Francisco Pizarro

Francisco Pizarro was born in 1475 in Trujillo Spain, to a Spanish Colonel illegally. He spent most of his childhood in one of the poorest regions in Spain with his grandparents. Pizarro never learned to read or write. In 1510, he took part of an expedition to Colombia with Vasco Nunez de Balboa, which ended in the discovery of the Pacific Ocean. He served as mayor of the town of Panama from in 1519 to 1523. At the end of his career as town mayor he heard of a wealthy Indian empire in the south, he enlisted the help of two friends to form an expedition to conquer and explore the land. He received help from a soldier named Diego de Almagro who provided the equipment while the vicar of Panama provided the funds.

Pizarro’s first expedition in 1524 only got him down to Colombia and no further since his vessels ran into bad weather, there was no more food, and too many fight broke out with the natives. In 1526 Pizarro set out for his second expedition, but only got to the Colombian San Juan River. Although Pizarro didn’t get to where he wanted to go, he captured a raft of natives on the river who had in possession lots of gold and silver. Exhausted Pizarro thought it would be a good idea for him and his men to rest in isla de Gallo while Almagro went back to Panama to get more recruits. When Almagro went back to get more recruits to send back to Isla de Gallo, the new Governor of Panama who had taken over from the previous Governor heard about all the trouble and mishaps Pizarro went through and ordered two vessels to go and bring Pizarro back to Panama. When the two vessels arrived he refused to go back and took thirteen new soldiers with him. Almagro persuaded the Governor to send one vessel back to Isla de Gallo for Pizarro’s use. Pizarro used the vessel to sail to Spain to get permission to conquer Peru. Permission was granted and he left Spain with three vessels containing less than 200 men and 40 horses.

After seven years of disappointment, Pizarro started his journey to Peru. He spent a year conquering the coastal settlements, he then marched to the city of Cajamarca where he met a messenger of Atahuallpa, the Incan emperor. Atahuallpa accepted the invitation to visit the Pizarro and arrived with crowds of unarmed Incas, whereas Pizarro’s men were armed. When Atahuallpa refused to accept the Spanish king as his leader or to convert to Christianity, Pizarro had his man seize Atahuallpa and slaughter 2000 Incas. Atahuallpa offered to give Pizarro a room (5 by 7 meters) filled with gold and silver. Even though Atahuallpa kept his word, Pizarro didn’t and he had Atahuallpa executed.

Pizarro marched to Cuzco and put Atahuallpa’s brother Manco in charge. In 1535 Pizarro founded the City of the Kings, and it was renamed to Lima. Three years later Pizarro and Almagro argued about which territory one was to control, this fight caused a civil war and ended with the execution of Almagro. Almagro’s son Diego de Almagro II assassinated Francisco Pizarro in 1541 

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