In this chapter I will address a colonial topic, expanding Beverley's argument that Góngora and his humanist circle constituted an early case of avantgarde, by showing how they used the imaginary of hermeticism to address the frustrated national ambitions of colonized peoples within the Spanish empire, the Moriscos and Amerindians. I will also consider Góngora's specific engagement with Inca Garcilaso and the humanist Pedro de Valencia in the context of changing historiographic practices within the empire, which were evoked by the Sacromonte debates.

Literary critics have long recognized that Luis de Góngora's great lyric poem of the Spanish Baroque, the Soledades, engages with the problem of imperial expansion and domestic agrarian crisis, citing the influence of the humanist Pedro de Valencia upon the poet. While the critique of the voyages of exploration is a well-remarked feature of the poem, aspects of the impact of imperial history and its literature upon the work continue to be elucidated. Most importantly, Mercedes Blanco has identified an encoded critique of the South Pacific expansion, specifically of Fernández de Quirós's aspirations for the colonization of Australia (Góngora heroico, 321–27; 331n). Recently, I have suggested that on the domestic side, the poem incorporates symbolic criticism of the expulsion of the Moriscos (Chemris, “Falconry Scene”; “Biblical Architecture”). I will now propose a global integration of these concerns, focusing on the transatlantic incorporation of humanist and utopian thought in the Soledades—and in some of Góngora's other poems—via Pedro de Valencia's writings and the Comentarios reales of Inca Garcilaso.

I will argue that Valencia's writings on social issues and on the Moriscos should be considered in concert with his lesser known work on the American and Pacific colonization, given his appointment as Royal Chronicler for not only Castile but the Indies (1607–1620) (Magnier 6). I will also engage with the anthropologist and biographer Carmen Bernand's provocative assertions, which locate Góngora, Pedro de Valencia, and Inca Garcilaso within conflicted humanist circles that grappled with the status of national minorities and with new Biblical and Eastern studies, in the context of emerging early modern disciplines of history, anthropology and archeology.