Hidetoshi Ikeda

Block 8C

Bravery of Atahualpa, The Last Emperor of the Inca Civilization

“Bravery,” a word that every single man on the world desires. One man fought for hope and earned it, but lost it at the end. He was Atahualpa. He was the 13th and the last emperor of the Inca Civilization who ruled from 1532 to July 25th, 1533.  He was one of the most well known emperors out of all the other emperors that ruled the Inca. He was also a son of Huayna Capac, the 11th emperor of the Inca.

Before Atahualpa became the Emperor of the Inca, he only owned part of the land. He owned a small part called Quito and the rest was controlled by his half brother Huascar. Both of their dad was Huayna, but they had different moms. Atahualpa’s mom was called Nusta Pacha and was the princess of Quito so the land was given to Atahualpa. On the other hand, Huascar, his half brother, had full royal blood so he got to keep most of the Inca land. This made Atahualpa mad so they started a civil war.

    vs.   

                                              This is Atahualpa                                                      This is Atahualpa's half-brother, Huascar

The civil war between Atahualpa and Huascar mostly took place in Peru and Ecuador. It lasted for about 3 years starting from 1529 to April 1532. There were many battles, but the first one took place near Ambato. Atahualpa first killed Huascar’s general Atoc and all of his men. Then after his victory, he goes down closer to Huascar’s land (south). He reached Cajamarca and became really violent and killed all of Huascar’s men if any of them went in his eyesight. Battles also took place in Bonbon and Juaja, but both of them were victories for Atahualpa. The next battle was in the hillside of Villcas and this was again, his victory. At last, Atahualpa and his men went near the capital, northwest of Cuzco, and this again was a victory to him. After 3 years of fighting, in 1532, Huascar surrendered and got killed. Atahualpa was the new Inca emperor and of course, this was his major accomplishment.

After his victory against Huascar in 1532, Francisco Pizarro, his 168 men, and 62 horses arrived to Ecuador (Inca Empire). Atahualpa out numbered the Spanish army by having 80,000 men and he could have just killed them. However, he thought that the Spanish were gods so he let them into the land. But he didn’t know that this decision he made was going to turn out wrong and destroy the whole Inca Empire. One day, the Spanish asked Atahualpa to go for a meal and he accepted the offer. When he went, the Spanish told him to convert to Christianity and to make Pizarro the leader of the Inca Empire, but of course he refused. Then Pizarro sent his men and captured Atahualpa.

As a result, Atahualpa was sent to prison, but he thought that the Spanish weren’t going to harm him. Obviously, he was wrong. The Spanish accused him of crimes that he did, for example killing his half brother Huascar during the civil war. He was asked to be burnt to death, but the Inca thought that if someone dies by getting burnt, they would not reach the afterlife. Despite that, he thought that the Spanish will not kill him if he gave them gold, silver and money. He decided to give them one room full of gold and several rooms filled with silver. Pizarro accepted the offer and received all the things he wanted, but he still killed Atahualpa. Atahualpa was hung on July 25th, 1533 and this was also the day that the Inca Civilization came to an end.

Citations:

"Atahuallpa." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. Web. 13 Jan. 2010  <http://school.ebonline.com/eb/article-9010027>.

"Inca Civil War4." Wikipedia. N.p., 19 Nov. 2009. Web. 12 Jan. 2010.

     <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Civil_War>.

"Francisco Pizarro's Conquest of the Inca Empire, 1532-1533 ." World History at

     KLMA. N.p., 17 Nov. 2004. Web. 13 Jan. 2010. <http://www.zum.de/

     whkmla/military/16cen/pizarro15321533.html>.

"Atahualpa, Or Atabalipa." Famousamericans. N.p., 2001. Web. 13 Jan. 2010.

     <http://www.famousamericans.net/atahualpaoratabalipa/>.

"Atahualpa." Wikipedia. N.p., 13 Jan. 2010. Web. 12 Jan. 2010.

     <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atahualpa>.

Citations for pictures:

Atahualpa. N.d. Private Collection. summagallicana. Web. 24 Jan. 2010.

     <http://www.summagallicana.it/Volume1/A.VIIII.8.07.0.htm>.

Huascar. N.d. Private Collection. Atahualpa's Weblog. Web. 24 Jan. 2010.

     <http://athahualpa.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/inbraak/>.