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Titu Cusi Inca (1530-1571) Titu Cusi, meaning "magnanimous and fortunate", assumed control of Vilcabamba when Sayri-Tupac left in 1557. For the next 14 years, Titu Cusi maintained a peaceful policy of co-existence with the Spanish. He continued negotiations with the conquistadors throughout this time, managing their expectations, restraining their armies and benefiting from their goodwill without ever actually emerging from Vilcabamba. Titu Cusi allowed Spanish friars to settle in Vilcabamba and even appeared to embrace the Christian religion himself. He dictated a long Relación to the friars, the only first-hand narrative by an Inca and an invaluable source of information on the native perspective of the Spanish conquest. This Relación also reveals the nature of Titu Cusi's character: exuberant, emotional, good natured, friendly and thoughtful. His prime concern was for the well-being of his subjects and the preservation of his state and dynasty. It was a tragedy for the native state of Vilcabamba that Titu Cusi died suddenly, of natural causes, in 1571. With his continued rule and careful negotiations, Vilcabamba well may have survived to occupy a permanent, independent place in the Spanish Empire. |  |
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