Inca Garcilaso de la Vega , was born on April 12, 1539, the son of Captain Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega and the ñusta Isabel Chimpu Ocllo, granddaughter of the Inca Tupac Yupanqui. He was baptized with the name of Gómez Suárez de Figueroa and there is some news of his childhood and youth from his works. As a child he liked to hear the stories told by his maternal relatives, highlighting among them that of his uncle Cusí Huallpa. When he was five years old, Gonzalo Pizarro's rebellion broke out, to which his father did not want to join, fleeing the revolt. His house was broken into and his family almost perished.
As a young man he had the opportunity to meet Sayri Tupac, one of the Incas of Vilcabamba, who, leaving his refuge, submitted to the authority of the King of Spain. He went with his family to see him and participated in the cane equestrian games organized in his honor. He suffered from the separation of his parents, since Captain Garcilaso definitively left his concubine for a Spanish lady. Upon the death of his father in 1559, fulfilling his wish, he traveled to Spain to complete his education, since as a child he had already learned Latin and Christian doctrine with Spanish teachers.
He set sail from Callao on January 23, 1560, landed in Seville and headed to Córdoba in search of his relatives . He was received in Montilla with affection and curiosity by the Marquises of Priego and other powerful paternal relatives, without failing to feel a certain discomfort since he was a natural son and lacked legal titles to access the status of hidalgo. The court treated him coldly because in the General History of Gomara and in the History of Peru written by El Palentino, his father was identified as a supporter of Gonzalo Pizarro's rebellion. To make a name for himself he enlisted in the war of the Alpujarras, but received no recognition for his efforts and retired to Montilla, although from then on he prefaced his signature with the word captain. He cultivated the friendship of his uncle Alonso de Vargas, who left him a piece of land in Córdoba when he died, and our character moved there in 1588. During his stay in Montilla he devoted himself to reading chivalric novels, learned Italian and he was instructed on literature and philosophy of the Renaissance. In 1589 his translation of the Love Dialogues of León the Hebrew appeared, presenting himself in the prologue as a witness to his own mixed ancestry and as a son of Cuzco, a city he defined as the head of the empire. He then composed the unfortunate journey that the conqueror Hernando de Soto undertook in North America and which is entitled La Florida del Inca (1605), based on the testimony of Gonzalo Silvestre. He highlights here the virtues of both races:the indomitable spirit of the Indians and the warrior spirit of the Spanish.
In 1609 the first part of his masterpiece Royal Comments was published in Lisbon , with which he wanted to fulfill the obligation that he owed to his country and his relatives, writing about their rulers, customs, laws and religion. It is a work of full maturity in which, at the same time that he is proud of his miscegenation, he exalts the Incas in such a way to the point of creating an idyllic image, attributing to them a civilizing mission. The second part is published posthumously in Córdoba in 1617 under the name of General History of Peru; in it he describes the conquest and the consequent civil wars, rehabilitating the name of his father. He died in Córdoba on April 22, 1616 , ten days after reaching the age of 67. His body is buried in the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba.