Pizarro Conquers the Incas

Pizarro's crew setting foot on the nothern coast of Peru known as Tumbes

     Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish explorer set out on to Peru in the June of 1530. This conquistador wanted to search the hidden parts of Peru. So he set out on a voyage from Panama accompanied with 3 ships and a crew of 180 men. At the time of Pizarro's voyage, the Incas (An Amerindian tribe) was controlling Peru.

     At the beggining of this empire's creation, the Incas started out south of peru in a city called Cuzco. From there, the tribe bagan to expand until it reach the peak of it's population which was about 12 million civilians. The empire territory also expanded and the empire controlled parts of Agentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Ecuador. 

     Pizarro's quest for Peru was finally over when he landed on the shores of Tumbes. At that time, the ruler of the Incan empire was Athualpa. Pizarro then wanted a meeting at the city of Cajamarca. In order to keep Pizarro's identity a secret, Pizarro sent another man in his place while he and his army hid. When Athualpa lost his calmness, Pizarro and his men jumped out killing almost 5,000 Incans. After all this Pizarro kidnapped Athualpa. This allowed Francisco Pizarro and his men to occupy the empire. The conquistadors were givin 24 tons of gold and silver for a ransom. But Pizarro refused to let Athualpa go. In the end, the Spanish strangled Athualpa to his death. Since Athualpa's death, some Incan resistances tried to fight but were all eventually destroyed.

Sources:

Pizarro Conquers Peru. http://www.multied.com/WH14001900/SAmerica/PizarroConquersPeru.html. August 25, 2007

Damerow, Harold. Voyages. http://faculty.ucc.edu/egh-damerow/voyages.htm. August 25, 2007.