill of its stoneworkers,
but most of all they were enthralled by the acllas, the cloistered, so-called
chosen women who wove fine cloth and brewed maize beer, chicha.
Francisco de Xerez served as Francisco Pizarro’s secretary. Born in Seville
in 1497, he spent a decade in Central America and took part in all three of
Pizarro’s expeditions. On the third expedition, in 1532, he was a horseman as
well as a scribe. Xerez was the only Spaniard injured during the capture of
Atahualpa, breaking a leg, an event with which he began his account. Because
he was Pizarro’s secretary, his version of the events in Cajamarca is regarded
as the official one, and it is quite detailed. Once he had been awarded his
share of Atahualpa’s ransom, Xerez returned to Spain a wealthy man,
publishing La Verdadera Relación de la Conquista del Peru y Provincia del
Cuzco, llamada la Nueva Castilla (True Account of the Conquest of Peru and
Province of Cuzco, Known as New Castille) in 1534, shortly after Mena’s
account was completed.
Most published editions of Xerez’s Verdadera Relación include a report by
Miguel de Estete concerning Hernando Pizarro’s expedition to Pachacamac,
a pilgrimage center on Peru’s central coast. Estete was born in Spain around
1507 in Santo Domingo de la Calzada. His Relación del viaje que hizó el
Señor Capitán Hernando Pizarro (Account of the Trip Made by the Captain
Hernando Pizarro) chronicles an expedition from Cajamarca to Pachacamac
in January 1533, and the return to Cajamarca via Jauja in May 1533. The
expedition’s mission was to find more booty for Atahualpa’s ransom. Estete
served as inspector on the expedition; as such, he was charged with
accounting for the gold and silver collected on the expedition. Dated 1534,
Estete’s account is rich in details about the people and geography encountered
along the way, and especially about the oracle of Pachacamac.