A king is questioned: the economy in the General History of Peru and the School of Salamanca

Abstract

The work consists of two sections, the first focusing on the Inca Garcilaso’s interest for the economy, reflected especially in the General History of Peru. The second is the question of the legitimacy of the conquest based on a breach of the Bulas Alejandrinas. With regard to the economy, I focus on the guidelines set by the arbitrators of the Escuela de Salamanca such as Soto, Mercado, Azpilcueta or Vitoria. The Inca is shown as a meticulous reporter of the changes that have occurred and which he exemplifies with anecdotes. These changes give room to a denunciation of the greed and usury to which the theorists of the School of Salamanca had referred so much. The excessive greed of the Crown and the colonizers comes to question the Bulas Alejandrinas and especially the authority of the king, the last beneficiary of the conquest.