Last Year's Lesson: Battle of Cajamarca - Nov. 16, 1532

The Battle of Cajamarca, also called the Massacre of Cajamarca, took place on this day in 1532.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, history fans, if you want a double dose of history,
here's a rerun for today, brought to you by Tracy V. Wilson.
We hope it makes previous episodes for this date easier
to find in the feed. Welcome to This Day in
History Class from how Stuff Works dot com and from
the desk of Stuff you Missed in History Class. It's
the show where we explore the past one day at

(00:20):
a time with a quick look at what happened today
in history. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson,
and it's November six. The Battle of Cajamarca took place
on this day in fifteen thirty two, and it's also
described as a massacre. This was committed by Francisco Pizzarro

(00:41):
and his men against the Inca people of what's now Peru.
When this happened, the Inca Empire had just been through
an enormous epidemic and a civil war, and the epidemic
had actually sparked the civil war. Emperor Huaiana Capac, both
of his governors, and multiple other important leaders had died

(01:02):
in this epidemic, and then Wayna Capac named one of
his sons as his successor, but that son died in
the epidemic himself before he could even be notified of
the decision, and then his father died also before news
got back to him about the death of his son.
This interrupted the imperial line of succession, and nineteen year

(01:24):
old Huascar went to war against his half brother Atahualpa,
both of them being sons of the previous emperor. The
resulting civil war went on for four years, with Atahualpa
ultimately winning. This war had just ended when Francisco Pizzarro
arrived on the coast of what's now Peru. He was

(01:45):
following the example of Hernan Cortes's conquest of the Aztec Empire.
He was planning to take a small force inland and
capture Atahualpa, who was the ink of viewed as a
divine ruler. That was actually what Cortez had done with
the Aztec emperor Marktezuma. The second Marktezuma was killed when
this happened, Although it's not clear exactly how we're by whom.

(02:10):
Pizarro and his force of just a hundred and sixty
eight men took a treacherous mountain road from the coast
inland to Caha Marca, which is where Otawallpa was encamped.
The city itself was almost empty, with Ottawallpa's force of
between forty thousand and eighty thousand men not far away.
Once they got into the city, Pizarro concealed his men

(02:31):
in buildings that were arranged around Cohamarca's central square, and
then they invited Atawallpa to have a meeting with them.
The night before this meeting, Ottawapa had held a ceremonial
dinner to celebrate his victory over his half brother, and
this dinner went on late into the night and involved
lots of intoxicating beverages. So when he entered Cohamarca the

(02:52):
next day, he was carried on a litter with about
seven thousand retainers, and they weren't necessarily at their best.
Most of them were all so unarmed because they were
not coming there with a fighting force or with any
idea of having any kind of battle. At a Wappa
was a divine emperor. He expected to be treated that

(03:13):
way by this visitor to his empire. Inside the city,
at a Wappa was greeted by a friar who talked
to him about Christianity and also delivered a Spanish document
that was called the Requirement. The Requirement was meant to
inform indigenous peoples that Spain had given its representatives the moral, religious,

(03:34):
and legal rights to conquest. Of course, the Requirement was
often delivered in Spanish, and that was often the language
that the people they were talking to did not speak.
There was though an interpreter in Cajamarca that day. During
this exchange with the Friar, the Friar had a Bible,
and sources really differ about what happened, but they all

(03:58):
end up with the Bible on the ground, either having
been knocked down or thrown or dropped. And when that happened,
Pizara's men burst out from hiding and they massacred nearly
all of Otawappa's retinue, and they took him prisoner. Pizarre's
forced saw almost no casualties in this, while Ottawallpa's force,

(04:18):
being mostly unarmed, were just massacred. Atawappa was Pizara's prisoner
until July fifteen fifty three, when he was put on
trial after there were allegations that he was mounting an
attack force. He was executed. Pizarro attempted to use the
emperors that followed Atawallpa as his puppets, although one of them,

(04:39):
named Manco Inca, ultimately rebelled against Spain and established a
completely separate Inca capital. Tupac Amaru is considered to be
the last Inca emperor, and he was executed on September fifteen,
seventy two, less than twenty years after Ottawapa's execution. You
can learn more about this in the April four episode

(05:01):
of Steffie Missed in History Class called Caha Marca and
the End of the Inca Empire. Thanks to Casey Pgraham
and Tandler Mayze for their audio work on the show.
You can subscribe to the Stay in History Class and
Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and wherever else to get your podcasts,
and you can tune in tomorrow for a Murderous Castle