Francisco Pizarro. Crónica de una locura (A Chronicle of Madness) by José Luis Olaizola. I recently became interested in learning more about Francisco Pizarro after reading Spanish Pioneers by C. Lummis. In that book, Pizarro’s conquest in South America is depicted in a dual tone. On one hand, Lummis does not hide the extreme violence of the Spanish soldiers against Indigenous populations. On the other hand, he argues that the Spanish were, in certain respects, more inclusive in their treatment of the original peoples than, for example, the British.
Probably the most important thing to say about Crónica de una locura by José Luis Olaizola is that it is a fictionalised account of historical events. In other words, although Olaizola uses an extensive list of relevant sources and valid references, the book is ultimately a personal interpretation in novel-form. Olaizola openly treats the narrative as novel-based on history, rather than as a strict academic biography.
Readers interested in the most up-to-date historiography of Pizarro and the conquest of the Inca should also consult academic works alongside this novel.
Another comment about this book, and I want to be clear this is a purely personal appreciation: although the book is very readable and entertaining, the prose feels like it comes from a bygone era, though it is engaging. I often had the feeling that the book was written centuries ago, yet the edition I worked with was published in 2012. Some listings indicate an earlier first publication date (1998).
But as I said, this is not a drawback: since it is a fictionalised account, the author understandably chose a voice closer to Pizarro’s time. Nonetheless it is a delight to read. The style of the narrative remains accessible and draws the reader into the historical context with ease.
Pizarro was a distant relative of Hernán Cortés, and both were born in the same Spanish province of Extremadura. Pizarro was much older than Cortés when he embarked on his conquest projects, the Inca Empire in his case, and central Mexico in Cortés’s.
Before discovering the Inca Empire (which now corresponds to a region extending from Ecuador and Peru down to Chile), Pizarro spent several months of hardship and hunger on an island off the coast of Panama. He and his men encountered several Indigenous groups whom they promptly killed or enslaved to serve as porters and translators.
Eventually, Pizarro obtained more resources and more soldiers from Panama, where several Spanish settlements had already been built. He eventually came across Indigenous peoples who were far more advanced than the ones previously encountered: they had cities, laws, a judicial system, a language that, according to one of the conquerors, sounded similar to Basque, roads and; most important to the Spaniards, they appeared to possess vast quantities of gold and silver.
The author describes the abuses, the pillage, the killings, the use of war dogs against the Indigenous population; all done to fill their pockets and carry wealth back to Spain.
Pizarro returned from his first expedition into the Inca lands to present his findings to the Spanish crown. He was subsequently named Governor of the newly conquered territory of New Castile (which extended from Ecuador to Peru, encompassing the region between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans).