Conflict16 November 1532 – 1533
Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire
Also called: Battle of Cajamarca
Spain’s Francisco Pizarro entered an Inca Empire divided by civil war, captured and executed the emperor Atahualpa at Cajamarca, and took the capital Cusco, bringing down the empire.
Juan Lepiani · Public domain · Source
After the emperor Huayna Capac died of smallpox, his sons Huáscar and Atahualpa fought a civil war. On 16 November 1532 Pizarro, with some 180 men, ambushed and captured Atahualpa at Cajamarca. Atahualpa paid a ransom of a room filled with gold but was executed in July 1533. Pizarro entered Cusco that November and founded Lima on the coast in 1535. Inca resistance continued at Vilcabamba until 1572. Peru became a source of Spanish silver and wealth.