Inca Empire

Pizarro's Deception

The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire was led by Pizarro, who arrived in Peru in 1532 with 169 Spanish soldiers. During this time, the Inca Empire was in the midst of a war of succession. A civil war had broken out between two brothers, Atahualpa and Huáscar, which greatly weakened the empire by the time the Spanish conquest began. Atahualpa won the civil war and took Huáscar as a prisoner. Despite the empire's weakened state, Pizarro's forces were small, so careful planning on his part was necessary in order for his conquest to be successful.

Pizarro strategically deceived Atahualpa, the ruler, on more than one occasion in order to gain the upper hand. Upon hearing of Pizarro's arrival, Atahualpa was unsure as to whether he should consider the Spanish as thieves and murderers or as gods. Atahualpa avoided being deceived into believing Pizarro was a god when he heard scout reports of the violence that Pizarro's forces inflicted upon the local people. Atahualpa decided that he should trap and murder Pizarro.

At this point, Pizarro organized a meeting with Atahualpa. When they met, Atahualpa explained the reports he heard, which led to Pizarro's first significant act of deception: Pizarro denied the reports of his military actions. Because Atahualpa had no substantiated information, he decided to meet with Pizarro again in Cajamarca rather than execute his original plan to murder Pizarro. Whether or not Atahualpa trusted Pizarro at this point is unclear, but Pizarro's deception and denial of his actions was one of the main factors that kept him alive after their meeting.

The following day, Atahualpa entered Cajamarca with between 3,000 and 7,000 men, and approached the Spaniards with unarmed forces as a sign of goodwill. In contrast, Pizarro strategically placed his armed forces around the square where the meeting would take place. During their conversation, both sides grew impatient as neither side fully understood the other's requests. Eventually, Pizarro signaled his men to attack, which began the Battle of Cajamarca. Having [Page 503]never seen horses or gunfire before, Atahualpa's men offered virtually no resistance against the Spanish cavalry charges, and Atahualpa was successfully captured. Pizarro's forces suffered very few casualties.

Once captured, Atahualpa was held in what became known as the ransom room in Cajamarca. Atahualpa offered to fill the room with gold and to give twice that amount in silver in exchange for his freedom. This is when Pizarro's next significant act of deception occured. Pizarro accepted Atahualpa's offering, and received the payment in gold and silver, but did not release him. Some sources argue that Atahualpa's payments were not intended as a ransom payment but as an attempt to avoid being killed. Regardless, Pizarro deceived Atahualpa by falsely agreeing to fulfill his requests in exchange for the payments. Atahualpa was executed days later.

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