The world's leading conquerors

The discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the foundation of the city of Panama on the narrow peninsula, led to the undertaking of voyages of exploration farther south, and this in turn to the entrance into Inca territory. In one of these enterprises progress was made as far as the Gulf of Guayaquil. The unanimous report was that the country for hundreds of miles was in a state of nature, unoccupied, unhealthful, covered with swamps, forests, and lofty mountains; but the voyagers had also heard that farther on to the south there was an empire, Bisu by name, civilized and notorious for its great wealth.

Francis Pizarro had been associated with Balboa up to the time of that leader’s assassination; afterwards he planned to act on his own account, and his planning ended in the organization of an expedition to acquire this empire of the south. The natural son of a Spanish noble, Pizarro, who was born about 1471 at Truxillo, had had no such advantages of education as those enjoyed by Cortez; he lacked also that conqueror’s impetuosity and chivalrous traits. Of the bad sides of the earlier conquistador he had more than a double portion; he was cold, calculating, and inflexible, shrinking from no cruelty and without a trace of the emotionalism which made Cortez so popular among his men.

Before giving a concrete shape to his scheme of conquest, he formed a commercial arrangement with Almagro an adventurer, and Luque a priest and schoolmaster of Panama, for the purpose of getting a financial backing. The first essay made in 1524 ended without tangible results. The coast of Peru was seen, and the adventurers were long enough on shore at Tumbez to see a surprisingly large number of gold and silver ornaments. They were not sufficiently strong to carry them off, but they had seen enough to pay for the hardships of their three years’ trip south and back. Pizarro then betook himself to Spain to get further support, and before he returned to Panama he had made personal arrangements with the government with respect to the basis on which he would carry out his plan of conquest. Some jealousy arose because of Pizarro’s manifest intention to assume the place of senior partner; the proposed expedition was saved only by the diplomacy of Luque, who again drew together his two comrades.

Finally, in 1532, Pizarro sailed away from Panama with three ships carrying in all 120 men and 36 horses. According to the plan accepted, Almagro was to follow with reinforcements, while Don Luque remained in Panama to prevent outside interference with the combination. News had come, as we have mentioned, to the ears of Huaina Ccapac of the landing of white men at Tumbez in 1525. Between this date and the year of Pizarro’s second trip had intervened the period of civil war between the rival claimants, with the captivity of the legitimate son, Huascar, in the spring of 1532. By April, after a two months’ trip down the coast, Pizarro arrived off the pueblo of Tumbez. He found it abandoned and dismantled. Spending some time exploring the neighborhood, he founded the town of San Miguel, and was put in possession of the facts that gave him his opportunity for advance into the interior. Huascar, desiring to get the coöperation of the Spaniards in maintaining his hold on the country, sent messengers to Pizarro with such encouraging words that the plan of conquest could already be outlined. Pizarro knew how, by making use of the divisions of the natives, Cortez had taken Mexico; his own opportunity had come sooner than he had expected. “If the land had not been divided,” said Pedro Pizarro, “we should have been able neither to enter nor conquer it.” On September 24, 1532, only about 200 Europeans, all told, set out; but the number of natives in Pizarro’s army was considerable. All the partisans of Huascar in the neighborhood were expected to join the Spaniards, because before setting out Pizarro had announced his intention of supporting Huascar, the “natural lord of the country.”

The Spaniards had, however, not made much progress towards the pueblo of Caxamalca when word came from Atahuallpa, the other claimant, that he desired the friendship of Pizarro; to reinforce his friendly sentiments a present accompanied the message. Pizarro spoke, in reply, of his desire for the Inca chieftain to be his friend and brother, and explained that his chief purpose in coming was to teach the principles of the Christian religion. Shortly after this official description of his mission had been given Pizarro moved forward; no opposition was offered, although in one place a large river had to be crossed where resistance would have been easy.

In order to obtain information about Atahuallpa efforts were made, without success, to get some account of his intentions. An Indian chief was tortured; his information was that the Inca was preparing to make war, in three places, on the Christians; later on it was reported that Atahuallpa was near Caxamalca with over 50,000 warriors. Perplexed, Pizarro employed a native notable to go to Atahuallpa as a friendly envoy to make clear to him that the Spaniards were coming as allies. As Pizarro’s men began to fear that they would be exposed to attack on the last stage of the journey, they were comforted by their commander’s assurance that they were really nothing more than peaceful missionaries of God and representatives of their king to ignorant heathen to whom they wished no harm.

The fears of the adventurers were set at rest by discovering from the natives they passed on their march up the sierras, that Atahuallpa was not preparing to meet them in anything but a peaceful fashion. In the difficult region through which they were being led, their advance could have been checked by a slight display of force. But the friendly attitude of the Inca chieftain was proved on several occasions by the appearance of messengers with food; Pizarro promised, on his side, that he would help to put down any remaining disaffection. On the part of the inhabitants there was no reason to suspect that the orders given by their superiors to serve and obey the newcomers were not reasonable. The general impression among the natives was that the Europeans were children of their god, the sun. Naturally this belief tended to give them a sacred character. Up to the present, indeed, there had been no conflicts with the natives except at Tumbez and at Puna, where the opposition was confined to a few hundred Indians. On the arrival in Caxamalca, Pizarro still kept up the ruse of being an ingenuous tourist; he sent personally to Atahuallpa to beg for an interview, insisting on his willingness to help him, and promising, if enemies were pointed out, he would send his men to reduce them.

Pizarro had now no difficulty in applying the scheme of conquest so successfully illustrated by Cortez in Mexico, but common enough to the conquistadors everywhere. By getting possession of the chief, the Spaniards made sure of the people; like Montezuma in Mexico, Atahuallpa in Peru was adored as a god. To put the capture of the Inca into execution was not difficult. He was invited to be present at a feast given by Pizarro. Under cover of this hospitable act his person could be seized. The risk came from the fact that he had about him 30,000 men. The night before the plot was to be carried out the Spanish camp gave itself up to religious exercises, the captain Pizarro taking the lead in encouraging his men to face the coming danger. Much comfort was derived from the assurances of the ecclesiastics who accompanied the expedition that God was on their side and would aid them to put his enemies to confusion. Careful arrangements had been made that the Spanish men-at-arms should be held in readiness in their quarters, prepared to sally into the square of the town at a moment’s notice. The artillerymen were bidden to train their guns on the Inca camp, and fire on it when the command was given. Pizarro took with him twenty men to aid in the seizure of Atahuallpa. In the great square where the Spaniards were lodged no one was to leave quarters until the artillery fire began. Much help was expected from the horsemen in causing a panic among the Indians, and they were told to put little bells on the harness.

The square of the pueblo that Pizarro selected to carry out his plan seemed expressly constructed for the deed. Triangular in shape, there were but two means of egress from it—two doors which gave access to the streets of the town. When the time appointed came, as the Inca chief delayed, Pizarro sent word to him to be expeditious, as the meal was being delayed until he arrived. Atahuallpa, taking an escort of 6000, who were unarmed except for small cudgels and slings, came into the square. Here there was every appearance of festivity; some of the men were dancing and singing; some carried plates and crowns of gold and silver. In a litter, made of gold and silver, Atahuallpa was borne along through the files of his escort, who parted ranks when he appeared, all keeping absolute silence. He then listened to a harangue from a Spanish friar inviting him to obey the Pope and receive the faith of Christ, and also to become the friend and tributary of the King of Spain. Otherwise he was threatened with the fate of an enemy; the Spaniards told him they would abolish all idols, “so that you may leave the lying religion of your many and false gods.”

Atahuallpa, in his answer, objected to taking the proffered position of tributary, but wished to be a friend of the King of Spain; he also declined to receive his kingdom at the hands of the Pope, as the friar had told him the King of Spain had done. On theological points he showed himself a skilled disputant, contrasting the Christian God, who had died, with the sun and moon, who had never died. He also inquired of the friar how he knew that the God of the Christians had created the world. The pious friar gave him his Breviary, explaining that he had learnt of the Creator from that book. Atahuallpa looked at it, opened its pages, first thanked him, then threw it on the ground, saying it told him nothing of the kind. Indignantly the friar picked up the Breviary and rushed to Pizarro, crying out, “The Gospels are on the ground. Vengeance! Christians, at them! they do not wish our friendship nor our law! Kill these dogs who despise God’s law. Go on, and I absolve you.”

At this instant the guns were fired, the trumpets sounded, and the infantry and cavalry came forth from their shelters. The sight of the armed warriors on their horses and the noise of the guns threw the Indians into a panic. In the rush to get out of the square, part of the wall surrounding it, was broken down. The Indians fell on top of one another, closely pursued by the horsemen, who trampled them down without mercy. Those who held their ground inside the inclosure were dealt with by the foot soldiers, and most of them were killed. There was no resistance, for the natives were practically unarmed. Atahuallpa was, as had been agreed, taken alive, many of his nobles giving up their lives to protect his person from attack. As the members of his bodyguard fell, their places were taken with desperate heroism by others of the group.

The massacre was likened by one of the chroniclers to the killing of sheep. The victims numbered more than 10,000, and only 200 escaped. Not a Spaniard perished nor even was wounded except Pizarro, who had a flesh wound in the hand, inflicted accidentally by one of his own men. Pizarro’s act in hewing down this crowd of Peruvians, unarmed and panic-stricken, recalls the worst features of the Mexican conquest, the massacre of Cholula and the attack made by Alvarado on the Mexican chiefs while they were celebrating a religious festival.

The next day was spent in sacking the palace of Atahuallpa, whose rich stores of gold and silver were discovered. Next came the question of the disposition of the captives, 8000 or more. It was actually proposed that the warriors should be killed or have their hands cut off, but Pizarro, who had not been trained in vain to the economic principles of conquest, decided that all should be reduced to slavery. The reduction of Atahuallpa to the status of a prisoner had the desired effect. The subordinate chiefs made their peace. This was a welcome escape from further hostilities, but Pizarro was more interested in arranging terms for the ransom which Atahuallpa was willing to give to receive his liberty. The gold and silver kept coming in; sometimes in one day 70,000 pesos were received.

Pizarro not being satisfied with the industry of the natives in getting treasure, Spanish emissaries were sent to Cuzco. Under their experienced hands the supplies increased; in one day 200 loads of gold and 25 of silver were brought into Caxamalca. Much of the precious metal was made up of strips taken from the walls of the temples, which were tapestried in this way. Some ornaments are mentioned; such as a fountain made entirely of gold and a golden footstool weighing 18,000 pesos. All was melted down except a few objects of small weight, kept and sent to the King of Spain as curiosities.

Despite the paying of this enormous ransom, there was no question of keeping faith with their captive. He was only in the way now that Pizarro had the enormous ransom. His death would remove a dangerous rallying point, and by it his people would be thrown into such confusion that they would submit the more easily to the yoke that was being prepared for them. Like the chief of the Aztecs, Cuauhtemoc, Atahuallpa was charged with disloyalty to the Spanish crown, of which he was assumed to be a dependent. As the zealous representative of his King, Pizarro passed sentence of death on his prisoner, commanding that it be executed by burning. All protests from the victim were unheeded, even when he assured his conquerors that through him they could keep the Indians on terms of good will. “If,” he said, “they wished gold and silver, he was ready to hand over twice the amount they had already received.” As they did not believe he could keep any such engagement, they refused to defer the day of execution. When the pile was ready, Atahuallpa, on finding that if he became a Christian, he would not be burnt, went through the form of conversion. Pizarro ordered that he should be bound to a stake on the square of the pueblo and strangled. (August 29, 1533.)

One of Atahuallpa’s brothers was then proclaimed chief by the Spaniards, and with this “roi fainéant” in tow Pizarro set out on the two months’ march to the capital, Cuzco. Before he came to the neighborhood of the leading pueblo, Inca warriors disputed with some obstinacy his further progress; but the presence of their chieftain with Pizarro prevented anything like a serious rising of the people. Disgusted with this most untoward event, Pizarro blamed an Inca general, who had been made a prisoner at Xauxa, for the resistance made on the march. This was enough to prove his guilt; the prisoner was condemned to death and burnt alive a short distance from Cuzco. Even this flagrant outrage failed to move the Incas to any organized effort to stay the European advance; instead of moving aggressively, Manco, the brother of Huascar, came voluntarily to Pizarro asking his protection, hoping by his aid to become the chieftain of the Incas. This alliance made it easy for the Spaniards, posing as the supporters of the regular line, to get within the walls of Cuzco without opposition, on November 15, 1533. The great massive pueblo with the fortress and temple of the sun, and with its extensive population, was a rich prize. Everything in the way of gold was quickly removed, and the humble followers of the modest commercial undertaking so recently organized at Panama found themselves in the possession of wealth. But the great drawback was the high price of provisions by which the adventurers lost some of the treasure that had fallen to their share. Under such conditions of forced hospitality Pizarro arranged for the elevation of Manco as Ccapac-Inca or overlord. At the same time Cuzco received the gift of municipal government, March 24, 1534. Pizarro, not forgetful of his own services, took the title of governor, and everything was speedily changed. Cuzco now had a bishop, a cathedral was built, monasteries and convents arose as if by magic, and all the famous temples were transformed into churches.

Things were moving expeditiously and smoothly in Pizarro’s favor, until he learnt of the arrival at a place not far from Quito of an officer of Cortez, Pedro de Alvarado, the governor of Guatemala, with an expedition of 500 Europeans and more than 2000 Indian allies. This interference seemed likely to cause trouble, until Alvarado was persuaded to sell his army and everything in it to Pizarro. The sum handed over to avoid a competitive conquest, which would have meant loss of life and, more important still, from the point of view of these experts in exploitation of subject races, loss of time, was considerable. Alvarado withdrew with something like $2,000,000; gauged by the standards of butchery, rapacity, and knavery in the West Indies and in Mexico, this was a splendid bargain. But, as Alvarado had only set his foot on Peruvian soil, he had not yet begun to reckon imperially; he was certainly far removed still from Pizarro’s poetic fancy in finance. Now that there was no longer a chance for such awkward interruptions, Pizarro set about the foundation of a new capital for Peru. Cuzco, being far distant from the seacoast, was manifestly unsuitable, and accordingly Lima was founded on the 6th of January, 1535, to be the center of this new colonial possession. Preparations were already under way for a regular administration with Pizarro at the head, after the model of the rule established by Cortez in Mexico.

The royal fifth of the treasure taken was so large that it removed all obstacles at Madrid. Detailed confirmation was given to the general concessions made to Pizarro, and their territorial extent was amplified by adding seventy leagues of land to the south. Almagro received a concession extending from the southern limit of Pizarro’s province 200 leagues. To the northern territory was given the name New Castile, to the southern, New Toledo; but the Indian names, Peru and Chili, were too strongly imbedded in native usage to be forced out of existence.

When Almagro was sent by Pizarro to Cuzco with orders to use it as a starting-point for the southern territory that had been assigned to him, the lieutenant took the opportunity of claiming that the Inca capital was situated south of Pizarro’s concession, and, therefore, was a part of his own land. This difficulty being patched up on June 12, 1535, Almagro set out for the conquest of Chili, while Pizarro began the establishment of a new seacoast town, Trujillo, and pushed forward the building of Lima.

The native population was dealt with after the “repartimiento” plan. Under the burden of their new oppressors, the Indians, who had for so long submitted to the cruder tyranny of the Inca chiefs, rose in revolt. Manco, a scion of the old house, placed himself at the head of the anti-Spanish movement, and the first success of the natives was the capture of the citadel of Cuzco, February, 1536. In the meantime the Spaniards who lived in isolated plantations had been massacred. Both the new towns, Lima and Trujillo, were invested. After a time the citadel of Cuzco was retaken from the natives, but Juan, one of Pizarro’s brothers, met his death in the fighting. As a relief expedition Pizarro sent to Cuzco more than 400 men, of whom 200 were cavalry, but they never succeeded in crossing the Sierra. Aid was then asked from the neighboring colonies of Panama, Guatemala, and Mexico. With the help of abundant reinforcements, Cuzco was retaken, and the obstinacy of the Spaniards in holding their ground for six months discouraged the Indians from further efforts to cut off the old capital.

When Almagro discovered the unattractive character of his newly assigned province, where the population was hostile and the land largely a desert, he returned along the western declivities of the Andes to reassert his claims on Cuzco. Arriving there in April, 1537, he made a successful night attack on the place, and took Pizarro’s brother, Fernando, prisoner. Near Cuzco Alvarado was stationed with 500 men at Xanca, and here a battle took place on July 12, 1537, in which Alvarado was beaten and taken prisoner. Almagro then set out for Lima. He and Pizarro, after a meeting at Mala on November 13, 1537, agreed to submit the question of the limits of their provinces to arbitration, arranging in the meantime that Almagro should hold Cuzco and Ferdinand Pizarro should have Caxamalca. But this arrangement was not carried out. Ferdinand soon after organized an expedition to recapture Cuzco, and another battle was fought with Almagro in April, which resulted in the latter being taken prisoner. After being given the semblance of a trial, he was put to death on July 8, 1538, by Fernando. Francis Pizarro, who denied complicity in Almagro’s death, treated the latter’s son kindly, but he did not forget to reward his own brothers, after he had made his triumphal entrance into Cuzco, with large landed estates. To Gonzalo he gave the district of Lake Titicaca, which included the mines of Potosi.

The assassination of Almagro stirred up indignation among his friends, who determined, that when the official explanations were presented in Spain by Pizarro’s emissaries, their side should be given a hearing. In the mother country, the authorities refused to distinguish between the claims of the two factions. What was plain was that dissensions in the colony could only damage Spanish control, and might lead to a restoration of Indian rule there. Accordingly a royal commissioner was sent out with ample powers.

Before the new official arrived, Pizarro showed his characteristic industry in expanding the sphere of Spanish influence. Groups of adventurers were sent out in different directions, and plans were made which ended in the foundation of Santiago in Chili. One of Pizarro’s brothers was sent off with an army of 340 Europeans and 4000 Indians to conquer the country east of the Andes. Led by the usual stories of the existence of gold and precious stones in far-distant regions, the Spaniards in this expedition, overcoming the most extraordinary natural difficulties in their march, succeeded in reaching one of the tributaries of the Amazon. A boat was then built by means of which one of the members of the party, Orellana, with a few companions, made the long trip to the ocean, and finally succeeded in reaching a Spanish colony on one of the islands of the Antilles. This was a unique achievement, for the vessel in which he sailed was constructed of green timber, there was no compass, no pilot was to be had, and provisions had to be collected from the natives along the bank of the river, who sometimes received the strangers with no friendly welcome. Orellana, in relating his achievements, demonstrated the creative power of his imagination as well as his heroism. He told of seeing nations so rich that the roofs of their temples were covered with plates of gold, and also related how he had passed through a republic controlled by women, who by the force of their arms had acquired the rule over a considerable tract of country. From these fictions of Orellana originated the belief in the existence of a region called El Dorado, and the conviction that somewhere in the center of South America there existed a community of Amazons.

In 1545 the silver mines of Potosi were discovered, an event which played an enormous rôle in the colonization of the country, because its wealth realized the most sanguine hopes of the adventurers. Upper Peru—or as it is now called, Bolivia—became the greatest silver mining country in the known world. Meanwhile the success of Pizarro’s administration stirred up among Almagro’s friends increasing bitterness, for they saw no chance of receiving a share of the good fortune which was being showered upon the governor, his brothers, and his favorites. Almagro’s son, who was in Lima, made that town the central point of the faction that was bent on Pizarro’s ruin. The governor, though aware of the existence of these intrigues, affected to treat them with disdain. He relied on the possession of absolute power as the complete protection against any plot. This foolhardy attitude was taken advantage of by the conspirators, who, without much difficulty, penetrated into his house and put him to death June 26, 1541. Even Pizarro’s own followers, the men who had shared with him the dangers of the conquest and the spoils of victory, raised no hand to avenge his murder. His Borgia-like character had alienated all, except his immediate relatives whom, as has been said, he had elevated to high positions.

When the governor from Spain, Vaca de Castro, reached the country, he proceeded to inflict strict justice on the conspirators. After an armed conflict near Cuzco, between the partisans of Almagro and the upholders of the authority of the home government, most of those who were guilty of the murder of Pizarro fell into the governor’s hands, who promptly executed them as rebels (1542). But the country was not destined to enjoy tranquillity long. Gonzalo Pizarro, the brother of the “conquistador,” acquired by force the possession of the colony, and succeeded in extending his rule over Peru and its various dependencies. He even sent north a fleet which captured Panama and so got command of the western ocean. But the usurper’s rule did not last long, for, when he was disowned by the home government, he found himself unable to maintain his authority over the colonists. Like his more famous brother, Gonzalo died the death of a malefactor, and the vast possessions acquired on the west coast of South America by the adventurers of the earlier period of Spanish conquest came under the systematic and regular control of the Spanish bureaucratic machinery.

By the middle of the sixteenth century the spectacular features of the conquest of Spanish America vanished away. Large and unexplored territories were indeed added to the monarchy of Spain, but as the lands so annexed were populated by Indian tribes in no higher state of culture than those found in the lesser Antilles, the methods of conquest were but a repetition of those employed by the adventurers of an earlier period. On the whole it may be said that the treatment of the natives improved, especially in those districts where there was no mining or where gold could be discovered near the surface. Long after the complete administrative organization of the conquered lands in Mexico, of Central America, of the northern portions of South America, and of the Pacific slope of that continent, the colonies on the Atlantic side, even if they were founded earlier, were less attractive to the colonist. The Jesuits first appeared in Paraguay in 1586, though Uruguay was opened up for settlement some time before. The town of Buenos Ayres was established in 1538 amid surroundings which gave little hope to colonial settlement. The original group of 3000 Europeans who entered the new Province of La Plata were almost exterminated by disease and by the fatiguing and incessant warfare with the savage races about them.

From the point of view of the old mercantile system of political economy, Spain’s colonial policy was advantageous to the home government. It is usual to expose the failure of the government of Madrid to manage its vast empire under any other ideals than those of absolutism, but when one considers the size and novelty of the experiment that Spain was making in these Western lands, and when one estimates broadly the stage of civilization so soon reached in a large number of new communities, it must be allowed that to the government of the peninsula is to be ascribed the credit of accomplishing a task practically unparalleled in modern history. The work was not thoroughly done; there were grave and deplorable defects. Yet without accepting at all the truth of the dictum that whatever is, is right, it can be said that no colonial possessions of other powers during the same century offered the same problems as those confronted by Spain, and nowhere in North America was the progress of extensive occupation and intensive civilization so definitely marked.

The Spanish colonial empire has had the misfortune of being exposed to much the same sort of depreciation as the Byzantine Empire; in both cases investigation has diminished the weight of conventional hostile criticism. Doctrinaire theories of government, and unfounded social contrasts, are apt to produce false standards. It is easy to detect faults in Spain’s management of her colonies, but it is not easy to reconstruct for her a policy that might have produced on Spanish soil the sturdy independence of the New England town meeting, or the collective wisdom of the founders of the American Constitution.