The Incas: Their Conqueror, Francisco Pizarro

Who defeated the Incas? Hopefully anyone who has taken a world history class knows enough about European colonial holdings in the Americas to say with certainty that it was the Spanish. To be more specific, the Incas were conquered by Francisco Pizarro and a force of 168 soldiers. Yes, it was really that small. So who was the man who lead such a small force to conquer the greatest empire in South America?

Francisco Pizarro was an illiterate bastard (in the geneological sense, but as we'll see, he was also a jerk) from the Extremadura province of Spain. Fun fact, he was a distant cousin of Hernán Cortés. So empire conquering seems to have run in the family. Pizarro was learned from Cortés success and implemented the same strategy of cutting of the head of state to overthrow the Incas. During colonial times, Spanish society did not allow for much upward mobility, and one of the few ways to gain prestige was to cross the sea and conquer the New World for the crown. Being a bastard, Pizarro was excluded from the upper echelons of Spanish society, so he chose the conquistador life.

Few know (at least I didn't know until last week) that Pizarro had been to the Americas before landing in Peru. In 1513, he was a senior officer on a Panamanian expedition lead by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. While they were moving inland in the hopes of finding gold, Balboa's expedition soon found themselves standing on a beach watching waves roll in. They had just crossed the isthmus and were staring at the Pacific. This means Pizarro was one of the first Europeans to get a good look at the world's biggest ocean. His career would be defined by expeditions that sailed those “new” waters.

Pizarro's first command came in 1522. He lean an expedition to the southern coast of modern day Colombia. It was during this venture that he first heard of the land of Birú.* Reports from natives agreed that Birú held great riches. So six years later (1528 if you're feeling lazy about math), Pizarro successfully landed in the north of Peru at Tumbez. At Tumbez, Mark Adams reports that Pizarro “was greeted warmly...by an Inca magistrate, who was as fascinated by the odd visitors' chickens, pigs and shiny armor as the Spaniard was taken by the exquisite pottery, woven goods, and gold and silver objects that the Incas possessed. Pizarro returned to Spain and received permission to conquer this promising new land in the name of the crown.”

Four years later (1532), Pizarro landed at Tumbez to find a very different scene. The city lay in ruins. It had been destroyed by the civil war that broken out amongst the Incas when Pachucutec's grandson, Huayna Capac, died suddenly. That civil war proved a great advantage to Pizarro. And he exploited that advantage deftly.

*or Pirú or Virú

Image Sources

Pizarro

Pizarro's Expeditions and Invasions Map