500 years ago, atop the snowcapped Andes, in a still barely mapped continent, thousands
of meters above sea level, two new empires smashed into each other, in a historical collision
that reverberates into the modern day.
Conquistador and Sapa Inca, men from different worlds, will clash.
The arquebus and huaraca will meet and Tawantinsuyu, the Land of Four Parts Together will be undone.
In 1528 Hernán Cortes had just returned from Mexico bringing tales of conquest along with
unimaginable treasures.
The Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles the 5th received him and his riches in Toledo.
As Cortés impressed the royal court, another veteran of the New World had arrived at the
city.
It was Francisco Pizarro, the second cousin of Cortés.
Pizarro had arranged to meet the King and planned to impress him with gifts.
Gold, silver, feathers, natives, and bizarre creatures unknown outside of the Andes.
Pizarro told his King of the magical land of Peru, home to a native Empire that Pizarro
assured him could be conquered in his name.
On the 26th of July 1529, Pizarro was issued a royal license to conquer this new land and
named the Governor of Peru.
Armed with a royal permission, Pizarro set off recruiting potential conquistadors.
He returned to his hometown of Trujillo, gathered his four brothers, Juan, Francisco, Gonzalo,
and Hernando, and then set sail for the Americas in January 1530.
The Sapa Inca, Huayna Capac had recently subdued much of what is now Ecuador when reports began
trickling in.
Strange men had traded with the city of Tumbez.
Alongside these reports came others, that were much more horrific.
Chasquis runners arrived daily informing the Sapa Inca that a disease had appeared in the
north and was killing thousands.
Nothing like it had ever been seen before Plagues were unknown to the Inca so this strange
sickness, known to us as smallpox, ravaged the population.
The Eurasian disease was not brought by Pizarro however, as it arrived slightly before he
did, creeping in from North and Central America.
In the following years, up to 90% of the Empire would succumb to the disease.
Sometime around 1527 the Sapa Inca Huayna Capac and his heir died from smallpox along
millions of their subjects.
Two years before Pizarro had petitioned the King of Spain, Eurasian germs had initiated
the conquest for him.
With the succession now unclear and the realm devastated, the sons of Huayna Capac both
tried to claim the throne and tossed the Empire into chaos.
Atahualpa, who possessed much less territory than Huascar, controlled his dead father’s
veteran legions and slowly pushed down from Quito towards Cuzco.
During the final bloody climax of the war in 1532 Huacar’s remaining armies were smashed
outside of Cuzco and he was captured by Atahualpa’s generals.
Atahualpa has camped over 900 kilometers away in the town of Cajamarca, with a small portion
of his army, awaiting news of the battle.
Even with the Inca’s exceptional highway and their tireless chasquis, it would take
five days for word of the victory to reach Atahualpa.
There, in Cajamarca Atahualpa planned his eventual coronation as the supreme ruler of
the Inca world.
He was eager to get word from his generals and set off on his victory march towards his
new capital.
But there was just one small detail that he needed to deal with at the moment.
Reports were coming in from his chiefs that a small band of 168 foreigners, some of whom
were riding giant llamas, was causing havoc on the coast and it appeared they were now
marching straight for Cajamarca.
Atahualpa was curious and rather than have these men killed he decided to see them and
their strange llamas himself.
What could 168 do against his 50,000 soldiers?
He had agreed to meet the Spaniards in the central plaza of Cajamarca.
This was a ceremonial meeting between his vast empire and some lowly visitors.
So on Saturday, November 16, 1532, Atahualpa entered the square at Cajamarca followed by
6,000 of his barely armed men.
A battle was not expected.
Atahualpa was quite confident, as just the day before he heard of his victory at Cuzco
and the capture of his rival brother Huascar.
So, this was a day of celebration.
Once he had his meeting with this odd band of foreigners, he could march south and have
his glorious coronation.
Pizarro and his men had planned to emulate Cortés: they would capture Atahualpa, thus
cutting off the head of the Inca Empire and paralyzing it.
Atahualpa as Sapa Inca was Supreme ruler of the Empire and it could not function without
him.
Pizarro had hidden his men in the buildings surrounding the square and stationed the artillery
and arquebuses on the far side of the square ready to fire.
Like too many fans in a tiny football stadium, the Inca troops crowded into the square, which
had only two narrow exits.
Not a single Spaniard could be seen.
As the sun began to set, nothing could be heard in the square except for a slight breeze.
The fear inside the stone buildings was incalculable.
Pedro Pizarro said, “I heard that many Spaniards urinated on themselves without noticing it
from sheer terror.”
Eventually, two men appeared from the buildings and approached Atahualpa.
Vincente de Valverde, a Dominican friar, and an inexperienced native translator.
The friar read following to Atahualpa.
“I request and require you... to recognize the Church as your Mistress and as Governess
of the World and Universe…
And if you do not do this... with the help of God we shall come mightily against you,
and we shall make war on you everywhere and in every way that we can, and we shall subject
you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and His Majesty, and we shall seize your women
and children, and we shall make them slaves, to sell and dispose of as His Majesty commands.
And we shall do all the evil and damage to you that we are able.
And I must insist that the deaths and destruction that result from this will be all your fault!”
This was the Requerimiento, a document read aloud to the native people’s of the New
World.
Informing them of Spain’s divine right to conquer these lands in the name of God.
Valverde then approached Atahualpa and offered him a bible.
Atahualpa had heard reports of the men’s fascination with these objects, but he had
no way to contextualize what this was or how to interact with it.
He had had enough with these foreigners now and their disrespect for the Inca diplomatic
customs.
Atahualpa scolded Valverde and the Spanish for stealing from warehouses and killing Inca
chiefs and proceed to toss the book aside.
Valverde, horrified at this perceived act of extreme blasphemy sprinted towards the
stone buildings, shouting, “Come out!
Come out, Christians!
Come at these enemy dogs who reject the things of God!”.
The square again fell silent.
With loud roars the cannons and arquebuses soon fired directly into the mass of warriors,
spewing out smoke and metal shrapnel.
Inca soldiers, shocked by the sounds, soon saw beasts riding towards them.
The Spanish war cry “Santiago” was screamed as men rushed out of the buildings.
A massacre ensued, as the panic-stricken Inca force tried to retreat out of the tiny square.
Dazed masses of soldiers ran for the narrow exits.
It was impossible to escape: thousands died trampled under their comrades or horses.
Chopping through the men holding the royal litter Pizarro and his men grabbed Atahualpa
and dragged him back into one of the stone buildings.
Just that morning he was basking in a victory that took four years to complete, Atahualpa
was now, at sunset, prisoner to an unknown group of people.
The Inca Empire, which only just finished a destructive civil war was now involved in
the highest stakes hostage situation of all time.
The survivors of the massacre ran from the square and the rest of the Inca army now leaderless
dispersed into the countryside.
Atahualpa noted the excitement the Spaniards had at finding gold trinkets amongst the wreckage.
He concluded that these were pirates from some faraway land.
If he could give them enough gold, then they would return to their ships and begone.
He told Pizarro that in exchange for his life and freedom he would fill the room they were
in with gold and twice over with silver.
Atahualpa delivered on his promise.
For months the greatest treasures and artifacts of the Inca empire poured into Cajamarca.
The room was filled, and everything was melted down into ingots, which is why gold or silver
Inca artifacts are so rare today.
In the end, the gold totaled 1.3 million pesos de oro, or around 400m 2018 US Dollars, to
be divided between between168 men and the King of Spain.
As the ransom poured in so did more Spanish troops.
Diego de Almagro, Pizarro’s business partner, arrived with an extra 153 men.
The fact that more Spaniards have arrived made it clear that this was an invasion force.
These men were here to stay.
After the Inca fulfilled their promise, it became obvious to Pizarro and his men that
Atahualpa had outlived his usefulness and was now only a liability.
If he were rescued they would not be able to defeat the resistance he would organize.
On July 26th, 1533, Atahualpa was brought into the main square of Cajamarca and was
tied to a wooden stake.
The native population gathered around in awe at what was happening.
Atahualpa was not only the supreme ruler of the Empire but also their god.
Watching this happen must have shaken the entire world-view of the local people.
Valverde, the same friar that offered him a bible month before, came to him and offered
to be baptized.
If he rejected this offer, he would be burned alive.
No fate could be worse for Atahualpa.
If his body were not perfectly preserved like previous Emperor’s, then he would not pass
on correctly to the afterlife.
He accepted and was quickly baptized.
Still, he was then strangled to death as a Christian.
The conquistadors soon left Cajamarca and began the long trek to Cuzco.
As the square and that lonely stake in its center faded into the distance, Pizarro and
his men must have felt confident that this wealthy empire was already in their hands.
But the conquest of the Inca was far from over.
Thank you for watching this video in our series on the Pre-Columbian Civilisations.
The next episode will cover the Collapse of the Inca Empire.
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