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Episode 8-10, 19, 33 - A major villain in MCoG, here is the
real story of Francisco Pizarro.
Pizarro, Francisco (about 1476-1541), Spanish conqueror and
governor of Peru (1532-1541). He was born in Trujillo, Spain.
Pizarro was raised in poverty and never learned to read and write. He
left Spain for the West Indies in 1502 and lived on the island of Hispaniola.
In 1509 he joined Alonso de Ojeda’s expedition to Colombia. Serving
under Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513, he was his chief
lieutenant when Balboa sighted the Pacific Ocean and claimed it for
Spain. Later Pizarro served in Panama under governor Pedrarias Dávila,
who had Pizarro arrest Balboa for treason. Balboa was then tried and
quickly executed in January 1519.
In Panama, Pizarro heard tales of a southern land rich in gold. During
the 1520s Pizarro led two expeditions down the west coast of South America
and saw the golden ornaments worn by Native Americans of the Incan Empire
of Peru. Returning to Spain, he secured the king’s permission to
conquer the land and become its governor.
Pizarro raised an army and returned to Peru in 1532. Atahualpa, the
Incan emperor, quickly learned of the Spaniards’ arrival but let
them pass freely, awaiting them at the inland town of Cajamarca. When
Pizarro reached Cajamarca, he invited the Inca and his nobles to a feast
in the public square. On November 16, 1532, Atahualpa and thousands
of nobles and soldiers came to meet the visitors, whom they called “children
of the sun” because they believed they might be gods. Pizarro’s
troops, who numbered fewer than 200, then rushed forward brandishing
their swords. They surrounded the startled and unarmed guests and, with
the aid of horses and cannons, cut down almost all the leaders of the
empire within half an hour. Atahualpa was captured alive and held for
ransom. The emperor offered to fill a large room with gold, and two
smaller rooms with silver, in exchange for his release. Pizarro agreed.
Couriers came from all parts of the empire to fill the rooms with a
treasure worth $100 million in today’s money. After amassing this
fortune, Pizarro broke his word and had Atahualpa executed on August
29, 1533.
Pizarro then marched south and took the Inca capital at Cuzco. After
looting Cuzco he established the encomienda, or forced labor, system
over the native people. With most of their leaders dead, they offered
only sporadic resistance to Pizarro’s rule. Pizarro governed Peru
from Lima, which he founded in 1535.
The Spaniards then quarreled among themselves. Diego de Almagro, Pizarro’s
former partner who had been granted what is now northern Chile, claimed
Cuzco and seized it. The power struggle between Pizarro and Almagro
led to the War of Las Salinas in 1538. Almagro was killed, but his son,
known as Almagro the Lad, continued the war. Pizarro was murdered in
his palace in Lima by followers of Almagro in 1541.
Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
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Episode 1-39 (because of Zia ^_^) - The Inca play important
roles in MCoG, the most important is that of Zia, a young girl taken
from her home by Pizarro. The picture on the right shows the Inti Raymi
(Incan festival of the Sun, Sacsayhuaman, Cuzco).
Inca (Quechua inka, "king" or "prince"),
name applied by the Spanish to a Quechuan-speaking Native American people
who established an extensive Andean empire in South America shortly
before the conquest of the New World by Europeans. The name also applies
to each supreme ruler of that empire and, broadly, to all subject peoples
of the Incan Empire. See Quechua.
History
The Inca were originally a small warlike tribe inhabiting the south
highland region of the Cordillera Central in Peru. About AD 1100 they
began to move into the valley of Cuzco, where, for roughly the next
300 years, they raided and, whenever possible, imposed tribute on neighboring
peoples. Until the middle of the 15th century, however, the Inca undertook
no major imperialistic expansion or political consolidation, their farthest
advance prior to this time apparently being southward about 32 km (about
20 mi) from Cuzco in the reign of the sixth ruler, Inca Roca (flourished
late 14th century).
The first Inca to undertake a truly imperialist campaign was the eighth
ruler, Viracocha Inca (flourished early 15th century), who, late in
his reign, extended the empire about 40 km (about 25 MI) around Cuzco.
Thereafter, in a period of about 30 years, the Incan domain was systematically
enlarged and unified more than a thousandfold by two remarkable men.
The first was Viracocha's son, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, ranked by some
historians with the greatest conquerors and rulers of all time; the
second was Pachacuti's equally capable son, Topa Inca Yupanqui. The
empire reached its greatest extent, however, in the reign (circa 1493-1525)
of Topa's son, Huayna Capac. At this time Inca-controlled territory
stretched more than 4000 km (more than 2500 MI) north to south; from
east to west it extended about 805 km (about 500 MI); and it encompassed
an area roughly equal in size to the present-day Atlantic Coast states
of the United States. Scholars estimate that between 3.5 million to
16 million peoples of varying tribal backgrounds inhabited this immense
region.
The death of Huayna Capac in 1525, before he could name his successor,
divided the empire. Two of his sons, the half brothers Huáscar
and Atahualpa, each desired the throne, and the ensuing bitter struggle
between them, which ended in 1532 with the capture of Huáscar,
seriously weakened the empire. At this critical moment the Spanish adventurer
and explorer Francisco Pizarro arrived on the coast with firearms and
a force of about 180 men. Unopposed by the Inca, who assumed the fair-skinned
Spaniards were returning Incan demigods, Pizarro and his tiny band gained
control of the vast, highly centralized Incan state simply by making
Atahualpa, its head, a prisoner in his own house. Now fearful that Pizarro
would depose him in favor of Huáscar, Atahualpa ordered his former
rival executed. Next he offered the Spaniards a roomful of gold as the
price of his ransom. On August 29, 1533, even as an extensive store
of gold ornaments was being amassed from all parts of the empire, Pizarro
had Atahualpa strangled to death.
Pizarro then allowed Manco Capac, a brother of Huáscar, to assume
the throne. Several years later, though, Manco led a revolt against
the Spaniards; he was defeated, forced to take refuge in the mountains,
and there assassinated by fellow refugees. By now the empire was fast
disintegrating. The last pretender to the Inca throne, Tupac Amaru,
youngest son of Manco Capac and last of the male line, was beheaded
by the Spaniards; with his death Incan history becomes part of the history
of Peru.
Culture
At the height of their power the Inca achieved a political and governmental
system unsurpassed by any other Native American nation of the western
hemisphere. The Incan state, an agriculturally based theocracy rigidly
organized along socialistic lines, was dominated by the all-powerful,
semidivine Inca. Beneath the Inca, in descending order of rank and power,
were the royal family and upper aristocracy, the imperial administrators
and petty nobility, and the great mass of artisans and farm laborers.
Administratively, the entire domain was divided into four great regions
or quarters (the actual name of the empire was Tahuantinsuyu, a Quechuan
word meaning literally "Land of the Four Quarters"). These
regions were subdivided into provinces and various other lesser socioeconomic
units, of which the smallest was the extended family landholding known
as the ayllu. Cultivation of the virtually self-supporting ayllus took
place under strict official control. Government experts closely supervised
the selection and planting of crops and taught farmers the techniques
of drainage, fertilizing, intervalley irrigation, and stone terracing.
A portion of each grain harvest was taken by the state and stored in
government warehouses, to be doled out as the need arose.
The most important crops were potatoes and maize. Llamas were the primary
beasts of burden; alpacas were domesticated and raised chiefly for their
fine wool. Other domesticated animals included dogs, guinea pigs, and
ducks. The principal Incan manufactures were ceramic pottery, textiles,
metal ornaments, tools, and weapons.
Possessing neither horses, wheeled vehicles, nor a system of writing,
authorities in Cuzco nevertheless managed to keep in extremely close
touch with developments throughout the empire. A great network of stone
roads connecting all parts of the realm made possible swift communication;
trained runners, working in relays, covered up to 402 km (250 MI) per
day along these roads. This communication was enhanced by keeping accurate
numerical records of troops, supplies, population data, and general
inventories by means of knotted and colored strings called quipus. Boats
made of balsa wood afforded a means of rapid transportation along rivers
and streams. The firm control exercised by imperial administrators over
the entire vast empire, which often was carried as far as the uprooting
and resettling of whole native populations for political or economic
reasons, was made possible largely by this remarkably efficient communications
system.
Among the most impressive features of Incan civilization were vast temples,
palaces, fortresses, and public works; massive stone buildings, notably
the great Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, were skillfully erected with a
minimum of engineering equipment. Other remarkable achievements in engineering
included the construction of rope suspension bridges (some nearly 100
m/328 ft in length), irrigation canals, and aqueducts. The use of bronze,
an alloy of copper and tin suited for casting, for tools and ornaments
was widespread.
Religion among the Inca was highly formalized. The supreme Inca deity
was Viracocha, creator and ruler of all living things. Other major deities
were the gods of the sun, stars, and weather and the goddesses of the
moon, earth, and sea. Incan ceremonies and rituals, numerous and frequently
elaborate, primarily centered on agricultural and health concerns, particularly
the growing and harvesting of food crops and cures for various illnesses.
At especially important ceremonies live animals were sacrificed; human
sacrifices were also occasionally offered to the gods. The Inca produced
a rich body of folklore and music, of which only fragments survive.
Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
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