The massacre was likened by one of the chroniclers to the killing of sheep. The victims numbered more than 10,000, and only 200 escaped. Not a Spaniard perished nor even was wounded except Pizarro, who had a flesh wound in the hand, inflicted accidentally by one of his own men. Pizarro’s act in hewing down this crowd of Peruvians, unarmed and panic-stricken, recalls the worst features of the Mexican conquest, the massacre of Cholula and the attack made by Alvarado on the Mexican chiefs while they were celebrating a religious festival.
The next day was spent in sacking the palace of Atahuallpa, whose rich stores of gold and silver were discovered. Next came the question of the disposition of the captives, 8000 or more. It was actually proposed that the warriors should be killed or have their hands cut off, but Pizarro, who had not been trained in vain to the economic principles of conquest, decided that all should be reduced to slavery. The reduction of Atahuallpa to the status of a prisoner had the desired effect. The subordinate chiefs made their peace. This was a welcome escape from further hostilities, but Pizarro was more interested in arranging terms for the ransom which Atahuallpa was willing to give to receive his liberty. The gold and silver kept coming in; sometimes in one day 70,000 pesos were received.
Pizarro not being satisfied with the industry of the natives in getting treasure, Spanish emissaries were sent to Cuzco. Under their experienced hands the supplies increased; in one day 200 loads of gold and 25 of silver were brought into Caxamalca. Much of the precious metal was made up of strips taken from the walls of the temples, which were tapestried in this way. Some ornaments are mentioned; such as a fountain made entirely of gold and a golden footstool weighing 18,000 pesos. All was melted down except a few objects of small weight, kept and sent to the King of Spain as curiosities.
Despite the paying of this enormous ransom, there was no question of keeping faith with their captive. He was only in the way now that Pizarro had the enormous ransom. His death would remove a dangerous rallying point, and by it his people would be thrown into such confusion that they would submit the more easily to the yoke that was being prepared for them. Like the chief of the Aztecs, Cuauhtemoc, Atahuallpa was charged with disloyalty to the Spanish crown, of which he was assumed to be a dependent. As the zealous representative of his King, Pizarro passed sentence of death on his prisoner, commanding that it be executed by burning. All protests from the victim were unheeded, even when he assured his conquerors that through him they could keep the Indians on terms of good will. “If,” he said, “they wished gold and silver, he was ready to hand over twice the amount they had already received.” As they did not believe he could keep any such engagement, they refused to defer the day of execution. When the pile was ready, Atahuallpa, on finding that if he became a Christian, he would not be burnt, went through the form of conversion. Pizarro ordered that he should be bound to a stake on the square of the pueblo and strangled. (August 29, 1533.)
One of Atahuallpa’s brothers was then proclaimed chief by the Spaniards, and with this “roi fainéant” in tow Pizarro set out on the two months’ march to the capital, Cuzco. Before he came to the neighborhood of the leading pueblo, Inca warriors disputed with some obstinacy his further progress; but the presence of their chieftain with Pizarro prevented anything like a serious rising of the people. Disgusted with this most untoward event, Pizarro blamed an Inca general, who had been made a prisoner at Xauxa, for the resistance made on the march. This was enough to prove his guilt; the prisoner was condemned to death and burnt alive a short distance from Cuzco. Even this flagrant outrage failed to move the Incas to any organized effort to stay the European advance; instead of moving aggressively, Manco, the brother of Huascar, came voluntarily to Pizarro asking his protection, hoping by his aid to become the chieftain of the Incas. This alliance made it easy for the Spaniards, posing as the supporters of the regular line, to get within the walls of Cuzco without opposition, on November 15, 1533. The great massive pueblo with the fortress and temple of the sun, and with its extensive population, was a rich prize. Everything in the way of gold was quickly removed, and the humble followers of the modest commercial undertaking so recently organized at Panama found themselves in the possession of wealth. But the great drawback was the high price of provisions by which the adventurers lost some of the treasure that had fallen to their share. Under such conditions of forced hospitality Pizarro arranged for the elevation of Manco as Ccapac-Inca or overlord. At the same time Cuzco received the gift of municipal government, March 24, 1534. Pizarro, not forgetful of his own services, took the title of governor, and everything was speedily changed. Cuzco now had a bishop, a cathedral was built, monasteries and convents arose as if by magic, and all the famous temples were transformed into churches.
Things were moving expeditiously and smoothly in Pizarro’s favor, until he learnt of the arrival at a place not far from Quito of an officer of Cortez, Pedro de Alvarado, the governor of Guatemala, with an expedition of 500 Europeans and more than 2000 Indian allies. This interference seemed likely to cause trouble, until Alvarado was persuaded to sell his army and everything in it to Pizarro. The sum handed over to avoid a competitive conquest, which would have meant loss of life and, more important still, from the point of view of these experts in exploitation of subject races, loss of time, was considerable. Alvarado withdrew with something like $2,000,000; gauged by the standards of butchery, rapacity, and knavery in the West Indies and in Mexico, this was a splendid bargain. But, as Alvarado had only set his foot on Peruvian soil, he had not yet begun to reckon imperially; he was certainly far removed still from Pizarro’s poetic fancy in finance. Now that there was no longer a chance for such awkward interruptions, Pizarro set about the foundation of a new capital for Peru. Cuzco, being far distant from the seacoast, was manifestly unsuitable, and accordingly Lima was founded on the 6th of January, 1535, to be the center of this new colonial possession. Preparations were already under way for a regular administration with Pizarro at the head, after the model of the rule established by Cortez in Mexico.
The royal fifth of the treasure taken was so large that it removed all obstacles at Madrid. Detailed confirmation was given to the general concessions made to Pizarro, and their territorial extent was amplified by adding seventy leagues of land to the south. Almagro received a concession extending from the southern limit of Pizarro’s province 200 leagues. To the northern territory was given the name New Castile, to the southern, New Toledo; but the Indian names, Peru and Chili, were too strongly imbedded in native usage to be forced out of existence.
When Almagro was sent by Pizarro to Cuzco with orders to use it as a starting-point for the southern territory that had been assigned to him, the lieutenant took the opportunity of claiming that the Inca capital was situated south of Pizarro’s concession, and, therefore, was a part of his own land. This difficulty being patched up on June 12, 1535, Almagro set out for the conquest of Chili, while Pizarro began the establishment of a new seacoast town, Trujillo, and pushed forward the building of Lima.
The native population was dealt with after the “repartimiento” plan. Under the burden of their new oppressors, the Indians, who had for so long submitted to the cruder tyranny of the Inca chiefs, rose in revolt. Manco, a scion of the old house, placed himself at the head of the anti-Spanish movement, and the first success of the natives was the capture of the citadel of Cuzco, February, 1536. In the meantime the Spaniards who lived in isolated plantations had been massacred. Both the new towns, Lima and Trujillo, were invested. After a time the citadel of Cuzco was retaken from the natives, but Juan, one of Pizarro’s brothers, met his death in the fighting. As a relief expedition Pizarro sent to Cuzco more than 400 men, of whom 200 were cavalry, but they never succeeded in crossing the Sierra. Aid was then asked from the neighboring colonies of Panama, Guatemala, and Mexico. With the help of abundant reinforcements, Cuzco was retaken, and the obstinacy of the Spaniards in holding their ground for six months discouraged the Indians from further efforts to cut off the old capital.
When Almagro discovered the unattractive character of his newly assigned province, where the population was hostile and the land largely a desert, he returned along the western declivities of the Andes to reassert his claims on Cuzco. Arriving there in April, 1537, he made a successful night attack on the place, and took Pizarro’s brother, Fernando, prisoner. Near Cuzco Alvarado was stationed with 500 men at Xanca, and here a battle took place on July 12, 1537, in which Alvarado was beaten and taken prisoner. Almagro then set out for Lima. He and Pizarro, after a meeting at Mala on November 13, 1537, agreed to submit the question of the limits of their provinces to arbitration, arranging in the meantime that Almagro should hold Cuzco and Ferdinand Pizarro should have Caxamalca. But this arrangement was not carried out. Ferdinand soon after organized an expedition to recapture Cuzco, and another battle was fought with Almagro in April, which resulted in the latter being taken prisoner. After being given the semblance of a trial, he was put to death on July 8, 1538, by Fernando. Francis Pizarro, who denied complicity in Almagro’s death, treated the latter’s son kindly, but he did not forget to reward his own brothers, after he had made his triumphal entrance into Cuzco, with large landed estates. To Gonzalo he gave the district of Lake Titicaca, which included the mines of Potosi.