Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro springs a trap on Inca emperor Atahualpa - November 16th, 1532

On this day in 1532, the last ruler of the Inca Empire was captured by Spanish conquistadors at the Battle of Cajamarca.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that pays tribute to people of the past by
telling their stories. Today, I'm Gabeluesier, and in this episode
we're reflecting on the downfall of the Inca Empire and

(00:22):
how it opened the door to the European colonization of
South America. The day was November sixteenth, fifteen thirty two.
The last ruler of the Inca Empire was captured by
Spanish conquistadors at the Battle of Cajamarca. The surprise attack

(00:46):
was led by Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish soldier and explorer
who had come to pillage and conquer Peru with his
king's blessing. The odds were not in his favor, however,
since the Incan emperor had at Hualpa had an army
of eighty thousand at his disposal, while Pizarro commanded less
than two hundred. But in the end, Pizarro found a

(01:09):
way to exploit the Inca's vulnerabilities and lure their ruler
into a deadly trap that ultimately doomed the kingdom. When
Pizarro and his men first arrived in South America, the
Inca Empire was at the peak of its power. The
Inca's formidable army had steadily expanded the empire's borders throughout
the fifteenth century, and as a result, their territory stretched

(01:32):
from present day Ecuador all the way down to parts
of modern Chile, encompassing more than ten million people. Military
might wasn't the Inca's only strength either. They had ingenuity
on their side as well. They built thousands of miles
of roads to connect the far reaches of their kingdom
and erected monumental structures using masonry techniques that had never

(01:55):
been seen before. The Incas also had an impressive knowledge
of mathematics, agriculture, and astronomy, and their finally woven textiles
were said to be some of the finest and most
intricate in the world. Of course, conquistadors like Francisco Pizarro
were much more interested in gold and silver than textiles.

(02:16):
He was already a wealthy man thanks to his role
in the conquest of Panama, but he believed an even
bigger score awaited him somewhere down in South America. A
series of expeditions in the late fifteen twenties convinced him
that one region in particular was ripe for conquest, and
in fifteen thirty one, King Charles the Fifth gave him

(02:36):
permission to test his theory. At first, Pizarro didn't have
much of a plan. He and his crew, which was
only about one hundred and sixty men and forty horses,
landed on the north coast of what's now Ecuador and
then made their way inland, plundering villages as they went
along the way, Though they started to hear stories about

(02:56):
the great wealth of Cusco, the capital of the Kingdom
of the Inca. Pizarro changed course immediately, and on the
way to the capital he gained some valuable intel on
his new target. It turned out that Inca had recently
been embroiled in a civil war that had decimated their
population and divided the people's loyalties. The catalyst for the

(03:17):
fighting had been the death of a beloved emperor, Juana Kappek,
five years earlier. When Kapik's heir apparent died suddenly as well,
two of his other sons both tried to claim the throne.
The younger of the two, Ada Walpa one support in
the northern part of the empire, while his rival and
half brother Huascar one support in the south. More importantly, though,

(03:42):
Ada Walpa had the loyalty of Inca's finest generals, giving
his forces a decisive edge on the battlefield. In the
spring of fifteen thirty two, Atahualpa defeated and captured his
half brother and was in the process of piecing his
kingdom back together when Pizarro and his men showed up.
The newly crowned emperor or Sapa. Inca had been warned

(04:04):
that Spanish invaders were heading for Cusco, but since there
were so few of them, he didn't consider them much
of a threat. In fact, when the Spanish requested an
audience with him at the town of Caha Marca, he
assumed they wanted to make amends for all the pillaging
they'd been doing. In reality, though, the invitation was just
a ruse to lure the emperor out into the open.

(04:26):
Taking advantage of the empire's fractured allegiances, Pizarro had spent
months recruiting soldiers who were still loyal to Huascar. Then
in mid November, he laid a trap for the Inca
emperor in a town square in Cahamarca. He placed several
cannons on a rooftop, hid his horsemen and foot soldiers
and buildings all around the square, and then waited for

(04:49):
the guest of honor to arrive. On November sixteenth, fifteen
thirty two, Pizarro's envoy met Ottawalpa just outside the city
and invited him to the town square for a feast
to celebrate his ascension to the throne. The emperor had
about eighty thousand soldiers with him that day, but he
only brought five thousand unarmed men into the city with him.

(05:12):
That's how little he suspected the foul play that awaited him.
Once Adawalpa was in position, Pizarro sent a Catholic friar
named Valverdi out to greet him. Valverti spoke through an
inca interpreter, explaining the facets of his faith and urging
the emperor to convert to Christianity. As you might imagine,

(05:32):
the idea didn't go over so well, and when Adawalpa
angrily refused, Valverdi gave the signal to attack. Suddenly, dozens
of horsemen and footmen flooded into the square and cannon
fire rang out from the rooftops. The Incas were caught
completely off guard, not only by the attack itself but
by the weapons used to wage it. They had never

(05:55):
encountered steel swords, muskets, cannons, or even horses, and the
sight of such strange, powerful weapons further fueled their panic.
Trapped in tight corners and with no means to defend themselves,
the unarmed Inca soldiers and noblemen didn't stand a chance.
Pizarro's men slaughtered all five thousand of them in a
matter of hours, and not a single Spanish soldier was

(06:19):
killed in the process. Ada Walpa was nearly killed himself,
but was ultimately saved at the last minute by Pizarro,
who realized the ruler might be worth more to him
alive than dead. The emperors started to understand who he
was dealing with after a few days, and promised to
deliver an obscene amount of gold and silver in exchange

(06:39):
for his freedom. Pizarro agreed, and over the next year
he collected roughly thirteen thousand pounds of gold and twice
as much silver from the Incas as you probably guess.
Though Pizarro didn't keep his end of the deal, once
the ransom had been paid in full, he staged a
mock trial for ada Walpa and declared him guilty of

(07:00):
practicing idolatry and of murdering Huascar, the rightful ruler of
the Inca Empire. The deposed emperor was sentenced to death
for these supposed crimes and was executed by strangulation on
August twenty ninth, fifteen thirty three. With Adawalpa out of
the way, the Spanish moved quickly to consolidate their power

(07:22):
in the region. They installed puppet rulers, including one of
Adawalpa's own brothers, and the surviving Incas who opposed them
were forced to retreat further into the Andes Mountains. Those
pockets of resistance continued to fight against Spanish invasion for
the next several decades, but in the early fifteen seventies,
the last Inca stronghold finally fell. In the end, Spain

(07:47):
had to give up control of Peru in eighteen twenty one,
when Jose de Saint Martin declared the nation's independence. Sadly, though,
the Incas weren't there to witness the overthrow of their
former oppressors. By that point, the vast majority of their
homes and culture had already been wiped away. I'm Gabe

(08:09):
Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more about
history today than you did yesterday. If you have a
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(08:31):
by writing to This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks
to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks to
you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow
for another day in History class.