Pedro De Cieza De Leon Sparknotes

“Pedro de Cieza de Leon: Chronicles of the Incas, 1540”
Little is known about Pedro de Cieza de Leon’s youth. Historians have discovered that Pedro de Cieza de Leon was a Spaniard, a conquistador, and a writer of Peru’s history. Pedro de Cieza de Leon was not well educated and had only the most basic education from his local school parish (Atlantis). Although he did not have a superior education, his four part book is reliable because he wrote about what he observed as a conquistador. This document is full of interesting information for the reader to discover the Inca’s way of living.
This primary source tells the reader a great deal about the Incas. The Incas were extremely wealthy. Most of the document tells the reader about the wealth and riches of the Incas, describing their wealth in depth. Jobs in the Incas’ society included many lavish occupations. “[M]any silversmiths who did nothing but work rich pieces of gold or fair vessels of silver; large garrisons were stationed there, and a steward who was in charge of them all” (Pedro). The Incas were organized and intelligent. Large armies were set up to protect their villages, and they had plenty of silver and gold to experiment with and create new beautiful objects. They used their systems to create a fair,

abundant society (Pedro).
The world of the Incas was just.

The Incas cared for everyone in their kingdom; supplies and health needs were distributed to all who needed the attention, regardless of monetary standings, as long as they worked. Laziness was not heard of among the Incas. Work had to be done and everyone pitched in to help, even the lords. Their system cared for everyone and made a seemingly happier, better kingdom. The rich were not allowed to wear fancy, elaborate clothing because they were aware that the poor members of society could not indulge in such extravagance. The only exception to this rule were “the rulers and the headmen, who, to maintain their dignity, were allowed great freedom and privilege”

(Pedro).
A census-like system was also used by the Incas to help them better care for their poor and grieving people. The people documented births and deaths. Births and deaths were monitored in the form of their quipus. The governors used the quipus to see who were the poor, widowed, injured or to learn other vital things about their people. It helped to ensure that all members of society were taken care of, and it helped reduce the amount of violence and wrongdoings by their citizens, as these heinous acts were simply not tolerated (Pedro).
Although the primary source is a meager one page document consisting of three paragraphs, the reader can glean an overwhelming amount of information about the Incas. The reader discovers how the Incas were a just society and how everyone had to work to create a better life for all members of society. The Incas cared about all members of society as long as everyone contributed by working. All though they were on a different continent far from most of civilization, the Incas still had a way to document their way of life in a census-like manner to appropriately deal with all of their citizens. The Incas had a good system, which created a peaceful, unified society.

Works Cited
Atlantis Bolivia. “Pedro Cieza De Leon.” Cieza, Atlantis Bolivia, www.atlantisbolivia.org/cieza.htm. 2017.
Pedro Cieza de Léon, The Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru, Clements R. Markham, trans. & ed., (London: Hakluyt Society, 1883), pp. 36-50, passim.