Why did the Spaniards never find Paititi?

The Spaniards first heard of Paititi after the episode of the flight of Manco Inca, when they took possession of the empire. Some expeditions we saw were then launched to explore the forest, but the political situation quickly limited these initiatives :

Indeed, the relations between the conquistadors and the Spanish royalty deteriorated sharply. The King wants to put an end to the abuses and exactions of those early adventurers who behave in a tyrannical way with the locals, torture, violate, rob, enslave them, turn into small warlords and fight ones against others. In 1550 a royal ordinance prohibited or suspended explorations of discovery or conquest in progress, in order to stabilize the still precarious situation of the new colony and avoid an Indian revolt.

After the conquest, the Spaniards who participated in the latter were, above all, occupied in dispute over the Andean territories of the vast Inca empire, and to take the maximum amount of fertile land and productive mines for their own account. The king tries to recover the hand, but they send his representative back to Spain and secede … A real civil war ensues, and occupies the conquistadors for years.

Finally, an envoy of the king named Pedro de la Gasca managed not without difficulty to regain control of the province of Peru, at the price of many battles and important Spanish losses on both sides. At the end of the conflict, the lands of the vanquished were redistributed and, above all, each one was strictly assigned to remain there without seeking to conquer the territories of his neighbors or other countries.

Another group of Spaniards landed shortly afterwards in Uruguay. They encountered Indians far from being aware of what had happened thousands of miles away in Peru, but which also strangely mention the existence of a very rich Amazonian kingdom: these inhabitants of the forest indicate the existence of a lord, the “white king”, “Gran Candire”, or “Gran Marani, powerful king of Paytite”

The Spaniards follow these guides (often Chiriguanes whose ancestors raided the Andes to obtain metal objects) for 2,500 km to the northwest through the forest. When they arrived in the eastern part of Bolivia, they founded Santa Cruz, and must bitterly admit the obvious: the rich Amazonian kingdom sought after was none other than the eastern part of the empire of the Incas, whose conquerors had already conquered the highlands, and claimed the forest.

In 1573 a royal decree clarifies the situation between these two Spanish groups, and sets a limit beyond which the newcomers will not be able to carry out expeditions: the Madre de Dios. This wave of explorers who had not yet quenched their thirst for discoveries were thus “blocked” in Santa Cruz in eastern Bolivia, and were only able to carry out expeditions around the latter.

But it did not matter : the Bolivian zone was reserved for them, and after thousands of kilometers traveled, their chiriguanae guides finally told them that they were approaching and that rich people were in mysterious places named Itatín (north east of Santa Cruz in the Cordillera de Panacares), Saypurú (to the west in the Andean foothills), and still more and more to the north, in a fabulous kingdom called Paititi. Outside, to the immediate north of Santa Cruz stretched the vast plains of Mojos, the last territory they had the right to conquer, cause the Madre de Dios flowed just above.

The Spaniards, as always since their departure, believed to reach the goal and, misunderstanding the Indians, quickly confused Mojos and Paititi. We shall return to this, but it is very possible that the plains of Mojos were conquered by the king of Paititi, and thus formed part of the territory of that kingdom, even though they were by no means its epicenter. This has created great confusion up to the present day. We typically perceive this confusion by reading what the Mercédaire Diego de Porres wrote in 1582: “I crossed many provinces and arrived near the Rich Earth, in Santa Cruz (…) which is the kingdom of the great Candire, and the Mojos , and the Paititi, and the province of Amazonas. ” The Spaniards wanted to believe that they had arrived. Since then, all Spanish expeditions will look for the town of Paititi to the south in Bolivia: Irala, De Ayolas, Ñuflo de Chaves … the list is long, and still continues today.

Those who followed Indian guides farthest to the north-west, such as Gonzalo Solis of Holguin, which almost reaches the banks of the Madre de Dios, will nevertheless bring back the accounts of local Indians, clearly indicating that the very rich kingdom they sought was « still a little further north », where « the great ancestor called Yaya » reigned over a people « dressed in woolen garments, using fronds like the Incas ». The people of Yaya live on a large mountain surrounded by a lagoon or rather a « laguna ».

Finally, to add to the confusion, one of the few Spaniards who participated in the conquest of the Inca empire, and thus was authorized to explore the forest further north (Peruvian), Juan Alvarez de Maldonnado, descended the Madre de Dios In 1568 and committed an enormous mistake in interpreting backwards the indications on the site of Paititi which he gleaned on his way, as we shall see. His narrative, at first sight clear, actually allows various interpretations, and has completed persuading the Spaniards that the city was in the Bolivian east, or very far away, in the heart of the impenetrable Amazon continent.

In 1572 the operation of eradicating the Inca resistance in the mountains is concluded as we have seen by the capture and execution of Tupac Amaru. Instead of a great battle with the survivors who fled the Spanish advance, they found the Inca and a few guards surrender to them. Vilcabamba, known as the last capital of the Inca, and last place where the fabulous treasure of Manco if it existed could have been kept ? A modest city, empty of population and wealth, burned down. The end of the resistance after this little glorious episode sounds in the spaniards mind as the end of the belief in a mysterious great Inca city remained unknown.

Already then, for the Spaniards occupied in exploiting the Andean lands rich in precious metals, slaves and fertile fields which they have captured, the desire to venture at the risk of their life in the forest declines. Paititi seems to be in Bolivia, and they do not have access to it because of the royal decree. The typical example is the one of Martín Hurtado de Arbieto: having inherited the vast province of Vilcabamba, therefore from the mountain zone and an Amazonian part beyond, he decides to enter the forest at Huanuco to explore his forest lands. Sinking rather shallowly into the green hell, he nevertheless discovered an immense building or enclosure occupied by some Indians. This will not prevent him from judging the area very unprofitable compared to his silver mines on the heights, and to completely abandon its exploitation or even the exploration.

Thus the immense majority of the Peruvian amazonia which was part of the Inca empire remained totally unknown. Only a few Jesuits in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ventured into this area, which was considered dangerous and without wealth. Remunerated and rewarded by their hierarchy to the number of converted souls, the majority of them abandoned this hostile land, where the Indian tribes had only a few individuals in comparison with the Andean parishes. We find, however, in the writings of the few of them that persist many references to a mysterious kingdom very populated in souls, and very rich … called Paititi.

How is it that Paititi has not been found since then?

This question may legitimately ask. In fact, it is partly this question itself that prevented the discovery of Paititi: many think that by now, and with our great mastery on our planet, such an important city would necessarily have been found. So if this is not the case, it’s that it does not exist. And if it does not exist … it is useless to search it. This is probably the main reason why Paititi is not yet in the history books: because this type of backwards reasoning lasted for centuries about it. For the minority who do not trap in this unconscious rhetoric, the task is not so far won:

Understand first what represents the Amazonian region. Imagine that you measure the size of an ant or 3mm. You are on a small hill, and before you, there are two thousand four hundred football fields side by side. Now, with your 1mm legs by only way of transportation, you need to sink into this hostile huge green expanse, full of deadly traps, and find somewhere a coin lost. But it was lost long ago, and is now buried under the moss, also you might very well pass on it without even realizing it. The majority of those who have tried it are never returned. The others were at best explored until today only a small part of this dense forest continent.

The area where I found Paititi is not habited by our civilization. Only some Indians live in the zone around, but we must conceive how beliefs can be strong among these peoples to understand that some areas are completely closed to them as sacred, taboo. The mountain of Paititi, due to its highly mystic history, is certainly one of these. None of the “westernized” Peruvians live in this area, where the ground is particulary hard. Better, in a wide radius of a hundred kilometers behind enormous mountain ranges, there are only a few sparsely populated pueblos, have in no way any road, or even access to this area. Finally, all the region is absolutely impracticable: rugged mountains, rushing rivers, impenetrable jungle, almost permanent mist and rain. Why go there and seriously risking his life? Finally if some did, they could pass a few meters away from the city without even realizing it, as it is covered with vegetation. And as if nature jealously guarded secret, a circular river would have greatly facilitated their circumvention of the mountain with breathtaking cliffs on which the city is located, making them therefore miss the site…

Other elements to consider: Paititi is the edge (but included) into a zone that requires government permission if you want to enter. More broadly, the entire forest in the center of Peru, close enough is known to have served as a rear base for Maoist Shining Path supporters during the second half of the twentieth century and to house laboratories for drug traffickers. We do not venture into the forest, and access to Paititi by it therefore remained closed.

Next, is the lack of information witch was the main problem. You’ll understand it, by reading the following history of Paititi drafted after my discovery: This city was, in the very specific context of the Inca beliefs, secret by nature. Even at the inca’s period, only a few insiders knew of its existence, and the majority of them have managed to reach before getting caught by the Spaniards. The only trace that remains are fragmentary, they come from the testimony of Indian misinformed about its location, which heard themselves speak vaguely of its existence and some of its characteristics. To make matters worse, these incomplete testimonies were collected by Spanish chroniclers who knew nothing about the field, through translators who were sometimes clumsy… Also, before such meager sources and failures of all attempts to find it, archaeologists have finally concluded that this city had never existed. It is considered at best a myth invented by the locals to console themselves from the fall of their great civilization.

Once this idea firmly rooted in the establishment, impossible to make it budge. Any professional who evokes Paititi is ridiculed, reviled, once ranked among the illuminated or dreamers, his credibility and career are threatened … It’s like a back to the times when the earth was flat. It must be understood that in this context, few archaeologists with modern means considered the question. Those who did deserve more respect because they kept what should be the essence of science : curiosity , and above all the humility that allows to accept that unproven or seems hard to believe facts does not mean nonexistent.

In fact, this is the reason why I found Paititi:

Today, almost nobody seeks it concretely.

Two types of people are interested: on the one hand, amateurs, curious people, who often only skim over the topic by reading some common summaries on the internet, without spending the necessary time.

On the other hand, researchers who meet this city during their work in anthropology or archeology, and often study one of its aspects or one of the tracks that can lead on, but neglect the whole. We have the impression that they do not dare to officially engage in the search for this city.

Thus, the numerous information and clues about Paititi have remained scattered so far everywhere, no one has really gathered them to cross and move forward.

That’s what I did thanks to the wonderful potential of the internet, I just had the chance that nobody took the time to realize this work before.

PS: Thank you for excusing the spelling mistakes and grammar errors in English

© Vincent Pélissier 2016

Why did the Spaniards never find Paititi?

The Spaniards first heard of Paititi after the episode of the flight of Manco Inca, when they took possession of the empire. Some expeditions we saw were then launched to explore the forest, but the political situation quickly limited these initiatives :

Indeed, the relations between the conquistadors and the Spanish royalty deteriorated sharply. The King wants to put an end to the abuses and exactions of those early adventurers who behave in a tyrannical way with the locals, torture, violate, rob, enslave them, turn into small warlords and fight ones against others. In 1550 a royal ordinance prohibited or suspended explorations of discovery or conquest in progress, in order to stabilize the still precarious situation of the new colony and avoid an Indian revolt.

After the conquest, the Spaniards who participated in the latter were, above all, occupied in dispute over the Andean territories of the vast Inca empire, and to take the maximum amount of fertile land and productive mines for their own account. The king tries to recover the hand, but they send his representative back to Spain and secede … A real civil war ensues, and occupies the conquistadors for years.

Finally, an envoy of the king named Pedro de la Gasca managed not without difficulty to regain control of the province of Peru, at the price of many battles and important Spanish losses on both sides. At the end of the conflict, the lands of the vanquished were redistributed and, above all, each one was strictly assigned to remain there without seeking to conquer the territories of his neighbors or other countries.

Another group of Spaniards landed shortly afterwards in Uruguay. They encountered Indians far from being aware of what had happened thousands of miles away in Peru, but which also strangely mention the existence of a very rich Amazonian kingdom: these inhabitants of the forest indicate the existence of a lord, the “white king”, “Gran Candire”, or “Gran Marani, powerful king of Paytite”

The Spaniards follow these guides (often Chiriguanes whose ancestors raided the Andes to obtain metal objects) for 2,500 km to the northwest through the forest. When they arrived in the eastern part of Bolivia, they founded Santa Cruz, and must bitterly admit the obvious: the rich Amazonian kingdom sought after was none other than the eastern part of the empire of the Incas, whose conquerors had already conquered the highlands, and claimed the forest.

In 1573 a royal decree clarifies the situation between these two Spanish groups, and sets a limit beyond which the newcomers will not be able to carry out expeditions: the Madre de Dios. This wave of explorers who had not yet quenched their thirst for discoveries were thus “blocked” in Santa Cruz in eastern Bolivia, and were only able to carry out expeditions around the latter.

But it did not matter : the Bolivian zone was reserved for them, and after thousands of kilometers traveled, their chiriguanae guides finally told them that they were approaching and that rich people were in mysterious places named Itatín (north east of Santa Cruz in the Cordillera de Panacares), Saypurú (to the west in the Andean foothills), and still more and more to the north, in a fabulous kingdom called Paititi. Outside, to the immediate north of Santa Cruz stretched the vast plains of Mojos, the last territory they had the right to conquer, cause the Madre de Dios flowed just above.

The Spaniards, as always since their departure, believed to reach the goal and, misunderstanding the Indians, quickly confused Mojos and Paititi. We shall return to this, but it is very possible that the plains of Mojos were conquered by the king of Paititi, and thus formed part of the territory of that kingdom, even though they were by no means its epicenter. This has created great confusion up to the present day. We typically perceive this confusion by reading what the Mercédaire Diego de Porres wrote in 1582: “I crossed many provinces and arrived near the Rich Earth, in Santa Cruz (…) which is the kingdom of the great Candire, and the Mojos , and the Paititi, and the province of Amazonas. ” The Spaniards wanted to believe that they had arrived. Since then, all Spanish expeditions will look for the town of Paititi to the south in Bolivia: Irala, De Ayolas, Ñuflo de Chaves … the list is long, and still continues today.

Those who followed Indian guides farthest to the north-west, such as Gonzalo Solis of Holguin, which almost reaches the banks of the Madre de Dios, will nevertheless bring back the accounts of local Indians, clearly indicating that the very rich kingdom they sought was « still a little further north », where « the great ancestor called Yaya » reigned over a people « dressed in woolen garments, using fronds like the Incas ». The people of Yaya live on a large mountain surrounded by a lagoon or rather a « laguna ».

Finally, to add to the confusion, one of the few Spaniards who participated in the conquest of the Inca empire, and thus was authorized to explore the forest further north (Peruvian), Juan Alvarez de Maldonnado, descended the Madre de Dios In 1568 and committed an enormous mistake in interpreting backwards the indications on the site of Paititi which he gleaned on his way, as we shall see. His narrative, at first sight clear, actually allows various interpretations, and has completed persuading the Spaniards that the city was in the Bolivian east, or very far away, in the heart of the impenetrable Amazon continent.

In 1572 the operation of eradicating the Inca resistance in the mountains is concluded as we have seen by the capture and execution of Tupac Amaru. Instead of a great battle with the survivors who fled the Spanish advance, they found the Inca and a few guards surrender to them. Vilcabamba, known as the last capital of the Inca, and last place where the fabulous treasure of Manco if it existed could have been kept ? A modest city, empty of population and wealth, burned down. The end of the resistance after this little glorious episode sounds in the spaniards mind as the end of the belief in a mysterious great Inca city remained unknown.

Already then, for the Spaniards occupied in exploiting the Andean lands rich in precious metals, slaves and fertile fields which they have captured, the desire to venture at the risk of their life in the forest declines. Paititi seems to be in Bolivia, and they do not have access to it because of the royal decree. The typical example is the one of Martín Hurtado de Arbieto: having inherited the vast province of Vilcabamba, therefore from the mountain zone and an Amazonian part beyond, he decides to enter the forest at Huanuco to explore his forest lands. Sinking rather shallowly into the green hell, he nevertheless discovered an immense building or enclosure occupied by some Indians. This will not prevent him from judging the area very unprofitable compared to his silver mines on the heights, and to completely abandon its exploitation or even the exploration.

Thus the immense majority of the Peruvian amazonia which was part of the Inca empire remained totally unknown. Only a few Jesuits in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ventured into this area, which was considered dangerous and without wealth. Remunerated and rewarded by their hierarchy to the number of converted souls, the majority of them abandoned this hostile land, where the Indian tribes had only a few individuals in comparison with the Andean parishes. We find, however, in the writings of the few of them that persist many references to a mysterious kingdom very populated in souls, and very rich … called Paititi.

How is it that Paititi has not been found since then?

This question may legitimately ask. In fact, it is partly this question itself that prevented the discovery of Paititi: many think that by now, and with our great mastery on our planet, such an important city would necessarily have been found. So if this is not the case, it’s that it does not exist. And if it does not exist … it is useless to search it. This is probably the main reason why Paititi is not yet in the history books: because this type of backwards reasoning lasted for centuries about it. For the minority who do not trap in this unconscious rhetoric, the task is not so far won:

Understand first what represents the Amazonian region. Imagine that you measure the size of an ant or 3mm. You are on a small hill, and before you, there are two thousand four hundred football fields side by side. Now, with your 1mm legs by only way of transportation, you need to sink into this hostile huge green expanse, full of deadly traps, and find somewhere a coin lost. But it was lost long ago, and is now buried under the moss, also you might very well pass on it without even realizing it. The majority of those who have tried it are never returned. The others were at best explored until today only a small part of this dense forest continent.

The area where I found Paititi is not habited by our civilization. Only some Indians live in the zone around, but we must conceive how beliefs can be strong among these peoples to understand that some areas are completely closed to them as sacred, taboo. The mountain of Paititi, due to its highly mystic history, is certainly one of these. None of the “westernized” Peruvians live in this area, where the ground is particulary hard. Better, in a wide radius of a hundred kilometers behind enormous mountain ranges, there are only a few sparsely populated pueblos, have in no way any road, or even access to this area. Finally, all the region is absolutely impracticable: rugged mountains, rushing rivers, impenetrable jungle, almost permanent mist and rain. Why go there and seriously risking his life? Finally if some did, they could pass a few meters away from the city without even realizing it, as it is covered with vegetation. And as if nature jealously guarded secret, a circular river would have greatly facilitated their circumvention of the mountain with breathtaking cliffs on which the city is located, making them therefore miss the site…

Other elements to consider: Paititi is the edge (but included) into a zone that requires government permission if you want to enter. More broadly, the entire forest in the center of Peru, close enough is known to have served as a rear base for Maoist Shining Path supporters during the second half of the twentieth century and to house laboratories for drug traffickers. We do not venture into the forest, and access to Paititi by it therefore remained closed.

Next, is the lack of information witch was the main problem. You’ll understand it, by reading the following history of Paititi drafted after my discovery: This city was, in the very specific context of the Inca beliefs, secret by nature. Even at the inca’s period, only a few insiders knew of its existence, and the majority of them have managed to reach before getting caught by the Spaniards. The only trace that remains are fragmentary, they come from the testimony of Indian misinformed about its location, which heard themselves speak vaguely of its existence and some of its characteristics. To make matters worse, these incomplete testimonies were collected by Spanish chroniclers who knew nothing about the field, through translators who were sometimes clumsy… Also, before such meager sources and failures of all attempts to find it, archaeologists have finally concluded that this city had never existed. It is considered at best a myth invented by the locals to console themselves from the fall of their great civilization.

Once this idea firmly rooted in the establishment, impossible to make it budge. Any professional who evokes Paititi is ridiculed, reviled, once ranked among the illuminated or dreamers, his credibility and career are threatened … It’s like a back to the times when the earth was flat. It must be understood that in this context, few archaeologists with modern means considered the question. Those who did deserve more respect because they kept what should be the essence of science : curiosity , and above all the humility that allows to accept that unproven or seems hard to believe facts does not mean nonexistent.

In fact, this is the reason why I found Paititi:

Today, almost nobody seeks it concretely.

Two types of people are interested: on the one hand, amateurs, curious people, who often only skim over the topic by reading some common summaries on the internet, without spending the necessary time.

On the other hand, researchers who meet this city during their work in anthropology or archeology, and often study one of its aspects or one of the tracks that can lead on, but neglect the whole. We have the impression that they do not dare to officially engage in the search for this city.

Thus, the numerous information and clues about Paititi have remained scattered so far everywhere, no one has really gathered them to cross and move forward.

That’s what I did thanks to the wonderful potential of the internet, I just had the chance that nobody took the time to realize this work before.

PS: Thank you for excusing the spelling mistakes and grammar errors in English

© Vincent Pélissier 2016