Yawyu

The Yawyu were the highland people of the upper Cañete valley, southeast of Lima, whose early culture fused Kauki and Aymara roots and whose language belonged to the Aymaran family. They formed a confederation led by four towns known as Hatun Yauyos, with their paramount lord at Ñaupahuasi.

Around 1450 the prince Túpac Yupanqui, son of the Inca Pachacuti, brought them into the Inca Empire through an alliance. Yawyu auxiliaries afterward marched with the Incas against the Chimú and Huarco, while Yawyu mitimaes were resettled among the Huanca.

When Francisco Pizarro asked for their submission in 1534 they refused, so Hernando de Soto and Diego de Agüero routed their army with cavalry. The Yawyu later joined Manco Inca's siege of Lima before being broken into Spanish repartimientos and, from 1571, gathered into reductions such as Santo Domingo de Yauyos.