Atahualpa
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Atahualpa, the 13th and last Inca emperor |
Atahualpa (
Quechua Atawallpa or
Ataw Wallpa, literally "happiness fowl", a totemic bird) (c.
1502 –
1533) was the 13th and last emperor of the
Tahuantinsuyo, or
Inca empire, who defeated his older half-brother
Huáscar in a civil war sparked by his father, Inca
Huayna Capac, succumbing to an infectious disease thought to be
malaria or
smallpox.The empire was divided between the two brothers. Huascar got the major part of it, containing the capital
Cusco and Atahualpa the northern parts including
Quito, the family's ancestral home. For a couple of years they reigned without problems, but Huascar, who considered himself to be the real Sapa Inca (emperor), because he was a legitimate son of Huyna Capac and his sister, demanded that Atahualpa swear an oath to him. Atahualpa refused, and the civil war began.
Huascar, who controlled the major part of the empire, invaded the north with a great army and soon captured Atahualpa. Atahualpa fled from captivity with the help of a small girl, and united himself with the generals
Chalicuchima and
Quizquiz. He gathered an army and defeated Huascar in the
battle of Chimborazo. Atahualpa then pressed forward and began to recapture the empire, and also the town of
Tumebamba whose citizens he punished in gruesome ways because they were on Huascar's side in the beginning of the civil war.
The final battle took place at
Quipaipan, where Huascar was captured and his army disbanded. Atahualpa had stopped in the city of
Cajamarca in the Andes with his army of 80,000 troops on his way to the south and
Cusco to claim his throne.
By this time the Spanish
conquistador Francisco Pizarro had established the city of
Piura, the first Spanish settlement in
Peru on July of 1532. After two months on the march, Pizarro had arrived at Cajamarca with just 168 men under his command and sent
Hernando de Soto, friar
Vicente de Valverde and native interpreter
Felipillo to speak with Atahualpa about the Spanish presence.
Through the interpreter, Valverde delivered the "
Requirement," indicating that Atahualpa and his people must convert to
Christianity, and if he refused he would be considered an enemy of the Church and of Spain. Atahualpa refused the Spanish presence in his land by saying he would "be no man's tributary". The Spanish envoys returned to Pizarro, who prepared a surprise attack against Atahualpa's army in what became the
Battle of Cajamarca on
November 16,
1532.
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The seizure of Atahualpa at Cajamarca |
According to Spanish law, Atahualpa's refusal of the
requirement allowed the Spanish to officially declare war on the Inca people. When Atahualpa coldly asked the priest Valverde by what authority he and his people could say such things, Valverde offered him a Bible, saying that the authority derived from the words in it. He examined it and then asked why did it not speak to him. He then threw it to the ground. That gave the Spaniards the excuse they needed to wage war on the Incas. They opened fire, and over the course of 2 hours more than six thousand unarmed Inca soldiers were killed. The Spanish then imprisoned Atahualpa in the Temple of the Sun.
Atahualpa still could not believe the Spanish intended to take control of his kingdom. He thought if he gave them the gold and silver they sought they would leave. In exchange for his release, he agreed to fill a large
room with gold and promised the Spanish twice that amount in silver. Although he was stunned by the offer, Pizarro had no intention of releasing the Inca because he needed the ruler's influence over the native people to maintain order in the surrounding country or, more to the point, he meant to depose Atahualpa, placing the entire empire under the rule of
Spain's
King Charles I (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V), with himself as viceroy.
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Spaniards executing Atahualpa in 1533, drawing by Guaman Poma de Ayala |
Still outnumbered and fearing an imminent attack from the Inca general
Rumiñahui, after several months the Spanish saw Atahualpa as too much of a liability and chose to have him executed. Pizarro staged a mock trial and found Atahualpa guilty of revolting against the Spanish, practicing idolatry and murdering Huáscar, his own brother. Atahualpa was sentenced to execution by burning. He was horrified, since the Inca believed that the soul would not be able to go on to the afterlife if the body were burned. Friar
Vicente de Valverde, who had earlier offered the Bible to Atahualpa, intervened again, telling Atahualpa that if he agreed to convert to Christianity he would convince the rest to commute the sentence. Atahualpa agreed to be baptized under Christian faith. He was given the name Juan Santos Atahualpa and, in accordance with his request, was strangled instead of being burned. Atahualpa died on August 29,
1533.Atahualpa was succeeded by his brother, the puppet Inca
Tupac Huallpa, and later by another brother
Manco Inca Yupanqui.
Atahualpa's disastrous handling of the Spanish invasion notwithstanding, his actions leading up to the time of the invasion did contribute to the fall of the empire. One could see the parallel with
Harold Godwinson's feud with his brother
Tostig, which lead to the civil war and the
Battle of Stamford Bridge as well as the
Battle of Hastings as it severely weakened their positions in a time of crisis.
However given that there were less than 200 Spaniards and 1000 Native allies, it is easy to understand why Atahualpa did not immediately sense the threat. Unlike
Montezuma who may have seen the Europeans as representatives of a returning deity, he quickly saw them as human beings and intruders to be dealt with at their leisure. For all their weapons and horses he knew he had more than enough soldiers to handle
Pizarro. In fact Atahualpa was planning to speak with them and then arrest them. He planned to put Pizarro and his officers to death. He would retain the needed specialists, such as the horsebreaker, blacksmith, and gunsmith to equip his army. In short he was planning on having Pizarro for lunch but Pizarro had him for breakfast.
*
History of Peru*
The Ransom Room*
Spanish conquest of Peru*
Capture of an Inca King*
The Discovery and Conquest of Peru by
William H. Prescott*
Conquest of the Incas, John Hemming, 1973.
*
The Royal Hunt of the Sun, by
Peter Shaffer, 1964.
