Pizarro in Britannica

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Pizarro, Francisco

b. c. 1475,, Trujillo, Extremadura, Castile [Spain]

d. June 26, 1541, Lima [now in Peru]

Spanish conqueror of the Inca empire and founder of the city of

Lima.

Early life.

Pizarro was the illegitimate son of Captain Gonzalo Pizarro and

Francisca González, a young girl of humble birth. He spent much of

his early life in the home of his grandparents. According to legend he

was for a time a swineherd, a not unlikely possibility since this was a

common occupation of boys in that region. He doubtless

participated in local manorial wars and, when these were ended,

very probably went to fight in Italy. Certainly in 1502 he went to

Hispaniola (modern Haiti and Dominican Republic) with the new

governor of the Spanish colony.

Pizarro had little inclination toward the settled life of the colonizer,

and in 1510 he enrolled in an expedition of the explorer Alonso de

Ojeda to Urabá in Colombia. He appears to have been marked out

as a hard, silent, and apparently unambitious man who could be

trusted in difficult situations. Three years later, acting as captain, he

participated in an expedition led by the explorer Vasco Núñez de

Balboa that was credited with the European discovery of the

Pacific. From 1519 to 1523 he was mayor and magistrate of the

newly founded town of Panamá, accumulating a small fortune.

(See Balboa, Vasco Nùñez de.)

Discovery and conquest of Peru.

It was not until 1523, when he was some 48 years old, that Pizarro

embarked upon the adventure that was to lead to his lasting fame. In

partnership with a soldier, Diego de Almagro, and a priest,

Hernando de Luque, he made preparations for a voyage of

discovery and conquest down the west coast of South America.

Many hardships were endured along the Colombian coast during the

first (1524-25) and second (1526-28) expeditions. Bartolomé Ruiz,

who joined Pizarro and Almagro for the latter, sailed ahead and

crossed the Equator, encountering a trading raft carrying

embroidered fabrics and precious metals from Peru. He returned

and led the expedition as far south as Ecuador. Pizarro and others

remained on coastal islands while Almagro was sent back to

Panama for reinforcements. The new governor of Panama,

however, sent back orders that the expedition be abandoned in

order that no more lives be lost. At this point Pizarro is reputed to

have drawn a line on the ground with his sword, inviting those who

desired wealth and glory to cross it. The "famous thirteen" who did

cross the line continued their exploration of the coast as far as 9 S,

obtaining distinct accounts of a great Indian empire as well as many

Inca artifacts. They christened the new land Peru, probably a

corruption of Virú, the name of a river.

Finding the governor of Panama still opposed to their now promising

enterprise, the explorers decided that Pizarro should go to Spain to

ask the emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) for permission to

undertake conquest. Sailing in the spring of 1528, Pizarro was in

Seville at the same time as Hernán Cortés, conqueror of Mexico,

and was able to win Charles over to his scheme. He was decorated,

granted a coat of arms, and, in July 1529, made governor and

captain general of the province of New Castile for a distance 600

miles (965 km) south of Panama along the newly discovered coast.

Pizarro was invested with all the authority and prerogatives of a

viceroy, and Almagro and Luque were left in subordinate positions.

All the "famous thirteen" received substantial rights and privileges in

the new territories.

Joined by four of his brothers, Pizarro sailed for Panama in January

1530 and by January of the following year was ready to set off for

Peru. He set sail with one ship, 180 men, and 37 horses, being

joined later by two more ships. By April they had made contact with

emissaries of Atahuallpa, emperor of the Incas, who was residing

near the city of Cajamarca with an army of about 30,000 men.

Somewhat scornful of Pizarro's small force, the Inca accepted a

proposal that the two leaders meet in that city.

Arriving on November 15, Pizarro immediately set up his artillery

and sent his brother Hernando and another Spaniard to request an

interview. After a day of tense waiting, Atahuallpa, borne on a litter,

entered the great square of Cajamarca with an escort of between

3,000 and 4,000 men, who were either unarmed or carrying short

clubs and slings beneath their tunics. Pizarro sent out a priest,

Vicente de Valverde, to exhort the Inca to accept Christianity and

Charles V as his master. Atahuallpa disputed both the religion and

the sovereignty of the Spaniards and, after examining a Bible offered

by the priest, flung the book to the ground. Valverde reported these

events to Pizarro, who immediately ordered an attack. The

astonished Incas were cut down from all sides, Pizarro himself

seizing Atahuallpa.

Atahuallpa was held as hostage and failed to win his release, though

he fulfilled a promise to fill the chamber in which he was held with

gold and silver. Accused of ordering the execution of his brother

Huascar, a rival for the title of Inca, and of plotting to overthrow the

Spaniards, Atahuallpa was put to death by strangulation on Aug. 29,

1533. With news of Atahuallpa's death, the Inca armies surrounding

Cajamarca retreated, and Pizarro progressed toward Cuzco, the

royal capital, which was occupied without a struggle in November

1533. The Spaniards declared Manco Capac, Huascar's brother, as

Inca.

For the remainder of his life, Pizarro was engaged in consolidating

the Spanish hold on Peru and in defending his and his brothers'

share of the spoils. A certain enmity and rivalry developed between

him and Almagro as a result of Pizarro's overriding powers from the

king of Spain. This contravened a solemn agreement between the

original three partners that the spoils of the expedition should be

shared equally. Almagro at one stage seized Cuzco but was

persuaded by Pizarro to depart for Chile, over which he had been

granted extensive powers by the king. Disappointed by the poverty

of that country, however, he returned to Peru, where he was made

prisoner and later executed by Hernando Pizarro.

Francisco Pizarro, meanwhile, was in Lima, a city that he had

founded in 1535 and to which he devoted the last two years of his

life. Almagro's former adherents had grouped around Almagro's son

in Lima, where they were confined and watched. Suspecting that

they were to be eliminated, they decided to move first, attacking

Pizarro's palace on June 26, 1541. Pizarro died that day a

protracted death, drawing a cross of his own blood on the ground,

kissing it, and crying "Jesus" as he fell.

(M.B.G./Ed.)

Bibliography

Although not strictly concerned with Pizarro's actual life story,

William H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Peru, 2 vol.

(1847, reissued in 3 vol., 1968); and Clements R. Markham, A

History of Peru (1892, reissued 1968), are two classic accounts of

the Pizarro brothers' exploits. Modern appraisals of the Pizarros'

feat include Hammond Innes, The Conquistadors (1969, reissued

1986), lavishly illustrated; Manuel Ballesteros Gaibrois, Francisco

Pizarro (1940), and Descubrimiento y conquista del Perú (1963);

and John Hemming, The Conquest of the Incas, rev. ed. (1983).

To cite this page:

"Pizarro, Francisco" Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

<http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=61785&sctn=1>

[Accessed February 8 2000].