War · 1532–1572
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire
Cajamarca, Peru
On 16 November 1532, 168 Spanish soldiers under Francisco Pizarro, with Indigenous auxiliaries, ambushed the Sapa Inca Atahualpa in the main square of Cajamarca, killing thousands of his unarmed attendants and taking him prisoner. The Inca Empire, by far the largest of the great pre-Columbian civilisations, had already been weakened by epidemics and by a civil war between Atahualpa and his brother Huáscar.
Atahualpa paid a ransom but was executed in July 1533, and Inca resistance continued until 1572.
Why it mattered
The conquest brought the Andes under Spanish rule as the Viceroyalty of Peru and launched further Spanish campaigns into present-day Chile and Colombia.
Related
- The world in 1530: Conquerors and Reformers chapter
- Fall of Tenochtitlan previous moment · 1519–1521
- Copernicus puts the Sun at the centre next moment · 1543