The Making of the Hero in the Land of the Cinnamon Tree: Gonzalo Pizarro in the Royal Commentaries of Garcilaso Inca

Abstract

Prior to his rebellion against the Spanish Crown in 1544, Gonzalo Pizarro (Francisco’s younger brother) accomplished the Conquest of Charcas (present-day northwestern Bolivia), survived the siege of Cuzco by Manco Inca and attempted the failed exploration of the mythical «Land of the Cinnamon Tree», located somewhere in the Amazonian basin, according to Garcilaso’s historical account. During this doomed expedition, Pizarro endured treason, lost companions and was defeated by the forces of an aggressive environment. However, he ma­naged to emerge as the legendary political and military leader that rebelled against the first Viceroy of Peru, Blasco Nuñez Vela in 1546. Nuñez Vela would be defeated in battlefield and later executed. Gonzalo Pizarro’s pretension of becoming king of Peru by virtue of a political alliance with the surviving Incas would be seen in Garcilaso’s account as a proof of Pizarro’s heroic stature, albeit a tragic one.