Written shortly after the capture of the Inca Atahualpa at Cajamarca, Peru, True Account of the Conquest of Peru by Francisco de Jerez, Francisco Pizarro's secretary and notary, is the most influential of the early accounts of the conquest of the Andean region. This fascinating text brings to life Pizarro and his men's arrival in the central Andes of South America and their capture of Inca Atahualpa, the ruler of one of the continent's largest and most powerful civilizations. Injured during the massacre that took place immediately after the capture of Atahualpa but wealthy thanks to his share of the ransom offered by Atahualpa for his freedom, Jerez published his account of the events just months after arriving in Seville in 1534.
The present edition is based on the English translation Reports on the Discovery of Peru published by Clement Markham in London in 1872 and also includes his translations of the Letter from Hernando Pizarro to the Royal Audience of Santo Domingo and the Report on the Distribution of the Ransom of Atahualpa by Pedro Sancho. This volume is an invaluable tool for scholars, professors, and students of Latin American studies and students of history and literature interested in the history of the conuest of the Andean region as well as a must read for those fascinated by the history, civilization, and culture of Peru and the Andean region in particular and the Americas in general.