Francisco Pizarro: Spanish explorer and military leader who conquered Peru. Pizarro was part of many early explorations of the New World and was involved in the colonization of Panama. When he found the Inca empire in Peru he organized a expedition of 180 men and destroyed the empire in 1531.…
By capturing Atahualpa at Cajamarca, the conquistadors had essentially defeated the Incas. Without its leader, the rest of the empire fell easily. Pizarro demanded a massive ransom for Atahualpa, consisting of an entire room filled with silver and gold. He then executed him, replacing him with a puppet ruler. Although several rebellion attempts occurred over the next 40 years, all were unsuccessful, and the Spanish finally colonized the region in 1572 as the Viceroyalty of Peru.…
The ‘Battle’ of Cajamarca was arguably the most important army operation of Spain’s conquest of Peru. Atahualpa had purposefully lured the Spanish into the heart of his empire, where he was confident he could call upon massive forces to surround and crush them if necessary. Unbeknownst to Atahualpa, Pizarro had designed a scheme for his soldiers to carry out: he would draw out the emperor and then capture him amidst his own troops, which would deal a heavy blow to the Incas. Pizarro invited Atahualpa to a meeting at Cajamarca, with 106 infantrymen armed with arquebuses, 62 cavalrymen, and four small cannons hidden within alleyways that opened into an open square in the town. Before the battle, Friar Vincente de Valverde approached Atahualpa,…
He formed a partnership with other conquistadors to explore to the south of Panama. They travel to Peru in 1526 and then returned to get permission to claim the land for Spain. In 1531, their expedition which included Pizarro's three half brothers sailed from Panama. The next fall Pizarro entered the city of Cajamarca and took the Inca leader Atahuapla hostage. Despite having paid a ransom to spare his life, Atahuapla was killed in 1533. Pizarro then conquered Cuzco, another important Inca city, and founded the city of Lima, now the capital of…
Timing was everything for the Spanish forces as their efforts came amid an Inca civil war led by two feuding, power-hungry brothers (Atahuallpa and Huascar). The Incas inhabited a vast and incredible territory that sat atop the Andes Mountains in Peru and they enjoyed three decades of civilization. But, when a right to succession became an issue, the Incan people were split and the stage was set for what would become a complete shift of national control.…
When the Spanish conquistadors came upon the Inca Empire, they realized that there were bountiful amounts of treasure such as gold and silver, which tempted them to conquer the empire and found their own colonies. Consequently, the conquistadors, led by Francisco Pizarro, fought the Inca and utilized their steel weapons and horses, as well as the smallpox virus to rout their enemies. The conquistadors easily defeated the Inca, who were already fighting a civil war before the Spaniards arrived. In order to legitimize their ruthless killing of the Inca, the Spaniards said that they were ridding God of His enemies and preventing the Inca from insulting His rule. The supposedly religiously motivated clash between the Spaniards and the Inca resulted in the decline of the Incan Empire and the expansion of Spanish rule throughout Central America. It wasn’t European intellectual superiority, but a war incited by religious beliefs, inner turmoil, as well as a smallpox-endemic that weakened and resulted in the conquest of societies in Central and South…
During this conquest, Pizarro had the advantage. They had many advantages over the Incans because they had powerful weapons such as horses with armor, cannons, steel, and guns. They led with a powerful advantage with diseases. The people who were originally living there were never exposed to these diseases such as smallpox. They did not have the immune system to fight off these diseases. It slowly killed a significant amount of the population. Other natives tried to defend their land but many did not have what it took.”…
Later on Atahualpa at that point offered them a room loaded with gold and silver in return of his freedom, which Pizarro executed Atahualpa after. Pizarro's victory marked the finish of the Inca Empire and the start of the European colonization of the South America. In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond utilizes the Spanish conquest of the Incas to show what he calls the proximate factors for European domination. He listed various factors that enabled the Spanish to vanquish the Incas. He used the catch of Atahuallpa as a story in which we can see these different factors playing out.…
They had all the requirements but one: the Incas did not have any iron. By only the fault of geography, and by no fault of their own, the Incas could not make steel, but they did have a lot of gold. Since gold is a soft and weak metal, it was only used for decoration by the Incas. When the Spanish came with their steel swords, steel armor, and steel ships, and decided to take the gold, the Incas could only defend it with their bronze and stone weapons. This fight was no contest for the Spanish, their steel weapons easily defeated the stone and bronze weapons of the Incas. Having steel gave Europeans the ability to make better fighting equipment and faster, more efficient transportation systems. Having better fighting equipment gave Europe an advantage in fighting and taking over other civilizations, while things like steam engines and steel ships allowed Europe to transport goods farther and faster, causing them to have a more dynamic economy. Easier fighting and easier movement of resources gave Europe huge advantages when it came to decimating other cultures and appropriating their…
When Spanish conquistadors first entered the Incan’s territory they wore steel head to toe. They were well equipped with the best armor in the world (Video Notes). Since the Incas were not used to seeing so much weaponry it intimidated them. Having more solid and strong weaponry helped in conquering the Incas. Adding to this, the Spanish decided to do a surprise attack.…
Even before Francisco Pizarro arrived in Peru to confront the Inca Empire, smallpox was decimating the native population in South America. Pizarro first arrived in the Inca realm in the mid 1520s. By the time he returned in 1532, intent on conquering the Inca Empire, the smallpox epidemic had contributed to the outbreak of civil war in the Empire and caused the death of the Inca Emperor Huayna Capac. His successor, Atahuallpa, found himself leader of an Empire weakened and terrorized by a strange and deadly disease. Pizarro, like Cortés, made the most of the situation, and took over the Inca Empire as well. Both of these men were incredibly lucky to have gotten to Latin America at such a favorable time for conquest. The odd of this biological weapon affecting both of these empires at the same time is unbelievable. Even though this disease took a hold of both domains, and had the same catastrophic effects, the Incas had a bit more on their plate than the Aztecs…
The Inca civilization started around the XII century on Andean mountains region in South America. The Empire grew up so fast that one century later its territory extended through Peru, Ecuador and the north of Chile and its population was more than 20 million. The Inca emperor was considered the son of the sun and almost a god. He had power about all structures of civilization and was wealthy. Like every civilization of this period, the Inca had a blind faith in their gods so mythology was extremely important to them. Gods were the core of their civilization functioning, the Inca acted always according to their beliefs and their gods were present in everyday life like agriculture, war and so on. They were also,…
With gold in his ships Cortes contributed to the Spanish economy. Another person who used the same tactic as Columbus and Cortes was Pizzaro. Bondholders and stockholders were the ones that paid for his expeditions. It was in Peru where Pizzaro searched for gold and slaves. He helped the growth of a money economy, this was beginning a new system of business, politics and culture. These three men helped Spaniards to progress by bringing gold and slaves from their expeditions. Although all of the gold that they gained weren’t simply handed to them. The Indians did not willing choose to become slaves. Blood was spilled by the conquistadors. The Arawaks were separated from their families and forced into slavery so that Columbus can get his gold. Columbus killed by the thousands when he was on the search for the gold mine’s location. These Indians were peaceful people but were drove to a depressive path which led to their deaths and as described by Las Casas, a young priest who accompanied Columbus and witnessed how they treated Indians, “... In this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work and children died from lack of milk… and in a short time this land which was…
This was a massive misunderstanding, as the contents and significance of the Bible did not apply to Atahualpa due to the Incan disconnection from the European world. The Spanish conquistador tried to christianize the Incas, however Atahualpa was against it and did not accept the religion due to his misunderstanding of it, becoming a catalyst for the Spanish to attack them (Watts). The Spaniards captured the Incan emperor after he threw the Bible to the ground, rejecting Christianity. For that, Pizzaro captured him and held him for ransom (Watts). The Incans were wrong, as hundreds of Incans were killed by the much-advanced Spaniards and their working guns.…
Pizarro had a relationship much like Cortez. He befriended them for a short time, then found the right time to strike down on to the Incas just like Cortes when he struck the Incas. Pizarro called the Incas to a meeting with the plan to kill them all. He did just this he meets them and killed all of the unarmed Incas in under an hour. After they killed most of the Incas they took all of their goods (Neth).…