Conquest of the Inca

Atahualpa was the13th and last fully independent Inca Emperor.  His total rule began after defeated his brother Huáscar in a civil war completed just as Pizarro entered the empire.

Francisco Pizarro was a conquistador in his fifties who decided on one last throw of the dice to find and conquer new lands for God, Glory and Gold. He had three great advantages over the Incan Empire- a "modern" military with the latest weapons (warhorses, war dogs, crossbows, muskets, cannons, steel weapons, steel & iron armor) and tactics, European diseases (smallpox being the deadliest) that had recently devastated the Empire and the Incan Civil War that had further disrupted the Incan government and military.

With a force of less than 200 conquistadors (at least sixty of which were cavalry) and one cannon, Pizarro began the hazardous march into the land of the Inca. 

Destruction of Atahualpa's guards and his capture by the Spanish conquistadors of Pizarro.

After luring Atahualpa and a large part of his nobles into an ambush, the emperor was captured and thousands of his men butchered.  Pizarro then demanded a massive ransom for the Inca. The ransom of 22,000 lbs. of gold and 44,000 lbs. of silver did not save the life of Atahualpa, for political reasons he was murdered shortly after the ransom was paid. The massive payment did make the conquistadors filthy rich. The value in today's money paid to each of Pizarro's cavalrymen for the capture of the emperor was over 1.5 million dollars, each infantryman received around a million dollars' worth of gold and silver. Pizarro's share was around 100 million and the "King Fifth" (the amount of all New World income paid directly to the king of Spain) was close to 1/4 billion dollars. Not bad for one day's fighting. The capture and subsequent murder of the Inca Emperor Atahualpa put Pizarro in virtual control of the empire.

While the people of the Inca would bravely, yet futilely attempt to resist the Spanish for the next thirty years, their empire was for all intents and purposes conquered in that one fateful battle. A battle where a handful of Spaniards changed the history of the South America.

Loading Spanish galleons with the kings fifth of the initial Inca treasure taken by Pizarro and his conquistadors. 

Pizarro would rule his new conquests for less than ten years before his greed and mismanagement brought his own destruction, not at the hands of the Incas he had conquered but by that of his own comrades for Pizarro was murdered by his own captains and officers that he cheated and mistreated. His greed led to his death after he had succeeded in one of the greatest conquests in the "Age of Colonialism."

Inca

Inca was not the name of the people, rather "Inka" was the title of the ruler.  The Spanish mistakenly called the people this title.  The people of the Inca referred to their empire as Tawantinsuyu, which meant "four parts together," as the empire was divided into four major administrative centers.
Inca gold representation of the Sun god.  As with the Aztec's, gold was so plentiful in the Inca Empire it had little value except to make into pieces of art, both religious and for personal use.
Inca silver ancestor gods.

Inca gold cup with the Sun god Inti. The vast treasure in silver and gold art works of the Inca drew the avarice attentions of the Spanish Conquistadors.

The "Lost City" of Macu Picu is an example of the sophisticated engineering feats of the people of the Inca Empire.

The quality of their stone construction techniques was so great that these buildings have withstood more than 500 years of the ravages of nature, including numerous earthquakes.

One of the greatest accomplishments of the Incan engineers was the massive road network of over 6000 miles that tied the empire together.

One of the best sources of our knowledge of the Inca comes from their burial sites.  Those of the rich and powerful have large stores of items that tell much about their culture and technologies.

Inca Fortress of Sayhuman at Cusco is another example of the precise stonework that was a hallmark of the engineering skills of the people of the Inca.

The massive size of the stones (many weigh over twenty tons) is readily noticeable in this picture.

Lama, the largest pack animal in Pre-Columbian America. It is one of the wonders of these impressive people that their massive stone engineering works were completed without assistance of any large draft animals. Note the terraced fields in the background that date to the time of the Inca Empire. The use of terraced farmland greatly improved the available food for the Inca Nation.

Timeline of Inca Culture.