Doña Francisca Coya (1515-1543 or 1544), also known as María de Sandoval or simply La Coya, was a Princess of the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...

. She was the daughter of Emperor

Huayna Capac Huayna Capac (with many alternative transliterations; 1464/1468–1524) was the third Sapan Inka of the Inca Empire, born in Tumipampa sixth of the Hanan dynasty, and eleventh of the Inca civilization. Subjects commonly approached Sapa Inkas add ...

and his cousin-wife Mama Runtu Coya.Zapata, J. ''Descendientes del Emperador Inca Pachacútec''. pg.2 https://www.academia.edu/10355786/Descendientes_del_Emperador_Inca_Pachac%C3%BAtec She was born in Cuzco, Peru in 1515 and died in Popayán, Colombia around 1543–44.Jurado N.F. (1982) ''Las Coyas y Pallas del Tahuantinsuyo''. pgs. 217,305,306,319 Fernando Jurado Noboa described her as "the nurturing mother of Ecuador and Colombia."

Biography

Francisca Coya was born in Cuzco around 1515 as the legitimate daughter of Huayna Cápac and his cousin-wife Mama Runtu Coya. Her mother was respected for being an older and principal woman in Cuzco, according to the testimony of Indian Pedro Inga in Bogotá in 1575. Numerous chronicles agree that Emperor Capac "left numerous descendants, but had few legitimate children". The parentage of Huáscar and

Atahualpa Atahualpa (), also Atawallpa ( Quechua), Atabalica, Atahuallpa, Atabalipa (c. 1502 – 26-29 July 1533) was the last Inca Emperor. After defeating his brother, Atahualpa became very briefly the last Sapa Inca (sovereign emperor) of the Inca Em ...

remains uncertain, and the lineage of female figures such as Coya is even more obscure. Some claim she was the daughter of a concubine. A lack of evidence led historian Fernando Jurado Noboa to state the following about the Incan royal family: "The children of the Inca have not sought lawsuits of maternal origin: they were children of '

Sapa Inca The Sapa Inca (from Quechua ''Sapa Inka'' "the only Inca") was the monarch of the Inca Empire (''Tawantinsuyu''), as well as ruler of the earlier Kingdom of Cusco and the later Neo-Inca State. While the origins of the position are mythical and ...

the Inca' and that's enough." The Indian Catalina, who witnessed her birth and was her maid, declared in

Tunja Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá departmen ...

in 1575, when 70 years old, that "Guaynacaba, her father, put her in another house, where she lived with the rest of his daughters and maidens". Francisca was called "La Coya" by the first vecinos of Quito.

Spanish Conquest

After

's death at the hands of the Spanish in 1533, Sebastián de Benalcázar and Diego de Sandoval y la Mota invaded San Miguel de

Piura Piura is a city in northwestern Peru located in the Sechura Desert on the Piura River. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. Its population was 484,475 as of 2017. It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro ...

. During the Spanish invasion, Coya and her people fled from Cuzco. In 1535, the Spanish found a group of indigenous people in Chaparra in the

Cañari The Cañari (in Kichwa: Kañari) are an indigenous ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the territory of the modern provinces of Azuay and Cañar in Ecuador. They are descended from the independent pre-Columbian tribal confederation of the ...

s region of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

's western foothills, hiding and protecting Atahualpa's sisters Toctochembo, Marcachembom, Ascarpe, and Francisca, who were also Emperor Cápac's daughters. She and her sisters were captured and taken to de Benalcázar, who "gave her to Captain Diego de Sandoval". She became pregnant and marched with Sandoval to Quito, where she gave birth to their only child, Eugenia de Sandoval Inca (1536-before 1575)https://rodriguezuribe.co/getperson.php?personID=I2205&tree=arbol1 in Quito. Coya later accompanied Sandoval to Popayán, where she lived near one of her sisters (whom Benalcázar had also taken for himself). It was said that when La Coya went to mass, all of Quito's provincial chiefs and women accompanied her, and when she left the city, she was accompanied by two to three thousand native people. Witnesses of that time said that the Chiefs of Quito put down blankets, feathers, and flowers in front of her so that her feet would not touch the ground. This description coincides with Canadian historian John Hemming's interpretation that "the natives of Quito venerated her with pathetic passion." According to the rituals and customs of the time, such veneration was expected for women of the Inca elite, who were refined and were treated with great respect by the masses.

Children

In 1536, Francisca Coya gave birth to Eugenia de Sandoval Inca in Quito. She lived with her parents in Popayán and later, after her mother's death in 1544, moved to Anserma with her father. In 1545, Eugenia would receive the Royal Certificate of Legitimization from Charles V Holy Roman Emperor at her father Diego de Sandoval's request of "proof" (''probanza'') so that she could, in 1550 at the age of 14, marry Captain Gil de Rengifo Pantoja. Between them, they had many descendants in Ecuador and Colombia. Eugenia died before 1575.

Genealogy

Francisca Coya was the daughter of Inca Emperor Huayna Cápac and slave-wife of the Spanish conqueror Diego de Sandoval. She gave birth to Eugenia de Sandoval Inca (the emperor's granddaughter) in Quito in 1536. Eugenia de Sandoval Inca became legitimized by the Spanish king and became the wife of the colonizer Gil de Rengifo. They had one daughter, María Rengifo y Sandoval (great-granddaughter of the Inca Emperor), born in Anserma, who became the wife of the Spanish man Vicente Henao Tamayo. Melchor Henao Rengifo (the Incan emperor's great-great-grandson), was born in Anserma around 1572. Around 1609, Rengifo married María Vivas in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

. Gregorio Henao Vivas (the Incan emperor's fourth-great-grandson), was born in Cali around 1610. He moved to the city of Antioquia, where he married Jacoba Vásquez Guadramiros. From Gregorio Henao Vivas, it is easy to follow Coya's Colombian descendants in the book title
''Genealogies of Antioquia and Caldas'', by Gabriel Arango Mejía
The line included people such as ex-president

Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez (27 June 1890 – 20 August 1972) was a Colombian Conservative party politician and lawyer who served as President of Colombia from November 1951 until June 1953, while President Laureano Gómez was absent due to hea ...

, archbishops Arturo Duque Villegas and

Aníbal Muñoz Duque Aníbal Muñoz Duque (3 October 1908 – 15 January 1987) was a Roman Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Bogotá. Biography He was born in Santa Rosa de Osos, Colombia as the son of José María Muñoz and Ana Rosa Duque. He was educate ...

, Braulio Henao, Anselmo Pineda, Abraham Moreno, José Tomás Henao and Braulio Henao Mejía,

Tomás Carrasquilla Tomás Carrasquilla Naranjo (1858 – 1940) was a Colombian writer who lived in the Antioquia region. He dedicated himself to very simple jobs: tailor, secretary of a judge, storekeeper in a mine, and worker at the Ministry of Public ...

; Luis López de Mesa;

León de Greiff Francisco de Asís León Bogislao de Greiff Haeusler (July 22, 1895 – July 11, 1976), was a Colombian poet known for his stylistic innovations and deliberately eclectic use of obscure lexicon. Best known simply as León de Greiff, he often use ...

, and Manuel Mejía Vallejo. This line of descendants is confirmed by historian Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita. The historical and cultural values inherited by her descendants in Ecuador, such as the ex-Presidents

Luis Cordero Luis Benjamín Cordero y Crespo (6 April 1833 – 30 January 1912) was President of Ecuador 1 July 1892 to 16 April 1895. Cordero was born 6 April 1833 in the Cañar province of Ecuador to parents Gregorio Cordero and Josefa Crespo. Cordero st ...

Juan León Mera Juan León Mera Martínez (28 June 1832 – 13 December 1894) was an Ecuadorian essayist, novelist, politician and painter. His best-known works are the Ecuadorian National Hymn and the novel ''Cumandá'' (1879). Additionally, in his politica ...

, and Antonio Borrero Cortázar, are an illustration of Doña Francisca Coya's important impact on history. Among other Ecuadorian historical figures that descend from her are Luis A. Martínez, Miguel Angel León Pontón, Octavio Cordero Palacios, Alberto Maria Ordonez Crespo, Carlos Concha Torres, Luis Quirola Saá, Emiliano Crespo Astudillo, Jose Maria Borrero Baca, Alfonso Borrero Moscoso, Manuel Borrero González, Vicente Salazar y Cabal, José Gabriel Pino Roca, and Pedro Cocha Torres. The genealogical works demonstrated how the Incan bloodline of Francisca enriched the elite (high and middle-high classes) of colonial and republican Ecuadorian and Colombian societies.

References

External links