Inca or Spanish? The Identities of Paullu Topa IncaPaullu Topa Inca tends to be described, in modern historiography, as a traitor to his own people. This judgement misrepresents the circumstances of his life as perceived during the sixteenth century. During his own life time, he was indeed respected by many Spaniards, but Incas and andean people also regarded him as a man of very great authority and worth. After his death, the complex events of the invasion and conquest in which Paullu Topa Inca participated were streamlined into a smooth narrative that fitted in with the perspective of the winning side in the civil wars of the conquest period, and that became canonical once the viceregal state was established. The old men who at century’s end remembered Paullu Topa Inca did so as part of their own memories of their childhood and youth. / En la historiografía moderna, Paullu Topa Inca aparece como traidor de su gente. Este juicio da una imagen falsa de las circunstancias de su vida como la representaron sus contemporáneos. Durante su existencia, muchos españoles lo respetaron, y los incas y la gente andina lo miraron como hombre de gran autoridad y valía. Después de muerto, los sucesos complejos de invasión y conquista en los que Paullu Topa Inca participó fueron transformados en una narrativa llana y sencilla, según las ideas del partido victorioso en las guerras civiles. Esta narrativa se hizo canónica, una vez que se estableció el Estado virreinal. Los viejos que recordaban a Paullu Topa Inca lo hicieron en el contexto de sus propias memorias de niñez y juventud.