Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory - Anthro 490: Class 25

ã Copyright Bruce Owen 1998

• Announcements
• Some recommended, readable, classic historical sources on the Spanish conquest of Peru:
• William H. Prescott, The Conquest of Peru, 1847. Still the classic, available in many editions, often abridged
• Alfred Métraux, The History of the Incas, 1961. Out of date in parts, but accessible.
• Background to the readings (chronology modified from chart in Métraux)
• This is significantly simplified; there were actually numerous trips back and forth, groups left ashore for various periods, etc.
• 1492, Columbus lands on Guanahani, an island in the Bahamas
• 1493, Huayna Capac succeeds Topa Inca Yupanqui
• Topa Inca Yupanqui was supposedly the one who conquered Chimor
• Huayna Capac did not find much of the Andes left to conquer, but spent much of his reign extending the empire north in Ecuador and Colombia
• 1513, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa's crosses the isthmus of Panama and sees the Pacific
• Panamanians tell stories of a nation rich in gold to the south
• Early Portuguese explorers in Brazil also heard stories of a mountain nation with lots of gold
• One Portuguese adventurer (Alejo Garcia) apparently actually reached the Northern Argentine border of Tawantinsuyo overland from Paraguay and raided several towns, but was killed before he could get his treasure back to the Atlantic coast
• European diseases were probably already beginning to rage through the Andes
• 1519, Cortez lands on the Veracruz coast to conquer Mexico
• 1522, Andagoya makes the first exploratory sailing trip south of Panama
• 1524, Last Aztec ruler is hanged (just 33 years after Columbus first landed)
• 1524, Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almagro, Hernando Luque agree to mount a voyage seeking Peru
• Pizarro was 53 years old! (born illigitimate and poor around 1471, in Toledo, Spain)
• He had been involved in a disastrous mission to Hispaniola in 1510
• Had participated in Balboa's crossing of the isthmus
• But by age 50 had only a plot of land near Panama
• Almagro was probably even older than Pizarro
• Luque was the vicar of Panama, and had the contacts to drum up funding
• 1524, Pizarro leads a voyage that gets mired in the mangrove swamps of Ecuador
• many men die of disease and in battles with locals
• Almagro catches up later in another ship
• both collect enough gold to convince them that a better-funded expedition would be worthwhile
• they return to Panama
• 1526, the three sign an agreement to mount an expedition to Peru
• actually, only Luque could write his own name
• two ships
• 160 men
• on this mission, one of the ships encounters a Peruvian balsa
• several people dressed in extraordinarily fine cloth
• a variety of fancy gold objects
• a balance for weighing precious metals
• they came from Tumbez
• 1527, Pizarro lands at Tumbez, confirming the accounts of the existence of Peru
• they were greeted peacefully, and the city greatly impressed them
• Pizarro returns to Panama, and then all the way to Spain, to get authority and support for the conquest of this new land
• he got the right to essentially rule the territory, divide it up and give it away in encomiendas, receive a huge salary, etc., on the model of the conquest of Mexico
• and the others got subsidiary, related roles
• 1527, Huana Capac dies, probably of a European disease
• 1528, civil war for succession begins between Huáscar and Atahuallpa
• Atahuallpa was in the north with Huayna Capac
• Huáscar was in Cuzco
• 1531, Pizarro sets off to conquer Peru (at age 60!)
• 3 vessels
• 180 men
• 27 horses
• 1531, Pizarro's third expedition occupies Tumbez
• they found it deserted and largely demolished
• 1532
• Atahuallpa's general Quizquiz takes Cuzco and captures Huáscar
• Atahuallpa moves south with his court and army, camps near Cajamarca
• Pizarro has beein in indirect contact with Atahuallpa
• and doing a lot of exploring in the northern coastal part of the empire
• He decides to take a force and meet Atahuallpa in Cajamarca
• To everyone's surprise, noone bothers them on their way from Tumbez to Cajamarca, following the Inka road
• November 15, Pizarro and his men camp in the plaza at Cajamarca
• Fernando Pizarro sends his brother Hernando to invite Atahuallpa for a meeting
• 1532, November 16, Pizarro ambushes and captures Atahuallpa at Cajamarca
• 1533, Huáscar assasinated on Atahuallpa's orders
• 1533, Augst 29, Pizarro executes Atahuallpa
• 1533, November 15, Pizarro take Cuzco