Summary Of Letter To A King: A Picture History Of The Inca

The author of Letter to a King: A Picture History of the Inca Civilisation, Felipe Huamán Poma de Ayala was a Peruvian/ Andean Indian, who claimed himself to be a historian for the sake of writing, the book the letter was published in The First New Chronicle and Good Government for his majesty c. 1615. The text intended purpose was for Huamán Poma to seek acceptance from his King, at the time of completion Spanish King Philip III ruled Peru. The acceptance that Huamán Poma seeks seems to be that of his work as a historian but also for what his community, the Peruvian/ Andean Indians and the work that they have faithfully done for the Spanish monarch on their own land and justice for the pain and torture they had to endure as ‘unfree’ people
The ‘service’ that Poma did for the colonial administration includes collaborating with the catholic church during the 1560s for a campaign to eliminate idolatry in the native communities, he worked as a translator for the church helping to produce grammars and dictionaries in the native language. Poma came to regret his work with the church and the Europeans as he was exiled twice from Huamanga for being accused of traitorous activities, mostly for teaching natives to read and write meaning they could place legal claims to recover land. Huamán Poma Letter to a King helps highlight the guilt he as a native had for helping the Spanish colonisation of his people, he was labelled as a traitor for working with the European Christians wash away any culture aspect surrounding the Incan Empire in Peru and the south Americas, Huamán Poma essentially changed his own world view for a period of time to fit into his new community and to gain status as a noblemen, he was going with the grain instead of against which led to his exile. Letter to the King can be seen as the text he used to push back against the new
Poma pleaded the monarch to restore autonomy to the Incan people, so they could lead civilized lives as free people no longer bound to the life forced upon them by the colonies. With direct relations to Incan royalty through his mother Huamán Poma could have seen this letter as his duty to restore freedom with his people. An alternative to the Incan people being ruled by the colonies was for them to be governed by the church, while working for the Spanish Huamán Poma appeared to convert to Christianity and put much of his faith into gods will. Poma described the Spanish as ‘bad’ Christians in an attempt to pressure them into seeing the natives as god’s creatures along with themselves, he believed that gods intentions were for each race to rule in its land of origins ‘Spaniards do not have a right to come into these lands, for the Inca was the legitimate owner and King’. This belief can be evident in the text Letter to a King as he refers to the book as being important to “all faithful Christians and that “for the benefit of both Indian and Spanish Christians in Peru” he asked the King to accept his advice on how to move forward with the race relations between the Incan natives and the Spanish colonies in Peru regarding the Incan natives being acknowledged as