Garcilaso de la Vega (gärsēläˈsō dā lä vāˈgä) [key], 1539–1616, Peruvian historian; son of the Spanish conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega and an Incan princess and therefore called the Inca. He grew up in Peru during the turbulent post-Conquest period. He went (1560) to Spain, where he first served in the army and later began to write. His most important work, The Royal Commentaries of Peru (1609–1617; tr. 1871) is a valuable source of information about the conquest of Peru and the lives and legends of the Inca.
See biography by J. G. Varner (1968).
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