MEDAL-1 | New Land Theatricals

THE
INCA GARCILASO MEDAL

lucite-medal-embedment INCA GARCILASO 1a.jpg

The Inca Garcilaso Medal is awarded by New Land Theatricals to exceptional individuals and institutions in recognition of their contributions to the arts, philanthropy, and cultural endeavors that promote the development of better societies.

The medal is inspired by the cultural blending (mestizaje) of the Americas, a continent where, centuries ago, Amerindians, Europeans, and Africans intermingled, intertwining their destinies forever.

Inca Garcilaso is often considered the "first mestizo" of the Americas, as he harmonized his dual cultural heritages. A quintessential global citizen of this continent, he was the son of an Inca princess and a Spanish conquistador, born at a time when borders did not yet exist in this hemisphere. These merged cultures enriched his creative and humanistic capacities.

The medal symbolizes this cultural diversity and its profound connection to the spirit of solidarity.

Inca Garcilaso Medal 2025 recipients

INSTITUTIONS

THE TWO SIDES OF THE MEDAL

Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (1539-1616), born Gómez Suárez de Figueroa and known as El Inca, was a chronicler and writer born in what today is Peru. He was the natural son of the Spanish conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso and the Inca noblewoman Palla Chimpu Ocllo.

Born in the early years of the conquest, he is known primarily for his chronicles of the Inca culture and the Spanish conquest. At the age of 21 he sailed to Spain where he lived and worked the rest of his life.

His first major work called “La Florida del Inca” published in 1605 and widely read in Europe, is a vivid and detailed account of conquistador Hernando De Soto's expedition in Florida and beyond, which could be considered the first great classic of American History and makes him the first great writer of the Americas.

The world map by cartographer Martin Waldseemüller published in 1507 is considered America's birth certificate and for good reason: it is the first document on which the name "America" appears. It is also the first map to depict a separate and full Western Hemisphere. Interestingly enough, the name America is placed on South America.

The map included data gathered during Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages of 1501–1502 to the New World. Waldseemüller christened the new lands "America" (land of Amerigo) in recognition of Vespucci ’s understanding that a new continent had been uncovered because of the voyages of Columbus and other explorers in the late fifteenth century who still believed they had arrived in India.

In May 2003, the Library of Congress purchased the only surviving copy of the map.