Conquest Information

At the time of Pizarro's arrival, the Inca had already been weakened due to a civil war over which of the two king's sons would become next king. Normally the king would choose which of his sons will succeed him, but the Sapa Inca had died of smallpox before he could choose. The resulting anger started the Inca Civil War. (For a discussion of Inca population, see Inca Empire.)

When the Spanish arrived at the borders of the Inca Empire in 1528, the empire spanned a considerable distance. Extending southward from the Ancas Maya (meaning Blue River) which is now known as the Patia River in southern Colombia to the Maule River in Chile, and eastward from the Pacific Ocean to the edge of the Amazonian jungles, the empire covered some of the most mountainous terrain on earth. In less than a century the empire had grown in extent from about 155,000 sq mi/400,000 km2 in 1448, to 380,000 sq mi/980,000 km2 (or about the size of the eastern seaboard of the United States) in 1528, just before the arrival of the Spaniards. This vast area of land varied greatly in both culture and in climate. Because of the greatly varying cultures and geography, many areas of the empire were left under local leaders, who were watched and monitored by Inca officials. However, under the administrative mechanisms established by the Incas, all parts of the empire answered to, and were ultimately under the direct control of, the Emperor. Scholars estimate that the population of the Inca Empire probably numbered over 16,000,000.

Some scholars believe that while the Spanish conquest was undoubtedly the proximate cause of the collapse of the Inca Empire, it may very well have been past its peak and in the process of decline. In 1528, Emperor Huayna Capac (Young Lord) ruled the Inca Empire (or as the Incans called it, Tahuatinsuyu, or the "Land of the Four Quarters", which referred to the four major administrative areas into which the empire was divided). He could trace his lineage back to a "stranger king" named Manco Capac, the mythical founder of the Inca clan, who supposedly emerged from a cave in a region called Pacariqtambo.

More importantly, Huayna Capac was the son of the previous ruler, Topa Inca, and the grandson of Pachacuti, the Emperor who had begun the dramatic expansion by conquest of the Inca Empire from its base in the area around Cuzco. On his accession to the throne, Huayna Capac had continued the policy of expansion by conquest by bringing Inca armies north into what is today Ecuador. While he also had to put down a number of rebellions during the course of his reign, by the time of his death his legitimacy was as unquestioned as was the reality of Inca power. Expansion had created problems, however. Per force, many parts of the empire maintained their cultural identity, and were at best restive participants in the imperial project. The large extent of the empire, the extremely difficult terrain of much of it, and the fact that all communication and travel had to take place on foot, seems to have caused increasing difficulty in administering the empire effectively.

Among the most important aspects of Huayna Capac’s reign were his sons. While he had many legitimate and illegitimate children (legitimate meaning born of his sister-wife), two sons are historically important. The first was Prince Tupac Cusi Hualpa, also known as Huascar, whose mother was Coya (meaning Empress) Mama Rahua Occllo. The second was Atahualpa, an illegitimate son who was likely born of a daughter of the last independent King of Quitu, one of the states conquered by Huayna Capac during the great expanse of the Inca Empire. These two sons would play pivotal roles in the final years of the Inca Empire.

Pizarro and his men were greatly aided in their enterprise by the fact that they arrived when the Inca Empire was in the midst of a war of succeession between princes Huascar and Atahualpa. Atahualpa seems to have spent more time with Huayna Capac during the years when he was in the north with the army conquering Ecuador. Atahualpa was thus closer to, and had better relations with the army and its leading generals. When both Huayna Capac and his eldest son and designated heir, Ninan Cuyochic, died suddenly in 1528 from what was probably smallpox, a disease introduced by the Spaniards into the Americas during their conquest of Mexico, the question of who would succeed as emperor was thrown open. At the time of Huayna Capac's death Huascar was in the capital Cuzco, while Atahualpa was in Quitu with the main body of the Inca army. Huascar had himself proclaimed Sapa Inca (i.e. Emperor) in Cuzco, but the army declared its loyalty to Atahualpa, setting the stage for a civil war.