Between the passing away of her husband in 1528 and the year 1536, there are no records of her life. It is only known that Quispe Sisa was Atahualpa's favourite sister, so during the civil war between Atahualpa and Huascar, Contarhuacho preferred the former.
After the Spanish Conquest, Contarhuacho continued in her role as curaca. At that time, the Spaniards were gradually gaining power and initially allowed indigenous women to continue in their positions. In addition, it is known that Contarhuacho became a grandmother for the first time in December 1534 with the birth of Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui and for the second time in 1535 with the arrival of Gonzalo Pizarro Yupanqui (who died in 1544), both of whom were the fruit of Quispe Sisa's relationship with the conquistador Francisco Pizarro. Although she did not participate in a Catholic wedding, Quispe Sisa considered herself married, since prior to his death, Atahualpa had offered her to Francisco Pizarro as his wife, and according to Inca tradition, this was enough for a couple to be considered wed. Likewise, Pizarro presented Quispe to his companions as his wife. Quispe Sisa gave birth to her daughter in Jauja and her son in Lima, so it was probably not in the presence of her mother, who had duties to perform in Huaylas.
Meanwhile, the second puppet emperor that the Spaniards installed in Cusco, Manco Inca, found himself being humiliated by the conquistadors, who demanded huge amounts of gold and raped his wives, among other insults. Therefore, in 1536, Manco Inca escaped from the city with his principal wife, Curi Ocllo (or Cura Ocllo). He formed an army and together they besieged Cusco. The rebellion spread to Lima in August of that year, where it was led by Quizu Yupanqui.
The siege of Lima was directly relevant to Contarhuacho's life. The curaca warned Francisco Pizarro about it and then sent 10,000 men from her area of jurisdiction to help the Spaniards. Pizarro was the enemy and kidnapper of her former ally Atahualpa. However, through Quispe Sisa, Pizarro was now her kinsman. Contarhuacho chose to defend her daughter and grandchildren (who were just young children at that point) and support her son-in-law Pizarro, while she felt no loyalty to Manco Inca, who in the civil war had been part of the pro-Huascar faction. Another reason for sending help was that when the curaca might need support in fighting her enemies in the future, she expected Pizarro to offer aid in return. She was wisely forging an alliance with the most powerful man on the continent at that time.
Moreover, the Spaniards promised the Huaylas people that they would establish a fair government, better than that of the Inca's, whose empire the Huaylas had resented. Nevertheless, any promises the Spaniards might have made to them were entirely fabricated.
Sadly, the siege of Lima is the last trace of this powerful woman in contemporary documents. It could be that she died shortly afterwards at the approximate age of 36 or she simply returned to Huaylas to rule and never again came into contact with the chroniclers.
Bibliography:
Doña Francisca Pizarro: Una ilustre mestiza 1534-1598 by María Rostworowski
Conquest of the Incas by John Hemming
La mestiza de Pizarro: una mestiza entre dos mundos by Álvaro Vargas Llosa
Mujer y poder en los Andes coloniales by María Rostworowski
Moon, sun, and witches: Gender ideologies and class in Inca and colonial Peru by Irene Silverblatt
###
Thank you for reading my book. I know you could have picked any book to read, but you picked this book and for that, I am extremely grateful!
I hope that it was an engaging and informative journey for you. If so, it would be really nice if you could share this book with your friends and family by posting it to social media.
If you enjoyed this book, I'd love to hear from you and hope that you could take some time to post a review on the website you bought it from.
Thanks, or rather yupaychani as an Inca would say!
Helen Pugh
About the Author
Helen Pugh has long believed that it's important to rescue historical women from obscurity and make sure that "herstory" is taught alongside "history"!
Her interest in South America and the Incas began in 2006 when she first went to Ecuador. Then, from 2011 she lived there for 7 continuous years, 6 in the Amazon Region and 1 in Quito. She experienced domestic violence and very long and traumatic legal battles there so can relate to some of the Inca women in the book on that front.
Helen studied Spanish and Italian at university and has a lifelong passion for history, especially that of historical women who made history but have been sidelined.
Other Titles by Helen Pugh
Ebooks for adults
Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire Part 1
Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire (parts 1 and 2)
Contarhuacho, a biography
Andean Storm
Map Book for Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire
Pachamama, diosa extraordinaria (Spanish)
Ebooks for children
Tears of Blood
Inca-tastic Tales
Paperbacks
Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire
Pachamama, diosa extraordinaria
Inca-tastic Tales (colour version)
Online Publications
The biographies of Contarhuacho and Ana de Loyola Coya are published in Spanish on the Real Academia de Historia's database: http://dbe.rah.es/
A review of the museum in Coca dedicated to the Omagua people is available at http://mainlymuseums.com
My article 'Approaches to Homosexuality and Intersexism in the Andean World' is available at:
Connect with Me
Twitter:
Instagram: @helencpugh
Join the Facebook group 'Intrepid Dudettes':
Subscribe to my youtube channel: (or search for Intrepid Dudettes)
YOU ARE READING
Contarhuacho, a biography
Non-FictionThis short biography of Contarhuacho is a taster for a book I am planning entitled, 'Biographies of Inca Women'. I would love to receive feedback on whether a book of that sort would be of interest to you and if so, which Inca women you would like m...
