—January 3, 1667, Lima

Lima

Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

), more commonly known as Pedro Bohórquez (or Bohorques) or Inca Hualpa, was a Spanish adventurer in the Viceroyalty of Peru

Viceroyalty of Peru

Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima...

. He was probably born in Spain, but some sources say he was born in Quito

Quito

San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...

. After trying to make his fortune in various schemes in Peru, around 1656 he had himself crowned Inca (emperor) of the Calchaquí

Calchaquí

The Calchaquí were a tribe of South American Indians of the Diaguita group, now extinct, who formerly occupied northern Argentina. Stone and other remains prove them to have reached a high degree of civilization...

es Indians, fooling not only the Indians, but also Spanish government and clerical officials. His almost legendary story is an example of the picaresque, with a tragic ending.

Of campesino origin, he was probably a Morisco

Morisco

Moriscos or Mouriscos , meaning "Moorish", were the converted Christian inhabitants of Spain and Portugal of Muslim heritage. Over time the term was used in a pejorative sense applied to those nominal Catholics who were suspected of secretly practicing Islam.-Demographics:By the beginning of the...

 (Iberian Muslim converted to Christianity) or Mudéjar

Mudéjar

Mudéjar is the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquista but were not converted to Christianity...

 (Iberian Muslim not converted to Christianity). He learned to read and write studying with the Jesuits in Cádiz

Cádiz

Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

. He embarked from Spain for America at a young age, attracted by the promise of easy riches that the New World seemed to offer. He tried various schemes over many years in Peru, but without making the fortune he sought.

In Alto Perú

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

 near Potosí

Potosí

Potosí is a city and the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world by elevation at a nominal . and it was the location of the Spanish colonial mint, now the National Mint of Bolivia...

 he met a priest named Bohórquez. The two became friends. In order to evade the Spanish authorities, Chamijo adopted Bohórquez's last name.

Around 1656 he arrived at San Miguel de Tucumán in what is now Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. This city was one of the principal cities of a province that included the present-day provinces of Jujuy, Salta

Salta Province

Salta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy...

, Catamarca

Catamarca Province

Catamarca is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province has a population of 334,568 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km². Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are : Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, and La Rioja...

, La Rioja

La Rioja Province (Argentina)

La Rioja is a one of the provinces of Argentina and is located in the west of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca, Córdoba, San Luis and San Juan.-History:...

, Tucumán

Tucumán Province

Tucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and...

, Santiago del Estero

Santiago del Estero Province

Santiago del Estero is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. Neighbouring provinces are from the north clockwise Salta, Chaco, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca and Tucumán.-History:...

, Córdoba

Córdoba Province (Argentina)

Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...

 and the western parts of Chaco

Chaco Province

Chaco is an Argentine province located in the north of the country, near the border with Paraguay. Its capital is Resistencia on the Paraná River opposite the city of Corrientes...

 and Formosa

Formosa Province

Formosa Province is in northeastern Argentina, part of the Gran Chaco Region. Its northeast end touches Asunción, Paraguay, and borders the provinces of Chaco and Salta to its south and west, respectively...

.

This was a vast territory, but the situation of the Spanish colonists was precarious, partly because of the opposition of the native Calchaquíes, a warlike people of the Diaguita or Pazioca confederation who had been briefly subjugated to the Inca Empire

Inca Empire

The Inca Empire, or Inka Empire , was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century...

. They now vehemently opposed the Spanish presence. Attempts by the Jesuits to evangelize them had not been fruitful; methods that had been successful with other Indigenous groups in the region were unsuccessful with the Calchaquíes.

By 1656 a vague rumor was circulating that the Calchaquíes knew the location of prodigious amounts of precious metals hidden during the decline of the Inca Empire.

It is not known how Bohórquez learned of this situation. He was of a brownish complexion and by now was married to a young Indigenous woman. He was also said to speak fluent Quechua

Quechua languages

Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...

. With these advantages, he was able to convince the Calchaquíes that he was the last descendant of the Inca emperors, and that his name was Inca Hualpa. Probably the Calchaquíes didn't believe his story — they did not wish to be subjected to the Incas any more than to the Spanish — but the appearance of "Inca Hualpa" might free them from the Spanish yoke.

Bohórquez assured his new subjects that if they revealed the location of the hidden Inca treasure to him, he would do everything in his power to expel the Spanish. Simultaneously, he assured the Spanish that, as he was considered emperor by the Indigenous, he would be able to obtain their submission to the Spanish king and reveal the location of the treasure, if only the Spanish would guarantee his recognition as a local monarch. He also convinced the Jesuits that as a Christian monarch, he would be able to obtain the conversion of his subjects.

The governor of Tucumán, Alonso Mercado y Villacorta

Alonso Mercado y Villacorta

Alonso de Mercado y Villacorta, Marquis of Villacorta was a Spanish civil servant, acting in the Río de la Plata area.Born in Catalonia, he was Governor of Tucumán from 1655 to 1660...

, met with Bohórquez in June 1657 in Belén, Catamarca

Belén, Catamarca

Belén is a small town in the province of Catamarca, Argentina. It has about 12,000 inhabitants according to the , and it is the head town of the department of the same name. Belén is the birthplace of Luis Franco.-References:* — Official website....

. He agreed to give him the title of captain general and celebrated a week of festivities in his honor. The only opposition came from the bishop of Tucumán, Fray Melchor de Maldonado y Saavedra, who was suspicious of his story. Nevertheless, Bohórquez was able to maintain his position for two years, during which time he instituted a strong government and fortified the valleys against the Spanish.

When this was discovered, he led the third rising of the Calchaquíes against the Spanish, attacking the cities of Salta and San Miguel de Tucumán and causing serious losses there. Finally he was defeated by forces of Governor Mercado, but without being taken prisoner immediately.

When he was arrested, he was pardoned by the viceroy of Peru, Baltasar de la Cueva Enríquez

Baltasar de la Cueva Enríquez

Don Baltasar de la Cueva y Enríquez de Cabrera, iure uxoris Count of Castellar and Marquis of Malagón was viceroy of Peru from August 15, 1674 to July 7, 1678.He was a younger son of the Duke of Alburquerque, and brother of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 8th Duke...

. However bad luck or the intrigues of his enemies revealed another plan to lead another revolt of the Calchaquíes. He was hung in Lima on January 3, 1667 and his head was exhibited on a pike. As for the Indigenous, the survivors were divided, distributed to encomienda

Encomienda

The encomienda was a system that was employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas to regulate Native American labor....

s for forced labor. Some were removed from their mountain valleys and transported to distant places. The Quilmes were transported to Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, where a town still bears that name.

His story was related by Padre Hernando de Torreblanca, a Jesuit who had believed in Inca Hualpa, in Relación histórica de Calchaquí (1696). Roberto J. Payró published a novel in 1905, El falso inca.

External links

"El falso inca," de R. Payró