Francisco Pizarro's Conquest of the Inca Empire, 1532-1533



A.) Prehistory of the Conquest

Francisco Pizarro had been within Vasco Nunez de Balboa's expedition which in 1513 had discovered the Pacific Ocean. News of Cortez' successful conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519-1521) only convinced him in continuing his search for a country named Biru, somewhere to the south of Panama. His first expedition, sailing southward along the Pacific coast, in 1524, was without success. On his second expedition, 1526 he captured an Inca raft and their crew, some of whom were trained as interpreters. The expedition suffere heavy losses to disease and starvation, and after a mutiny Cortez continued with merely 12 followers (1527). In 1528 they arrived at Tumbez in modern Equador, a thriving coastal city; one Spaniard was left behind, Pizarro and his expedition returned to Panama. Failing to gain support for yet another expedition, Pizarro travelled to Spain and visited the court of Emperor Charles V., who appointed him Governor and Captain-General of Peru (1529).
In 1530 Pizarro left Panama for Peru, with 180 men and 37 horses; he took the land route. He reached Tumbez in 1531, finding it in ruins; it had been devastated in an Inca civil war. Pizarro's force was reinforced from Panama; they established the settlement of San Miguel de Piura, where they stayed for several months..


B.) The Conquest

On Sept. 24th 1532, Pizarro began his march into the interior of the Inca Empire, with a force of merely 168 men and 62 horses. Atahualpa, one of the two contestants who fought for the Inca throne, and with an army 80,000 men strong, received report of Pizarro's approaching force. The Incas also contemplated the possibility of the Spanish being gods (as one of several options), but decided not to attack them on their approach because the expedition's size was too small to pose a threat.
The Spaniards were permitted to enter the city of Cajamarca, where they were surrounded by Atahualpa's army. When Atahualpa paid a visit to the Spanish camp, the Spaniards massacred the Amerindians surrounding Atahualpa and took the Inca prisoner. According to reports, the Amerindians did not even resist; the main bosy of Atahualpa's army did not attack the Spanish.
Atahualpa was assured that he was not to be harmed; recognizing the Spanish greed for bullion, he promised them a room full of gold and several rooms full of silver (1532). Atahualpa ordered the bulk of his army disbanded (his half-brother and opponent in the quest for the Inca throne, Huascar, had been defeated and captured; the civil war thus was over) and Huascar killed. With the Inca their hostage, small groups of Spaniards roamed the Empire, removing golden treasures of temples, and enraging Amerindians who had to passively look on. Atahualpa's promise was fulfilled, but Francisco Pizarro broke his word. Instead of releasing Atahualpa, he accused him of having ordered the murder of his brother Huascar, sentenced and executed (July 26th 1533). Meanwhile, Diego de Almagro had arrived in Cajamarca with a force of 153 men.

The Spaniards orchestrated the coronation of a new Inca, Tupac Hualpa, and marched on Cuzco; the new Inca died shortly afterward of disease. Approaching Cuzco, they met determined resistance (Inca General Quisquis); however, Spanish arms prevailed, and the Inca forces suffered heavy losses. The Spaniards entered Cuzco Nov.15th 1533, and enthroned the new Inca Manco Capac. Then they proceeded with plundering Cuzco.


C.) The Legacy

Pizarro's respectively Spanish rule was not yet secure; there were still Inca cities and forces unsubdued; there were Spanish conquistadores contesting Pizarro's claim. Pizarro himself was assassinated in 1541.
The Inca culture was destroyed, her polytheistic religion replaced by christianity, Quechua and Aymara - the main Inca languages - reduced to a marginal role in society, while Spanish became the official language of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile.
The cities of the Inca Empire were transformed into Spanish, Catholic cities.




EXTERNAL
FILES 		Incas and Conquistadores, by David Bailey
The Conquest of the Inca Empire : Francisco Pizarro, from European Voyages of Exploration, UCalgary
Inca Empire - Spanish Conquest, from Page of Shades; looks at events from the Inca perspective
Biography of Francisco Pizarro, from Catholic Encyclopedia
DOCUMENTS Capture of an Inca King: Francisco Pizarro, by Francisco de Xeres, 1530-34, posted by Spanish Culture and Civilization SP 3204 at Virginia State
REFERENCE



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on June 5th 2003, last revised on November 17th 2004

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics