(Spanish) Peru: Political History and Notable Figures

1529 - 1541 - Francisco Pizzaro (All Facts)

• Spanish Conquistador and Founder and First Governor of (Spanish) Peru as “New Castile”

  • He and his forces ultimately conquered the Inca Empire

  • He was a wily illiterate and a poor horsemen, but one of Spanish Panama’s richest men

  • He was a middle-aged bachelor of simple habits

  • He was a veteran of many small wars

  • After a lifetime of jungle warfare, he was bored without adventure

• He was a soldier of fortune in the Indies

  • He was with Vasco Nunez de Balboa when he (they) discovered the Pacific Ocean or “the South Sea”

• He initially tried to search for the Inca Empire, but his first search was abandoned after he and his men became bogged down in Peru

• He went on a second expedition in search of the Inca Empire

  • He brought with him a priest who functioned as the operation’s banker and he brought a judge, 80 men, and four horses

  • Some of his soldiers were professional mercenaries, hardened by campaigns back in Europe; but most were the equally adventurous younger sons of Spain’s grandees

    • While in Spain these youngsters got ahead through sword-play or the “right” marriage, they found a shortage of suitable brides in the largely native-inhabited mountains of Peru

• He had King Charles’ support secured when he claimed from him the titles of governor and “captain-general” of (Spanish) Peru

  • He thus had a royal warrant signed which allowed him to return to (Spanish) Peru with the queen’s approval or “capitulacion” which licensed him to “discover and conquer” Peru

• He brought back llamas (Peruvian boys who would become interpreters for him) and various artifacts to prove that a highly developed (Incan) culture existed

• His first contact with the Incan natives showed them to be friendly

• His presence at the court of King Charles was magnified by the presence of Hernan Cortes

• He and his Spanish forces defeated Atahualpa and his Incan forces in the Battle of Cajamarca during the Spanish Conquest of the Incan Empire

  • In just two hours he killed 7K native Incans, held Atahualpa captive, and marched towards the Incan capital of Cuzco

  • He exploited the ongoing civil war in the Incan Empire between Atahualpa and his brother and predecessor Huascar by dividing them and ruling over them

• He ordered for Atahualpa to be executed, despite his having already paid millions of pounds for his ransom

• He marched onto and took over Cuzco, the capital of the Incan Empire

• He founded the city of Lima in (Spanish) Peru

1520 - 1542 - Diego de Almagro II (All Facts)

• Son of his namesake father, he avenged his father’s death by having his father’s killer, Francisco Pizzaro, executed himself

• He proclaimed himself governor of Peru in succession to Pizzaro

1542 - 1544 - Cristobal Vaca de Castro (All Facts)

• 2nd Governor of (Spanish) Peru as “New Castile”

  • He and his forces defeated Diego de Almagro II and his forces in the Battle of Chupas during the (Spanish) Conquest of the Incan Empire

1544 - 1546 - Blasco Nunez de Vela (All Facts)

• First Viceroy of (Spanish) Peru

  • He assumed his position from the city of Lima

1551 - 1552 - Antonio de Mendoza (All Facts)

• 2nd Viceroy of Peru

1569 - 1581 - Francisco de Toledo (All Facts)

• 5th Viceroy of Peru

• He was determined to stamp out the Incas’ power and refused to reverse his decision to have Tupac Amaru beheaded

• During his reign,

  • He set up a system by which silver miners in Potosi in (Spanish) Peru received a collective payment in kind, usually of cloth, which was shared out among them by a chief

• Under his reign,

  • silver began to be extracted from mines in Potosi in (Spanish) Peru

  • a chair was created at the University of Lima for the study of Quechua, the language of the native Andean peoples there