But he had little time to bask in the sunlight of his victory. He had been informed about their presence, but was destined never to meet a European.
He encountered the smallpox epidemic before he encountered the Spaniards. The Spanish had been in full expansion mode for several decades. Since Christopher Columbus had established a settlement for the Spanish crown on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, a legion of conquistadors began a land grab in the Americas. In , he made his third voyage to South America, this time emboldened by the licence issued by the queen of Spain to conquer Peru in the name of his homeland.
Had he landed a year later, the new regime under Atahualpa would have had time to make progress in unifying the disparate empire. As it was, Pizarro and his men encountered a land in disarray. The effects of the bitter civil war were conspicuous. As well as being a formidable military commander, Pizarro also possessed a key political brain. He understood howa divided population could be taken advantage of. Pizarro firmly believed that history could repeat itself here in the Andes.
At first, Atahualpa regarded the presence of these strangers with mild curiosity at best. He did, though, send an envoy to investigate and observe these mysterious interlopers. This envoy, an Inca noble, spent two days among the Spaniards, examining their horses and their swords, and confirming the size of this ragged band.
During lengthy discussions about it at council, some members expressed a preference to attack the invaders at once, to neutralise the threat straight away. Instead, they were permitted to head towards the town of Cajamarca, where they might be later seized. Unbeknownst to Atahualpa — who, until then, believed himself to be the ruler of the known world — these strangers represented the vanguard of the Spanish empire. They were deeply experienced soldiers scything their way through the metaphorical undergrowth to clear a path for control and colonisation, as well as grabbing as much gold for the Spanish crown as possible.
By Friday 15 November , Pizarro and his men descended into the town of Cajamarca. They made the main square their base, settling in a series of barns, or kallankas, around the perimeter.
They were also used for sheltering soldiers. Pizarro was merely upholding the tradition. The Incas continue to be revered for their buildings. This technique was often adopted for temples and palaces — structures that were to last for centuries, if not in perpetuity. The royal estate of Machu Picchu boasts arguably the finest examples of the method, the durability of which was required in such a seismically sensitive landscape.
These earthquake-proof buildings were built to last. Innovative Inca engineering was also demonstrated with the construction of a 40,km road network. Based on a north-south main road off which other roads branched, it attempted to link up this long, stretched-out empire.
Pizarro sent de Soto and around 15 horsemen to visit Atahualpa, whose camp was now comparatively nearby. His instruction was to invite the Sapa Inca to visit Pizarro down in the town. On Nov. More massacre than battle, the engagement allowed the Spanish to capture the Inca leader, Atahualpa, and begin their subjugation of the Inca empire. Spain in the early 16th century was at the height of its power. No European monarch would rule as much territory in Europe again until Napoleon Bonaparte three centuries later.
In addition to territory and dynastic rule, Spain's power rested upon many props. It was considered a bastion of Catholicism as the Protestant Reformation was spreading throughout northern Europe.
Spain's navy was second-to-none at the time, and its explorers had brought fame and prestige to the nation. Francisco Pizarro was one such aspirant. This was an even more remarkable achievement than the conquest of Mexico and, if possible, displayed even more dreadfully the rapacity and ruthlessness of the conquistadors.
Circumstances within the Inca empire greatly aided Pizarro's desire. European arrival in the Americas had proved disastrous for the native populations. Diseases spread and killed Native Americans at an alarming rate. Capac was just one of many Inca who fell to an epidemic that claimed perhaps as many as , Inca. It also claimed the life of his oldest son and heir, Ninan Cuyochi.
It was on his way back from his victory at Quipaipan, at the head of his 80, troops, that Atahualpa stopped at Cajamarca for rest. Commanding only men, Pizarro approached the superior numbers of the Inca, who had been alerted to his presence. After torturing local natives to gain intelligence, Pizarro felt confident enough to advance on the city.
Eventually, a messenger from Atahualpa arrived and asked to speak with Pirzarro. In like manner he divided the infantry, he himself taking one part and giving the other to his brother Juan Pizarro. At the same time, he ordered Pedro de Candia with two or three infantrymen to go with trumpets to a small fort in the plaza and to station themselves there with a small piece of artillery.
When all the Indians, and Atahualpa with them, entered the Plaza, the Governor would give a signal to Candia and his men, after which they should start firing the gun, and the trumpets should sound, and at the sound of the trumpets the cavalry should dash out of the large court where they were waiting hidden in readiness. And, he allegedly had the city completely raised so that it could be rebuilt in the shape of a puma. McEwan added that commoners were not allowed to live in the city and had to reside in the outlying settlements.
The Spanish would later plunder this gold and build a new city in the place of Cuzco. While the Inca did not develop what we would consider a formal system of writing, they did use recording devices, such as the quipu, a cord with knotted strings suspended from it. Most written accounts of Incas come from outsiders as the Incas primarily shared their knowledge with one another through oral storytelling. According to McEwan, the Inca pantheon had an array of gods that included the creator god Viracocha, sun god Inti, thunder god Illapa and earth-mother goddess Pachamama, among others.
There were also regional deities worshipped by people whom the Inca conquered. The Inca gods were honored in many ways, including prayers, fasting and animal sacrifice, but the most powerful form of honor was human sacrifice, typically of children and teenagers. In , archaeologists discovered the mummies of three children who had been left as sacrifices at a shrine near the summit of a volcano in Argentina. Research has revealed that, in the year before their sacrifice, the three consumed a special diet rich in maize and dried llama meat and were drugged with coca leaves and alcohol.
In addition to these elite food products, other goods consumed in the Inca diet included sweet potatoes, quinoa , beans and chili peppers. In exchange for labor, the Inca government was expected to provide feasts for the people at certain times of the year. With only a few exceptions, there were no traders in the Inca Empire. Aracari specializes in private, tailormade trips to Peru. Contact us today to speak to an expert travel consultant for travel advice and information on planning a trip to Peru.
March 4, June 2, The key to Spanish success during the conquest of the Incas Just soldiers accompanied Francisco Pizarro as he campaigned from northern Peru through the Andes before ultimately capturing the Inca capital of Cusco , defeating tens of thousands of soldiers in their wake. The power of the Sword The most obvious answer to explain Spanish success was their swords. Forming Tactical Alliances Following the example of Hernando Cortes, who utilised native alliances in his conquest of the Aztecs in Central America, Pizarro tactically befriended peoples that were hostile to the Inca Empire, and used their dislike of Inca rule to insight them to rise up and assist the Spaniards in their defeat.
Native Naivety In the face of a handful of strange foreigners, the Incas simply did not clock on that this motley band had the intention of seizing their Empire and its riches.
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