Francisco Pizarro

For the Chilean footballer, see Francisco Pizarro (footballer).

"Pizarro" redirects here. For other uses, see Pizarro (disambiguation).

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Pizarro and the second or maternal family name is Gonzalez.

Marquess Francisco Pizarro
Governor of New Castile
In office 26 July 1529 – 26 June 1541
Monarch	Charles I
Succeeded by	Cristóbal Vaca de Castro
Captain General of New Castile
In office 26 July 1529 – 26 June 1541
Personal details
Born	c. 1471 or 1476 Trujillo, Crown of Castile
Died	26 June 1541 (aged 65–70) Lima, New Castile
Spouse(s)	Inés Huaylas Yupanqui
Children	Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui
Religion	Catholic
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Spain
Years of service	1496–1541
Battles/wars	Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire

Francisco Pizarro González (/pɪˈzɑːroʊ/; Spanish: [piˈθaro]; circa 1471 or 1476 – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish conquistador who conquered the Incan Empire.

Pizarro González was born in Trujillo, Spain, the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro, an infantry colonel, and Francisca González, a woman of poor means. His exact birth date is uncertain, but is believed to be sometime in the 1470s, probably 1471. Scant attention was paid to his education and he grew up illiterate. He was a distant cousin of Hernán Cortés. On 10 November 1509, Pizarro sailed from Spain to the New World with Alonzo de Ojeda on an expedition to Urabí. He sailed to Cartagena and joined the fleet of Martín Fernández de Enciso, and, in 1513, accompanied Balboa to the Pacific. In 1514, he found a supporter in Pedrarias Dávila, the Governor of Castilla de Oro, and was rewarded for his role in the arrest of Balboa with the positions of mayor and magistrate in Panama City, serving from 1519 to 1523.

Reports of Peru's riches and Cortés's success in Mexico tantalized Pizarro and he undertook two expeditions to conquer the Incan Empire in 1524 and in 1526. Both failed as a result of native hostilities, bad weather, and lack of provisions. Pedro de los Ríos, the Governor of Panama, made an effort to recall Pizarro, but the conquistador resisted and remained in the south. In April 1528, he reached northern Peru and found the natives rich with precious metals. This discovery gave Pizarro the motivation to plan a third expedition to conquer Peru, and he returned to Panama to make arrangements, but the Governor refused to grant permission for the project. Pizarro returned to Spain to appeal directly to King Charles I. His plea was successful, and he received not only a license for the proposed expedition, but also considerable authority over any lands conquered during the venture. He was joined by family and friends, and the expedition left Panama in 1530.

When hostile natives along the coast threatened the expedition, Pizarro moved inland and founded the first Spanish settlement in Peru, San Miguel de Piura. Inca Atahualpa refused to tolerate a Spanish presence in his lands, but was captured by Pizarro during the Battle of Cajamarca on 16 November 1532. A ransom for the emperor's release was demanded and Atahualpa filled a room with gold, but Pizarro charged him with various crimes and executed Atahualpa on 26 July 1533, much to the opposition of his associates, who thought the conquistador was overstepping his authority. The same year, Pizarro entered the Incan capital of Cuzco, and the conquest of Peru was complete. In January 1535, Pizarro founded the city of Lima, a project he considered his greatest achievement. Quarrels between Pizarro and his longtime comrade-in-arms Diego Almagro culminated in the Battle of Las Salinas. Almagro was captured and executed, and, on 26 June 1541, his embittered son assassinated Pizarro in Lima. The conqueror of Peru was laid to rest in the Lima Cathedral.

Early life

Pizarro was born in Trujillo, in modern day Extremadura. His birth year is uncertain, but is placed sometime in the 1470s. He was the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro Rodríguez de Aguilar (1446–1522) and Francisca González Mateos, a poor woman of Trujillo. His father was a colonel of infantry who served in Navarre and in the Italian campaigns under Córdoba. His mother married late in life and had a son Francisco Martín de Alcántara, who was at the conquest of Peru with his half-brother from its inception. Through his father, Francisco was a second cousin once removed to Hernán Cortés. Little attention was paid to Francisco's and he grew up illiterate. On 10 November 1509, Pizarro sailed from Spain to the New World with Alonso de Ojeda on an expedition to Gulf of Urabá in Tierra Firme. Pizarro became a participant in Ojeda's failed colony, commanding the remnants until he abandoned it with the survivors. He sailed to Cartagena and joined the fleet of Martín Fernández de Enciso in 1513.

Panama

In 1513, Pizarro accompanied Vasco Núñez de Balboa in his crossing of the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific coast. The following year, Pedrarias Dávila became the newly appointed governor of Castilla de Oro and succeeded Balboa. During the next five years, Pizarro became a close associate of Dávila and the governor assigned him a repartimiento of natives and cattle. When Dávila decided to get rid of Balboa out of distrust, he instructed Pizarro to personally arrest him and bring him to stand trial. Balboa was beheaded in January 1519. For his loyalty to Dávila, Pizarro was rewarded with the positions of mayor (Alcalde) and magistrate of the then recently founded Panama City from 1519 to 1523.

Expeditions to South America

Spanish colonization of the Americas

Inter caetera

Pacific Northwest

California

Chile

Colombia

Florida

Guatemala

Petén

Aztec Empire

Inca Empire

Yucatán

Conquistadores

Christopher Columbus

Alonso de Ojeda

Diego de Almagro

Pedro de Alvarado

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar

Sebastián de Belalcázar

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado

Hernán Cortés

Luis de Carabajal y Cueva

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada

Juan Ponce de León

Francisco de Montejo

Pánfilo de Narváez

Juan de Oñate

Francisco de Orellana

Francisco Pizarro

Hernando de Soto

Pedro de Valdivia

Inés de Suárez

Pedro de Candia

Juan Pardo

Tristán de Luna y Arellano

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

The first attempt to explore western South America was undertaken in 1522 by Pascual de Andagoya. The native South Americans he encountered told him about a gold-rich territory called Virú, which was on a river called Pirú (later corrupted to Perú) and was from where they came. These reports were related by the Spanish-Inca mestizo writer Garcilaso de la Vega in his famous Comentarios Reales de los Incas (1609).

Andagoya eventually established contact with several Native American curacas (chiefs), some of whom he later claimed were sorcerers and witches. Having reached as far as the San Juan River (part of the present boundary between Ecuador and Colombia), Andagoya fell very ill and decided to return. Back in Panama, he spread the news and stories about "Pirú" – a great land to the south rich with gold (the legendary El Dorado). These revelations, along with the accounts of success of Hernán Cortés in Mexico years before, caught the immediate attention of Pizarro, prompting a new series of expeditions to the south in search of the riches of the Incan Empire.

In 1524, while still in Panama, Pizarro formed a partnership with a priest, Hernando de Luque, and a soldier, Diego de Almagro, to explore and conquer the South. Pizarro, Almagro, and Luque later renewed their compact more explicitly, agreeing to conquer and divide equally among themselves the opulent empire they hoped to discover. While historians agree their accord was strictly oral (no written document exists to prove otherwise), they are known to have dubbed their enterprise the Empresa del Levante and determined that Pizarro would command the expedition, Almagro would provide the military and food supplies, and Luque would be in charge of finances and any additional provisions they might need.

First expedition (1524)

In November 1524, the first of three expeditions left from Panama for the conquest of Peru with about 80 men and 40 horses. Juan de Salcedo was the standard bearer, Nicolas de Ribera was the treasurer, and Juan Carvallo was the inspector.

Diego de Almagro was left behind because he was to recruit men, gather additional supplies, and join Pizarro later. The Governor of Panama, Pedro Arias Dávila, at first approved in principle of exploring South America. Pizarro's first expedition, however, turned out to be a failure as his conquistadores, sailing down the Pacific coast, reached no farther than Colombia before succumbing to such hardships as bad weather, lack of food, and skirmishes with hostile natives, one of which caused Almagro to lose an eye by arrow-shot. Moreover, the place names the Spanish bestowed along their route, including Puerto Deseado (desired port), Puerto del Hambre (port of hunger), and Punta Quemado or Puebla Quemado (burned port), only confirm their straits. Fearing subsequent hostile encounters like the one the expedition endured at the Battle of Punta Quemada, Pizarro chose to end his tentative first expedition and return to Panama.

Second expedition (1526)

Two years after the first very unsuccessful expedition, Pizarro, Almagro, and Luque started the arrangements for a second expedition with permission from Pedrarias Dávila. The governor, who himself was preparing an expedition north to Nicaragua, was reluctant to permit another expedition, having lost confidence in the outcome of Pizarro's expeditions. The three associates, however, eventually won his trust and he acquiesced. Also by this time, a new governor was to arrive and succeed Pedrarias Dávila. This was Pedro de los Ríos, who took charge of the post in July 1526 and had manifested his initial approval of Pizarro's expeditions (he would later join him several years later in Peru).

On 10 March 1526, after all preparations were ready, Pizarro left Panama with two ships with 160 men and several horses, reaching as far as the Colombian San Juan River. Soon after arriving the party separated, with Pizarro staying to explore the new and often perilous territory off the swampy Colombian coasts, while the expedition's co-commander, Almagro, was sent back to Panama for reinforcements. Pizarro's Piloto Mayor (main pilot), Bartolomé Ruiz, continued sailing south and, after crossing the equator, found and captured a balsa (raft) under sail, with natives from Tumbes. To everyone's surprise, these carried a load of textiles, ceramic objects, and some much-desired pieces of gold, silver, and emeralds, making Ruiz's findings the central focus of this second expedition which only served to pique the conquistadors' interests for more gold and land. Some of the natives were also taken aboard Ruiz's ship to serve later as interpreters.

He then set sail north for the San Juan River, arriving to find Pizarro and his men exhausted from the serious difficulties they had faced exploring the new territory. Soon Almagro also sailed into the port with his vessel laden with supplies, and a considerable reinforcement of at least eighty recruited men who had arrived at Panama from Spain with the same expeditionary spirit. The findings and excellent news from Ruiz along with Almagro's new reinforcements cheered Pizarro and his tired followers. They then decided to sail back to the territory already explored by Ruiz and, after a difficult voyage due to strong winds and currents, reached Atacames in the Ecuadorian coast. Here, they found a very large native population recently brought under Inca rule. Unfortunately for the conquistadores, the warlike spirit of the people they had just encountered seemed so defiant and dangerous in numbers that the Spanish decided not to enter the land.

Francisco Pizarro's route of exploration during the conquest of Peru (1531–1533)

The Famous Thirteen

After much wrangling between Pizarro and Almagro, it was decided that Pizarro would stay at a safer place, the Isla de Gallo, near the coast, while Almagro would return yet again to Panama with Luque for more reinforcements – this time with proof of the gold they had just found and the news of the discovery of an obvious wealthy land they had just explored. The new governor of Panama, Pedro de los Ríos, had learned of the mishaps of Pizarro's expeditions and the deaths of various settlers who had gone with him. Fearing an unsuccessful outcome, he outright rejected Almagro's application for continued resources. In addition, he ordered two ships commanded by Juan Tafur to be sent immediately with the intention of bringing Pizarro and everyone back to Panama.

The leader of the expedition had no intention of returning, and when Tafur arrived at the now famous Isla de Gallo, Pizarro drew a line in the sand, saying: "There lies Peru with its riches; Here, Panama and its poverty. Choose, each man, what best becomes a brave Castilian. For my part, I go to the south."

Only 13 men decided to stay with Pizarro and later became known as "The Famous Thirteen" (Los trece de la fama), while the rest of the expeditioners stayed with Tafur aboard his ships. Ruiz also left in one of the ships with the intention of joining Almagro and Luque in their efforts to gather more reinforcements and eventually return to aid Pizarro. Soon after the ships left, Pizarro and his men constructed a crude boat and journeyed 25 leagues north for La Isla Gorgona, where they would remain for seven months before the arrival of new provisions.

Back in Panama, Pedro de los Ríos (after much convincing by Luque) had finally acquiesced to the requests for another ship, but only to bring Pizarro back within six months and completely abandon the expedition. Both Almagro and Luque quickly grasped the opportunity and left Panama (this time without new recruits) for La Isla Gorgona to once again join Pizarro. On meeting with Pizarro, the associates decided to continue sailing south on the recommendations of Ruiz's Indian interpreters.

By April 1528, they finally reached the northwestern Peruvian Tumbes Region. Tumbes became the territory of the first fruits of success the Spanish had so long desired, as they were received with a warm welcome of hospitality and provisions from the Tumpis, the local inhabitants. On subsequent days two of Pizarro's men, Alonso de Molina and Pedro de Candia, reconnoitered the territory and both, on separate accounts, reported back the incredible riches of the land, including the decorations of silver and gold around the chief's residence and the hospitable attentions with which they were received by everyone. The Spanish also saw, for the first time, the Peruvian llama which Pizarro called the "little camels". The natives also began calling the Spanish the "Children of the Sun" due to their fair complexions and brilliant armor. Pizarro, meanwhile, continued receiving the same accounts of a powerful monarch who ruled over the land they were exploring. These events only served as evidence to convince the expedition of the wealth and power displayed at Tumbes as an example of the riches the Peruvian territory had awaiting to conquer. The conquistadors decided to return to Panama to prepare the final expedition of conquest with more recruits and provisions. Before leaving, however, Pizarro and his followers sailed south not so far along the coast to see if anything of interest could be found. Historian William H. Prescott recounts that after passing through territories they named such as Cabo Blanco, port of Payta, Sechura, Punta de Aguja, Santa Cruz, and Trujillo (founded by Almagro years later), they finally reached for the first time the ninth degree of the southern latitude in South America. On their return towards Panama, Pizarro briefly stopped at Tumbes, where two of his men had decided to stay to learn the customs and language of the natives. Pizarro was also given two boys to learn his language, one of whom was later baptized as Felipillo and served as an important interpreter, the equivalent of Cortés' La Malinche of Mexico, and another called Martinillo. Their final stop was at La Isla Gorgona, where two of his ill men (one had died) had stayed before. After at least 18 months away, Pizarro and his followers anchored off the coasts of Panama to prepare for the final expedition.

Capitulación de Toledo

When the new governor of Panama, Pedro de los Ríos, had refused to allow for a third expedition to the south, the associates resolved for Pizarro to leave for Spain and appeal to the sovereign in person. Pizarro sailed from Panama for Spain in the spring of 1528, accompanied by Pedro de Candia, some natives and llamas, plus samples of fabric, gold, and silver.

Pizzaro reached Seville in early summer. King Charles I, who was at Toledo, had an interview with Pizarro and heard of his expeditions in South America, a territory the conquistador described as very rich in gold and silver which he and his followers had bravely explored "to extend the empire of Castile." The king, who was soon to leave for Italy, was impressed at the accounts of Pizarro and promised to give his support for the conquest of Peru. Queen Isabel, though, in the absence of the king, signed the Capitulación de Toledo on 6 July 1529, a license document which authorized Francisco Pizarro to proceed with the conquest of Peru. Pizarro was officially named the Governor, Captain general, Adelantado, and Alguacil Mayor, of the New Castile for the distance of 200 leagues along the newly discovered coast, and invested with all the authority and prerogatives, his associates being left in wholly secondary positions (a fact which later incensed Almagro and would lead to eventual discords with Pizarro). One of the conditions of the grant was that within six months, Pizarro should raise a sufficiently equipped force of 250 men, of whom 100 might be drawn from the colonies.

This gave Pizarro time to leave for his native Trujillo and convince his brother Hernando Pizarro and other close friends to join him on his third expedition. Along with him also came Francisco de Orellana, who would later discover and explore the entire length of the Amazon River. Two more of his brothers from his father, Juan Pizarro and Gonzalo Pizarro, and a brother from his mother, Francisco Martin de Alcantara, would later decide to also join him, as well as his cousin Pedro Pizarro, who served as his page. When the expedition was ready and left the following year, it numbered three ships, 180 men, and 27 horses.

Since Pizarro could not meet the number of men the Capitulación had required, he sailed clandestinely from the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda for the Canary Island of La Gomera in January 1530. He was there to be joined by his brother Hernando and the remaining men in two vessels that would sail back to Panama. Pizarro's third and final expedition left Panama for Peru on 27 December 1530.

Conquest of Peru (1532)

In 1531, Pizarro once again landed in the coasts near Ecuador, the province of Coaque and the region of esmeraldas, where some gold, silver, and emeralds were procured and then dispatched to Almagro, who had stayed in Panama to gather more recruits. Sebastián de Belalcázar soon arrived with 30 men. Though Pizarro's main objective was then to set sail and dock at Tumbes like his previous expedition, he was forced to confront the Punian natives in the Battle of Puná, leaving three or four Spaniards dead and many wounded. Soon after, Hernando de Soto, another conquistador who had joined the expedition, arrived with 100 volunteers and horses to aid Pizarro and with him sailed towards Tumbes, only to find the place deserted and destroyed. Their two fellow conquistadors expected they had disappeared or died under murky circumstances. The chiefs explained the fierce tribes of Punians had earlier attacked them and ransacked the place.

Pizarro and his followers in Lima in 1535

As Tumbes no longer afforded the safe accommodations Pizarro sought, he decided to lead an excursion into the interior of the land in May 1532, and established the first Spanish settlement in Peru, San Miguel de Piura, and a repartimiento. An earlier settlement than this in South America was Santa Marta, Colombia, established in 1526, but this was the first in Peru.

Leaving 50 men back at the settlement under the command of Antonio Navarro, Pizarro proceeded with his conquest accompanied by 200 men on 24 Sept. 1532. After arriving at Zaran, Hernando de Soto was dispatched to a Peruvian garrison at Caxas. After a week, he returned with an envoy from the Inca himself, with some presents, and an invitation to visit the Inca ruler's camp.

Following the defeat of his brother, Huáscar, Atahualpa had been resting in the Sierra of northern Peru, near Cajamarca, in the nearby thermal baths known today as the Inca Baths. Arriving Cajamarca on 15 Nov. 1532, Pizarro had a force of just 110 foot soldiers, 67 cavalry, three arquebuses, and two falconets. He sent Hernando Pizarro and Hernando de Soto to meet with Atahualpa in his camp. Atahuallpa agreed to meet Pizarro in his Cajamarca plaza fortress the next day. Fray Vincente de Valverde and native interpreter Felipillo approached Atahualpa in Cajamarca's central plaza. After the Dominican friar expounded the "true faith" and the need to pay tribute to the Emperor Charles the Fifth, Atahualpa replied, "I will be no man's tributary." His complacency, because fewer than 200 Spanish remained, as opposed to his 50,000-man army, of which 6000 accompanied him to Cajamarca, sealed his fate and that of the Inca empire.

Pizarro meets with the Inca Emperor Atahualpa, 1532

Portrait of Francisco Pizarro, city of the Incas, Peru map, series: 500th Anniv of Discovering of America, stamp of Hungary, 1991

Atahualpa's refusal led Pizarro and his force to attack the Inca army in what became the Battle of Cajamarca on 16 November 1532. The Spanish were successful and Pizarro executed Atahualpa's 12-man honor guard and took the Inca captive at the so-called Ransom Room. By February 1533, Almagro had joined Pizarro in Cajamarca with an additional 150 men with 50 horses.

Despite fulfilling his promise of filling one room (22 by 17 feet or 7 by 5 metres) with gold and two with silver, Atahualpa was convicted of 12 charges, including killing his brother, and plotting against Pizarro and his forces. He was executed by garrote on 29 August 1533. Francisco Pizarro and de Soto were opposed to Atahualpa's execution, but Francisco consented to the trial due to the "great agitation among the soldiers", particularly by Almagro. De Soto was on a reconnaissance mission the day of the trial and execution, and upon his return expressed his dismay, stating, "he should have been taken to Castile and judged by the emperor." King Charles later wrote to Pizarro: "We have been displeased by the death of Atahualpa, since he was a monarch, and particularly as it was done in the name of justice."

Pizarro advanced with his army of 500 Spaniards toward Cuzco, accompanied by Chalcuchimac before he was burned at the stake. Manco Inca Yupanqui joined Pizarro after the death of Túpac Huallpa.

During the exploration of Cuzco, Pizarro was impressed and through his officers wrote back to King Charles I of Spain, saying:

"This city is the greatest and the finest ever seen in this country or anywhere in the Indies... We can assure your Majesty that it is so beautiful and has such fine buildings that it would be remarkable even in Spain."

The Spanish sealed the conquest of Peru by entering Cuzco on 15 November 1533. Jauja in the fertile Mantaro Valley was established as Peru's provisional capital in April 1534, but it was too far up in the mountains and far from the sea to serve as the Spanish capital of Peru. Pizarro thus founded the city of Lima in Peru's central coast on 6 January 1535, which he considered as one of the most important things he had created in life.

After the final effort of the Inca to recover Cuzco had been defeated by Almagro, a dispute occurred between Pizarro and him respecting the limits of their jurisdiction; both claimed the city of Cuzco. The king of Spain had awarded the Governorate of New Toledo to Almagro and the Governorate of New Castile to Pizarro. The dispute had originated from a disagreement on how to interpret the limit between both governorates.

This led to confrontations between the Pizarro brothers and Almagro, who was eventually defeated during the Battle of Las Salinas (1538) and executed. Almagro's son, also named Diego and known as El Mozo, was later stripped of his lands and left bankrupt by Pizarro.

Atahualpa's wife, 10-year-old Cuxirimay Ocllo Yupanqui, was with Atahualpa's army in Cajamarca and had stayed with him while he was imprisoned. Following his execution, she was taken to Cuzco and given the name Dona Angelina. By 1538, it was known she was Pizarro's mistress, having borne him two sons, Juan and Francisco.

Pizarro's death

Pizarro's coffin in the Lima Cathedral

In Lima, on 26 June 1541 "a group of 20 heavily armed supporters of Diego Almagro II stormed Pizarro's palace, assassinated him, and then forced the terrified city council to appoint young Almagro as the new governor of Peru", according to Burkholder and Johnson. "Most of Pizarro's guests fled, but a few fought the intruders, numbered variously between seven and 25. While Pizarro struggled to buckle on his breastplate, his defenders, including his half-brother Martin de Alcántara, were killed. For his part, Pizarro killed two attackers and ran through a third. While trying to pull out his sword, he was stabbed in the throat, then fell to the floor where he was stabbed many times." Pizarro (who now was maybe as old as 70 years, and at least 62), collapsed on the floor, alone, painted a cross in his own blood and cried for Jesus Christ. He died moments after. Diego de Almagro the younger was caught and executed the following year after losing the battle of Chupas.

Pizarro's remains were briefly interred in the cathedral courtyard; at some later time, his head and body were separated and buried in separate boxes underneath the floor of the cathedral. In 1892, in preparation for the anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the Americas, a body believed to be that of Pizarro was exhumed and put on display in a glass coffin. However, in 1977, men working on the cathedral's foundation discovered a lead box in a sealed niche, which bore the inscription "Here is the head of Don Francisco Pizarro Demarkes, Don Francisco Pizarro who discovered Peru and presented it to the crown of Castile." A team of forensic scientists from the United States, led by Dr. William Maples, was invited to examine the two bodies, and they soon determined that the body which had been honored in the glass case for nearly a century had been incorrectly identified. The skull within the lead box not only bore the marks of multiple sword blows, but the features bore a remarkable resemblance to portraits made of the man in life.

Legacy

Pizarro's Statue in Lima, Peru

Pizarro's statue in Trujillo, Spain

By his marriage to N de Trujillo, Pizarro had a son also named Francisco, who married his relative Inés Pizarro, without issue. After Pizarro's death, Inés Yupanqui, whom he took as a mistress, favourite sister of Atahualpa, who had been given to Francisco in marriage by her brother, married a Spanish cavalier named Ampuero and left for Spain, taking her daughter who would later be legitimized by imperial decree. Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui eventually married her uncle Hernando Pizarro in Spain, on 10 October 1537; a third son of Pizarro who was never legitimized, Francisco, by Dona Angelina, a wife of Atahualpa that he had taken as a mistress, died shortly after reaching Spain.

Historians have often compared Pizarro and Cortés' conquests in North and South America as very similar in style and career. Pizarro, however, faced the Incas with a smaller army and fewer resources than Cortés at a much greater distance from the Spanish Caribbean outposts that could easily support him, which has led some to rank Pizarro slightly ahead of Cortés in their battles for conquest. Based on sheer numbers alone, Pizarro's military victory was one of the most improbable in recorded history.

Pizarro is well known in Peru for being the leader behind the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, and a growing number of Peruvians of strong indigenous descent which are the majority of Peru regard him negatively. By incorporating the natives into the society of Peru, Pizarro ruled Peru for almost a decade and initiated the decline of Inca culture. The Incas’ polytheistic religion was replaced by Christianity and both Quechua and Aymara — the main Inca languages — were reduced to a marginal role in society for centuries, while Spanish became the official language of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile. The cities of the Inca Empire were transformed into Spanish, Catholic cities. Pizarro is also vilified for having ordered Atahualpa's death despite his paid ransom of filling a room with gold and two with silver which was later split among all his closest Spanish associates after a fifth share had been set aside for the king. Among other once-Spanish nations in the Americas, those which have a large creole or mestizo population with mostly European ancestry notably Mexico, El Salvador, Argentina, and Chile, regard Francisco Pizarro as a hero much like Cortes because they have the religion, culture, and prosperity today because of conquistadors such as them.

Sculptures

In the early 1930s, sculptor Ramsey MacDonald created three copies of an anonymous European foot soldier resembling a conquistador with a helmet, wielding a sword, and riding a horse. The first copy was offered to Mexico to represent Hernán Cortés, though it was rejected. Since the Spanish conquerors had the same appearance with helmet and beard, the statue was taken to Lima in 1934. One other copy of the statue resides in Wisconsin. The mounted statue of Pizarro in the Plaza Mayor in Trujillo, Spain, was created by Charles Rumsey, an American sculptor. It was presented to the city by his widow in 1926.

In 2003, after years of lobbying by indigenous and mixed-raced majority requesting for the equestrian statue of Pizarro to be removed, the mayor of Lima, Luis Castañeda Lossio, approved the transfer of the statue to another location: an adjacent square to the country's Government Palace. Since 2004, however, Pizarro's statue has been placed in a rehabilitated park surrounded by the recently restored 17th-century walls in the Rímac District. The statue faces the Rímac River and the Government Palace.

Palace of the conquest

Palace of the conquest, Trujillo, Spain

After their return from Peru and notoriously rich, the Pizarro family erected a plateresque-style palace on the corner of the Plaza Mayor in Trujillo. It was said to have been constructed on the orders of Pizarro's daughter, Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui. It instantly became a recognizable symbol of the plaza.

The opulent palace is structured in four stands, giving it the significance of the coat of arms of the Pizarro family, which is situated at one of its corner balconies displaying its iconographic content. At one of its sides, it displays Francisco Pizarro, and at the other, his wife, the Inca princess Inés Huaylas, along with their daughter Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui and her husband Hernando Pizarro. The building's decor includes plateresque ornaments and balustrades.

In popular culture

Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro statue on Lima City Walls park

• Pizarro is the title and subject of a dramatic tragedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, presented in 1799. Sheridan based his work on the German tragedy by August von Kotzebue, Die Spanier in Peru.
• Francisco Pizarro is depicted as a villain in the 1980s animated series The Mysterious Cities of Gold. In it, Pizarro is a ruthless conqueror of the Incas who values gold above all else.
• Ron Pardo portrays Francisco Pizarro in an episode of History Bites as a parody of Star Trek's James T. Kirk.
• Francisco Pizarro is the main character in Peter Schaffer's play The Royal Hunt of the Sun.
• Pizarro is a character in the novel Inés of My Soul (Inés del alma mía) by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins, 2006).
• In Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, the Battle of Cajamarca is used to introduce Diamond's theory: Eurasian hegemony stems from environmental factors alone.
• Francisco Pizarro (played as a vampire by Venezuelan actor and singer José Luis Rodríguez) is the main villain in Mega TV miniseries Gabriel. Pizarro is presented there in modern days as "the first Latin-American vampire".
• In the book Evil Star from the Power of Five series by Anthony Horowitz, a historian claims a monk travelled with Pizarro to Peru and discovered an alternate creation story recorded by the Incas.
• Analog Science Fiction and Fact, in Anthology 4, "Analog's Lighter Side", featured a story by Randall Garrett from Astounding Science Fiction March 1959, "Despoilers of the Golden Empire", which recast the conquest of Peru in the language of a sci-fi story, while actually staying true to history. The story is also available at Project Gutenberg.
• Bruce Ramsay portrayed Pizarro in 2010's Riverworld.

Ancestry

Family of Francisco Pizarro

8. Fernando or Hernándo Alonso de Hinojosa                       4. Fernando Alonso Pizarro                             9. Teresa Martínez Pizarro                       2. Gonzalo Pizarro Rodríguez de Aguilar                                   5. Isabel de Vargas y Rodríguez de Aguilar                             1. Francisco Pizarro y González, 1st Marqués de los Atabillos                                         6. Juan Mateos                             3. Francisca González y Mateos                                   7. María Alonso

Works of Pizarro

• Francisco Pizarro Response to a Petition by Pedro del Barco, 14 April 1539. From the Collections at the Library of Congress

References

Further reading

• Cajamarca o la Leyenda Negra, a tragedy for the theater in Spanish by Santiago Sevilla in Liceus El Portal de las Humanidades
• Pizarro, a tragedy, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, in Google books
• Conquest of the Incas, John Hemming, 1973. ISBN 0-15-602826-3
• Francisco Pizarro and the Conquést of the Inca by Gina DeAngelis, 2000. ISBN 0-613-32584-2
• The Discovery and Conquest of Peru by William H. Prescott. ISBN 0-7607-6137-X

External links

• Francisco Pizarro Chronology
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• PBS Special: Conquistadors — Pizarro and the conquest of the Incas
• The Conquest of the Incas by Pizarro - University of California Press
• The European Voyages of Exploration
• "Francisco Pizarro", February 1992, National Geographic
• Relacion de los primeros descubrimientos de Francisco Pizarro y Diego de Almagro, 1526 BlokNOT (A. Skromnitsky). 2009-10-09. Colleccion de documentos ineditos para la historia de Espana. Tomo V. — Madrid, 1844

Government offices
Preceded by Position founded	Governor of New Castile 1528–1541	Succeeded by Cristóbal Vaca de Castro