Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (1539-1616) was a Peruvian chronicler whose Spanish prose won him the designation as the first classic writer of America.

Inca Garcilaso de la Vega was born in Cuzco on April 12, 1539, the son of Capt. Sebastian Garcilaso de la Vega, a scion of a proud Spanish family distinguished in war and literature, and Chimpu Ocllo, niece of the last Inca emperor, Huayna Cápac. Named Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, he later changed his name to El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. Reared by his mother, he learned the language, customs, myths, and legends of her people, while his father had him educated as a nobleman in the classical traditions of Spain. Thus the mind of the bilingual child soon confused facts and fancies concerning the glories of the Incas, the triumphs of the Spaniards, and the splendors of classical...