1533 Atahualpa, last
Inca emperor, treacherously murdered by Pizarro
The vicious Spanish conquistador Francisco
Pizarro had imprisoned him and exacted a room full of gold as
ransom for his life.
High in the Andes of Peru, the
Incas had built a dazzling civilization. Although they had no
writing system, they had an elaborate government, great public
works, and a brilliant agricultural system. However, two hundred
Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro destroyed the
thriving civilization.
Francisco Pizarro murders
Atahualpa, in Cajamarca, Inca empire [now in Peru].
Atahuallpa (or Atahualpa) was
born in about 1502. He was the 13th and last emperor of the
Inca, who was victorious in a devastating civil war with his
half brother, only to be captured, held for ransom, and then
executed by Francisco Pizarro.
Atahuallpa was a younger son
of the Inca ruler Huayna Capac and an Ecuadorian princess; although
not the legitimate heir, he seems to have been his father's
favorite. When the old Inca chief died (c. 1527), the kingdom
was divided between Atahuallpa, who ruled the northern part
of the empire from Quito, and Huáscar, the legitimate heir,
who ruled from Cuzco, the traditional Inca capital. Depicted
by contemporary chroniclers as brave, ambitious, and extremely
popular with the army, Atahuallpa was soon embroiled in a civil
war with his older half brother for control of the empire. The
war ravaged Inca cities, wreaked havoc on the economy, and decimated
the population. Early in 1532, near Cuzco, Atahuallpa's army
defeated the army of Huáscar in what was perhaps the greatest
military engagement in Inca history. Huáscar and his family
were captured and later executed under Atahuallpa's orders.
While Atahuallpa was enjoying the hot springs in the small Inca
town of Cajamarca, preparatory to entering Cuzco in triumph,
Francisco Pizarro entered the city with a force of about 180
men.
On Nov. 15, 1532, Pizarro and
Atahuallpa met in what was to prove one of the most fateful
encounters in the New World. Invited by the Spaniard to attend
a feast in his honor, the Inca chief accepted. The next day,
he arrived at the appointed meeting place with several thousand
unarmed retainers; Pizarro, prompted by the example of Hernán
Cortés and Montezuma in Mexico, had prepared an ambush. Atahuallpa
rejected demands by the friar Vicente de Valverde, who had accompanied
Pizarro, that he accept the Christian faith and the sovereignty
of Charles V of Spain, whereupon Pizarro signaled his men. Firing
their cannons and guns and charging with their horses (all of
which were unknown to the Inca), the conquistadores captured
Atahuallpa and slaughtered thousands of his men. Perceiving
the avarice of his captors, Atahuallpa offered to fill a room
with gold as a ransom for his release. Pizarro accepted the
offer, and from throughout the empire the Incas brought gold
and silver statues, jewelry, and art objects. The Spaniards
had the Indians melt it all down into bullion and ingots, accumulating
24 tons of gold and silver, the richest ransom ever received.
Once the full amount was acquired,
the conquistadores ordered Atahuallpa burned to death (Aug.
29, 1533). When Atahuallpa was at the stake, de Valverde offered
him the choice of being burned alive or dying by the more merciful
garrote if he became a Christian. Atahuallpa, who had resisted
proselytization throughout his captivity, agreed to the conversion
and so died that day by strangulation. The execution of Atahuallpa,
the last free reigning emperor, marked the end of the Inca civilization.
— Atahuallpa, the 13th and
last emperor of the Incas, dies by strangulation at the hands
of Francisco Pizarro's Spanish conquistadors. The execution
of Atahuallpa, the last free reigning emperor, marked the end
of 300 years of Inca civilization.
High in the Andes Mountains of
Peru, the Inca built a dazzling empire that governed a population
of 12 million people. Although they had no writing system, they
had an elaborate government, great public works, and a brilliant
agricultural system. In the five years before the Spanish arrival,
a devastating war of succession gripped the empire. In 1532,
Atahuallpa's army defeated the forces of his half-brother Huáscar
in a battle near Cuzco. Atahuallpa was consolidating his rule
when Pizarro and his 180 soldiers appeared.
Francisco Pizarro was the son
of a Spanish gentleman and worked as a swineherd in his youth.
He became a soldier and in 1502 went to Hispaniola with the
new Spanish governor of the New World colony. Pizarro served
under Spanish conquistador Alonso de Ojeda during his expedition
to Colombia in 1510 and was with Vasco Núñez de Balboa when
he discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513. Hearing legends of
the great wealth of an Indian civilization in South America,
Pizarro formed an alliance with fellow conquistador Diego de
Almagro in 1524 and sailed down the west coast of South America
from Panama. The first expedition only penetrated as far as
present-day Ecuador, but a second reached farther, to present-day
Peru. There they heard firsthand accounts of the Inca empire
and obtained Inca artifacts. The Spanish christened the new
land Peru, probably after the Virú River.
Returning to Panama, Pizarro
planned an expedition of conquest, but the Spanish governor
refused to back the scheme. In 1528, Pizarro sailed back to
Spain to ask the support of Emperor Charles V. Hernán Cortés
had recently brought the emperor great wealth through his conquest
of the Aztec Empire, and Charles approved Pizarro's plan. He
also promised that Pizarro, not Almagro, would receive the majority
of the expedition's profits. In 1530, Pizarro returned to Panama.
In 1531, he sailed down to Peru,
landing at Tumbes. He led his army up the Andes Mountains and,
on 15 November 1532, reached the Inca town of Cajamarca, where
Atahuallpa was enjoying the hot springs in preparation for his
march on Cuzco, the capital of his brother's kingdom. Pizarro
invited Atahuallpa to attend a feast in his honor, and the emperor
accepted. Having just won one of the largest battles in Inca
history, and with an army of 30'000 men at his disposal, Atahuallpa
thought he had nothing to fear from the bearded white stranger
and his 180 men. Pizarro, however, planned an ambush, setting
up his artillery at the square of Cajamarca.
On November 16, Atahuallpa arrived
at the meeting place with an escort of several thousand men,
all apparently unarmed. Pizarro sent out a priest to exhort
the emperor to accept the sovereignty of Christianity and Emperor
Charles V, and Atahuallpa refused, flinging a Bible handed to
him to the ground in disgust. Pizarro immediately ordered an
attack. Buckling under an assault by the terrifying Spanish
artillery, guns, and cavalry (all of which were alien to the
Incas), thousands of Incas were slaughtered, and the emperor
was captured.
Atahuallpa offered to fill a
room with treasure as ransom for his release, and Pizarro accepted.
Eventually, some 24 tons of gold and silver were brought to
the Spanish from throughout the Inca empire. Although Atahuallpa
had provided the richest ransom in the history of the world,
Pizarro treacherously put him on trial for plotting to overthrow
the Spanish, for having his half-brother Huáscar murdered, and
for several other lesser charges. A Spanish tribunal convicted
Atahuallpa and sentenced him to die. On 29 August 1533, the
emperor was tied to a stake and offered the choice of being
burned alive or strangled by garrote if he converted to Christianity.
In the hope of preserving his body for mummification, Atahuallpa
chose the latter, and an iron collar was tightened around his
neck until he died.
With Spanish reinforcements that
had arrived at Cajamarca earlier that year, Pizarro then marched
on Cuzco, and the Inca capital fell without a struggle in November
1533. Huáscar's brother Manco Capac was installed as a puppet
emperor, and the city of Quito was subdued. Pizarro established
himself as Spanish governor of Inca territory and offered Diego
Almagro the conquest of Chile as appeasement for claiming the
riches of the Inca civilization for himself. In 1535, Pizarro
established the city of Lima on the coast to facilitate communication
with Panama. The next year, Manco Capac escaped from Spanish
supervision and led an unsuccessful uprising that was quickly
crushed. That marked the end of Inca resistance to Spanish rule.
Diego Almagro returned
from Chile embittered by the poverty of that country and demanded
his share of the spoils of the former Inca empire. Civil war
soon broke out over the dispute, and Almagro seized Cuzco in
1538. Pizarro sent his half brother, Hernando, to reclaim the
city, and Almagro was defeated and put to death. On June 26,
1541, allies of Diego el Monzo — Almagro's son — penetrated Pizarro's
palace in Lima and assassinated the conquistador while he was
eating dinner. Diego el Monzo proclaimed himself governor of
Peru, but an agent of the Spanish crown refused to recognize
him, and in 1542 Diego was captured and executed. Conflict and
intrigue among the conquistadors of Peru persisted until Spanish
Viceroy Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza established order in the late
1550s.
L'Inca Atahualpa est assassiné sur
ordre de Pizarre.
Le 15 novembre 1532, l'Inca Atahualpa
s'était rendu en grande pompe auprès de Francis Pizarre
dans l'espoir de sauver son pays, l'empire inca.
Francis Pizarre est un soldat
espagnol brutal et illettré. Après la découverte du Nouveau
Monde par Christophe
Colomb, il a quitté l'Estrémadure natale et s'est embarqué
en quête d'aventures. Déjà quinquagénaire, il rêve de renouveler
l'exploit d'Hernan
Cortez, un aristocrate de sa région qui a soumis le royaume
aztèque, dans l'actuel Mexique. Pizarre s'associe avec un autre
"conquistador" de son espèce, Diego de Almagro. Ensemble, ils
explorent la côte occidentale de l'Amérique du sud. Forts de
leurs découvertes, ils obtiennent le soutien de l'empereur Charles
Quint pour la conquête de l'empire inca, au coeur de la
chaîne montagneuse des Andes.
C'est ainsi qu'ils débarquent
à Tumbes, au nord du Pérou, à la tête de 183 aventuriers...
et avec 37 chevaux. La petite troupe s'engage dans l'ascension
de la cordillère des Andes, à la rencontre de l'Inca, ou "fils
du Soleil", le souverain de ces montagnes. En chemin, Pizarre
obtient confirmation de l'existence de fabuleuses mines de métaux
précieux, or et argent. Le conquérant apprend aussi que l'Inca
Atahualpa est en butte à une rébellion conduite par son propre
frère Huascar. Il joue de la rivalité entre les deux hommes
pour imposer sa médiation. C'est ainsi qu'il invite Atahualpa
à lui rendre visite dans la localité de Cajamarca.
Un crime crapuleux
Quand l'Inca arrive avec sa suite,
le chapelain espagnol l'exhorte à se convertir et lui tend la
Bible. L'Inca la rejette. Le chapelain, alors, se tourne vers
son chef et lui dit: "Je vous absous" (sous-entendu: pour tous
les crimes que vous allez commettre). A ce signal, les cavaliers
dissimulés derrière les maisons massacrent les Indiens au canon
et à l'arquebuse. Plusieurs milliers succombent.
Atahualpa disait: "Dans ce royaume,
aucun oiseau ne vole, aucune feuille ne bouge, si telle n'est
pas ma volonté". L'Espagnol n'en a cure et se saisit de lui.
Le prisonnier promet une rançon fabuleuse contre la promesse
de la vie sauve. Pendant des mois, les sujets de l'Inca amènent
à Pizarre des caravanes chargées de métaux précieux. Au total
l'équivalent de 4.600.000 ducats espagnols.
Enfin comblé, Pizarre fait étrangler
l'Inca dans sa cellule le 29 août 1533. L'empereur Charles Quint
condamnera vivement ce crime mais n'y pourra rien changer. C'est
la fin de l'empire inca qui domina les Andes pendant quelques
décennies et développa une civilisation originale, fondée sur
l'adoration du soleil et la culture de la pomme de terre. Pizarre
achève la conquête du pays et fonde la ville de Lima.
Bientôt, il ne tarde pas à se
disputer avec ses compagnons de fortune. Il fait exécuter Almagro
mais mourra lui-même assassiné par les amis de ce dernier le
26 juin 1541... La colonisation espagnole peut commencer. Sur
les ruines de l'empire inca naîtront le Pérou, l'Equateur et
la Bolivie. Leurs origines dramatiques leur valent encore de
nos jours un sort pitoyable. |
0029 John the Baptist beheaded (exact date uncertain)
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