The Last Days of the Incas details the story of the rise of the Incan empire to Francisco Pizzaro’s aftermath of a bloody civil war, and the recent discovery of the lost guerrilla capital of the Incas, Vilcabamba, by three American explorers.
In 1532, the fifty-four-year-old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had just fought a bloody civil war in which emperor Atahualpa had defeated his brother Huascar. Pizarro and his men soon clashed with Atahualpa and a huge force of Inca warriors at the Battle of Cajamarca. Despite being outnumbered by more than two hundred to one, the Spaniards prevailed—due largely to their horses, their steel armor and swords, and their tactic of surprise. They captured and imprisoned Atahualpa. Although the Inca emperor paid an enormous ransom
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The leader, Pachacuti, had conquered much of the modern day Southern Peru. And Cuzco was rebuilt as a major city and capital of the empire.
As the years went by, the empire began to grow larger. And from 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges. By the time Huayna Capac, Pachacuti’s grandson was at the end of the rule, the Inca empire stretched into modern day Peru and Bolivia, most of Ecuador, a large portion of Chile, and extended into Argentina and Colombia. However, many changes we’re about to begin on the Incan culture.
Two Invasions
The first invasion came from Central America and worked down to South America. This silent and malicious murderer decimated the native population. The smallpox virus, coming from the Europeans as they conquered Central America, made its way into Cusco. And its grip soon tightened around the life of the emperor, Huayna
After the Spanish regained control of Cuzco, Manco Inca (The Inca Emperor) and his armies retreated to the fortress where he successfully launched attacks against Pizarro based at Cuzco and even managed to defeat the Spanish in an open battle. However, the Inca Emperor knowing that he could not fight a war in which almost everyone one of his people died from fled to the south in the mountains in Vilcabamba. There they founded a new Inca Empire which would remain independent for some decades. Tupac Amaru was the last Inca Emperor, he would later be murdered and the Spanish would take over Vilcabamba, even the Spanish King didn 't like this final destruction of the Inca Empire and did not want his death. However the Viceroy of Peru killed him
He was in search of the Aztec leader named Moctezuma the second. Cortez had only 6100 soldiers and 16 horses. As a result of the war, Moctezuma sent gifts including gold and valuables to bribe him to end the war. A difficulty Cortez faced was that while he was gone, the Aztec rebelled due to the Spanish capturing their leader. Another difficulty that Hernan Cortez faced was the fact that his army was brutality outnumbered.
Franciso Pizzaro, a Spanish conquistador, arrived at the capital of the Inca empire with 168 men on November 15, 1532, and within 24 hours of coming into contact with the Incas, 7,000 Inca warriors lay lifeless, and yet not a single Spanish life was shed during the battle. Hernan Cortes accomplished something very similar in the invasion of the Aztec empire. These two conquistadors were able to conquer the Americas with significantly fewer men, killing thousands of Native Americans in Central and South America within hours and unknowingly killing around 25 million Native Americans within a century. Pizzaro, Cortes, and many other conquistadors were able to bring about this through guns, germs, and steel.
This was a way to allow them to still expand their empire while still being able to provide for their country men. The Inca believed in using force as a last resort. Which led them to grow so large while not having civil war but if you opposed them they would kill everything and one in sight whoever was left was sold into slavery.
Pizarro did many things to make this damage such as taking lots of their money. In the ransom for Atahualpa, Pizarro was payed with $50 in gold. Soon after, Atahualpa was killed because Pizarro thought he would retaliate. This was the first time the Inca Empire was threatened, so they didn’t have the right supplies to defend themselves. Later, Pizarro destroyed the culture.
In addition to the mechanical advances, the Spanish also had better armor. Steel armor5 was more effective at deflecting axes and stones from injuring a soldier. The Incas had worn standard quilted armor6 to deflect the bullets shot by the Spanish. Consequently, nothing could stop the bullets from hitting the Incan soldiers. Furthermore, all the materials brought to the New World came on a ship, which allowed people to cross bodies of water in fewer days.
“The Spanish had the advantage of superior weaponry. Aztec arrows were no match for the Spaniards’ muskets and cannons” (McDougal 556). In their area, the Aztec civilization had a reputation of successful rulers, and handmade yet powerful weapons. Even so, Spanish conquistadors were able to beat them without much effort because of their advanced weaponry. Any survivors were forced to live in fear of others coming from Europe and killing them with manufactured weaponry.
They stayed in Cusco. Manco Capac led the tribe. Spanish conquistadors brought smallpox. The Spanish killed Atahualpa. They planted potatoes, corn, cotton, and more.
One of the biggest and main reasons due to why the Aztec civilization collapsed was because when the Europeans arrived and brought deadly diseases such smallpox, measles and influenza. These diseases were introduced in Mexico and Peru at the year September-November 1520 and was deadly and bad enough to kill 80% of the Aztecs which is approximately 15 million people. Not only did the disease kill people but they also destroyed their land and culture, this caused the Aztecs to struggle a lot. The topic of this essay is about how the Europeans brought the diseases to the Aztecs and caused them to fail and collapse.
Francisco PIzarro: The Notable Conquistador that Vanquished the Incan Civilization This famous Spanish explorer passed away on June 26th, 1541, when he was assassinated in Lima, Peru. The cause of his assassination was due to the big disagreement between him and his long time expedition partner, Diego Almagro and how because of this disagreement, he had Almagro killed. This caused many people in the Almagro family to become aggravated of Pizarro’s foolish decision of killing his expedition partner. Years later, on June 26th, 1541, several of Almagro’s followers, whom were led by Almagro’s son, stormed and raided Pizarro’s grand palace in Lima, Peru.
In conclusion the tribes had a bad time because of their droughts and bad soil. There are lots of things that are different with the two tribes. In source 4 it states The Inca Tribe were good wall builders and nothing could get
The author gives insight on how many ways the Spaniards used their power to assist in the downfall of the Aztecs. The reason why the Spaniards became victorious, was because the Spaniards were looked upon as if they were gods because of their outer appearance. The Aztecs broke bread and welcomed the Spaniards with gifts and parties. The Aztecs triggered their relationship with the Spaniards by holding a ritual for the arrival of the god which included a human sacrifice. The Spaniards didn’t agree with the rituals and began to despise the Aztecs.
Inca people were located in modern day Peru, the capital of Cusco. The place that they were located is nicknamed the “lost city”. The place was called the lost city because the city was never found by the Spanish invaders when they conquered the Inca in the 1500’s. By the early 1500’s the Inca people were located 200 miles north to
Before the fight even began, it was clear that the Spaniards had a big advantage and would come out on top. It states in the text, “Immediate reasons for Pizarro’s success included military technology based on guns, steel weapons, and horses; infectious diseases endemic in Eurasia; European maritime technology; the centralized political organization of European states; and writing” (Diamond 78). While striking the Indian villages, Governor Pizarro’s troops were easily able to kill off many people because of their new technology and weapons that they created for themselves. Instead of having stone, bronze, or wooden clubs, maces, and hand axes that would easily crack under pressure, the Spaniards created steel swords, lances, and daggers that were able to swiftly
The Spanish had successfully captured Atahualpa all the while slaughtering thousands of Inca troops including the nobles. Frantically, Atahualpa’s people had brought the Spanish gold in order to take Atahualpa back. However, Pizarro took the gold and executed the ruler anyway. Pizarro had broken up rival-city states and had killed the Inca ruler and the successors. There was a power struggle that Pizarro created between the two sides that the Inca ruling had, Atahualpa leading one side, and his brother, Huascar, who led the other.