Pedro Cieza de León

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Pedro Cieza de León (Llerena, Spain c.1520 ---Seville, Spain 1554) was a Spanish conquistador, chronist and historian of Peru. He wrote the Chronica del Perú in three parts, of which the first was published during his lifetime, the other two were published during the XIX and XX centuries, respectively.

He is credited with participating in expeditions, foundations, and government encomiendas in Spanish America and, particularly, in Cartagena of Indies, though perhaps of special interest might be his chronicles and ambitious project of the history of Peru. Such activities might be listed as following:

• 1536 and 1537: Expedition to San Sebastián de Buenavista and to Urute with Alonso de Cáceres.
• 1539: Foundation of San Ana de los Caballeros (Colombia), with Jorge Robledo.
• 1540: Foundation of Cartago (Colombia).
• 1541: Foundation of Antioquía (Colombia).
• He takes possession of an encomienda he granted to Sebastián de Belalcázar.
• 1547: Along with Pedro de Lagasca he initiated a trip to Peruvian lands under a pacification mission.
• 1548: He marched towards the "City of Kings" (present Lima), where he starts his career as a writer and official chronist of the New World. During the following two years he traveled across the Peruvian territory, collecting interesting information he would later use to develop his works.

De León returned to Seville, Spain in 1551 and married a woman named Isabel López. In this city he published, in 1553, the first part of chronicles of Peru. He died the following year, leaving the rest of his work unedited until it was published in 1871, under the title "Second part of chronicles of Peru", which described the Incan gentry and its government. In 1909, the third part of his chronicles were published under the title "Third book of the Peruvian civil wars", which is also known as the Quito war.

Though his works are historic and narrate the events of Spanish conquest of Peru and the wars among the Spaniards, their importance lies in the detail in which he describes the geography, ethnography, flora and fauna, being the first to describe some native Peruvian animal species and vegetables.