author

Juan de Betanzos

d. 1576

A Spanish chronicler of the early colonial Andes, he is best known for preserving one of the richest firsthand accounts of Inca history and tradition. His writing stands out for drawing on Indigenous testimony at a moment when those memories were still close to the events themselves.

1 Audiobook

Suma y narracion de los Incas, que los indios llamaron Capaccuna, que fueron señores de la ciudad del Cuzco y de todo lo á ella subjeto

Suma y narracion de los Incas, que los indios llamaron Capaccuna, que fueron señores de la ciudad del Cuzco y de todo lo á ella subjeto

by Juan de Betanzos

About the author

Juan de Betanzos was a 16th-century Spanish chronicler and interpreter who took part in the early colonial world of Peru. He is remembered above all for Suma y narración de los Incas (often known in English as Narrative of the Incas), a major source on Inca history, customs, and royal traditions.

What makes his work especially valuable is its closeness to Quechua-speaking informants and elite Inca circles. Modern readers often encounter him as one of the earliest European writers to record Andean history in such depth, and his account has been widely praised for preserving material that might otherwise have been lost.

Sources consulted here confirm that he died in 1576. I wasn't able to confirm a suitable portrait image from the pages available during this search, so none is included.