Atahualpa

Lifetime portrait of Atahuallpa, the last sovereign Inca emperor.

Atahualpa, Atahuallpa, Atabalipa, or Atawallpa (Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador), was the last sovereign emperor of the Tahuantinsuyu, or the Inca Empire. He became emperor upon defeating his older half-brother Huáscar in a civil war sparked by the death of their father, Inca Huayna Capac, from an infectious disease thought to be smallpox. During the Spanish Invasion, the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro crossed his path, captured Atahualpa, and used him to control the Inca empire. Eventually, the Spanish executed Atahualpa, ending the Inca Empire (although several successors claimed the title of Sapa Inca and led a resistance against the invading Spaniards). Atahualpa's mother was a Shyri (Quito Kingdom) princess named Pacha.

History

On the death of their father and their older brother, Ninan Cuyochi, who had been the designated heir, the empire was to be divided between the two surviving brothers, Huáscar and Atahualpa. Huayna Capac, their father, died of smallpox before he could establish who was to succeed him. Huáscar ruled over the southern part of the Empire from the capital Cusco, and Atahualpa stayed in the North at Quito (now the capital of Ecuador), his permanent residence and his mother's family's ancestral home. Huáscar, who considered himself to be the real Sapa Inca (emperor) because he was a legitimate son of Huayna Capac and his sister, demanded that Atahualpa swear an oath to him. Atahualpa was more than willing to do it, and to comply with the established customs he sent rich gifts to Cusco with his messengers to Huáscar to do him the honor. Huáscar was suspicious of a rebellion in the North led by Atahualpa and sent Atahualpa's messengers back to the North dressed as women. Huáscar also had a couple of other messengers killed when they arrived in Cusco and made drums out of their skin. These gestures against Atahualpa were taken as a great offense, as he had not expected such a response from his brother Huáscar. After this event Atahualpa refused to cooperate with Huáscar, and the civil war began.

Huáscar, who was not a warrior by nature, sent to Tumipampa the great southern army under the command of General Atoc to persuade Atahualpa to lay down his arms. Huáscar and Atahualpa's armies first encountered each other on the Plain of Chillopampa. Atahualpa was captured after the battle but fled from captivity with the help of a small girl and rejoined his generals Chalicuchima, Rumiñahui, and Quizquiz. He gathered an army and defeated Huáscar's army at the battle of Chimborazo. General Atoc was taken prisoner and fell victim to the cruelties of Chalicuchima who, according to legend, had a gold incrusted chicha cup made out of Atoc's skull. Atahualpa pressed onward and began to conquer the rest of the empire, including the town of Tumebamba, whose citizens he punished in gruesome ways for supporting Huáscar at the beginning of the civil war.

Emperor Atahualpa during the Battle of Cajamarca

The final battle took place at Quipaipan, where Huáscar was captured and his army disbanded. Atahualpa had stopped in the city of Cajamarca in the Andes with his army of 80,000 troops on his way south to Cusco to claim his throne when he encountered the Spanish led by Pizarro.

The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro established the city of Piura, the first Spanish settlement in Peru, in July 1532. After a march of two months, Pizarro arrived at Cajamarca with just 168 men under his command and sent Hernando de Soto, friar Vicente de Valverde and native interpreter Felipillo to speak with Atahualpa about the Spanish presence.

Through the interpreter, Valverde delivered the "Requirement", indicating that Atahualpa and his people must convert to Christianity, and if he refused he would be considered an enemy of the Church and of Spain. Atahualpa refused the Spanish presence in his land by saying he would "be no man's tributary".

"Be advised that I, being free, do not have to pay tribute to anyone, nor do I believe there is a king greater than I. However, I will have the pleasure to be the friend of your emperor, since he should be a great prince to send his armies throughout the world. But this Pope does not interest me; much less will I obey him, I being in the kingdom of my father and our religion being good and I and my subjects are happy. However, despite my being a son of Huayna Capac, I cannot discuss anything so wise and old. The Christ that you speak of died, the Sun and Moon never die, besides how do you know your god created the world?"

The Spanish envoys returned to Pizarro, who prepared a surprise attack against Atahualpa's army in what became the Battle of Cajamarca on November 16, 1532.

The seizure of Atahualpa at Cajamarca.

According to Spanish law, Atahualpa’s refusal of the Requirement allowed the Spanish to officially declare war on the Inca people. When Atahualpa coldly asked the priest Valverde by what authority he and his people could say such things, Valverde offered him a Bible, saying that the authority derived from the words in it. He examined it and then asked why did it not speak to him. He then threw it to the ground. That gave the Spaniards the excuse they needed to wage war on the Incas. They opened fire, and over the course of two hours more than two thousand Inca soldiers were killed. The Spanish then imprisoned Atahualpa in the Temple of the Sun.

Atahualpa still could not believe the Spanish intended to take control of his kingdom. He thought that if he gave them the gold and silver they sought they would leave. In exchange for his release, he agreed to fill a large room with gold and promised the Spanish twice that amount in silver. Although he was stunned by the offer, Pizarro had no intention of releasing the Inca because he needed the ruler's influence over the native people to maintain order in the surrounding country or, more to the point, he meant to depose Atahualpa, placing the entire empire under the rule of Spain's King Charles I (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V), with himself as viceroy. Still outnumbered and fearing an imminent attack from the Inca general Rumiñahui, after several months the Spanish saw Atahualpa as too much of a liability and chose to have him executed. Pizarro staged a mock trial and found Atahualpa guilty of revolting against the Spanish, practicing idolatry and murdering Huáscar, his own brother. Atahualpa was sentenced to execution by burning. He was horrified, since the Inca believed that the soul would not be able to go on to the afterlife if the body were burned. Friar Vicente de Valverde, who had earlier offered the Bible to Atahualpa, intervened again, telling Atahualpa that if he agreed to convert to Christianity he would convince the rest to commute the sentence. Atahualpa agreed to be baptized into the Christian faith. He was given the name Juan Santos Atahualpa and, in accordance with his request, was strangled with a garrote instead of being burned. Atahualpa was succeeded by his brother, the puppet Inca Tupac Huallpa, and later by another brother Manco Inca Yupanqui.

After Pizarro's death, Inés Yupanqui, whom he took as a mistress, favourite sister of Atahualpa, who had been given to Francisco in marriage by her brother, married a Spanish cavalier named Ampuero and left for Spain, taking her daughter who would later be legitimized by imperial decree. Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui eventually married her uncle Hernándo Pizarro in Spain, on October 10, 1537-with her Hernándo had a son: Francisco Pizarro y Pizarro. This son, in turn, married twice and had offspring, the Marqueses de La Conquista; as a result, the Pizarro line survived Hernando's death, though currently extinct in male line; a third son of Pizarro, Francisco, by a relative of Atahualpa renamed Angelina, who was never legitimized, died shortly after reaching Spain. Another relative of his, Catalina Capa-Yupanqui, who died in 1580, married a Portuguese nobleman named António Ramos, son of António Colaço and wife Violante Fernandes Veloso, and had a daughter named Francisca de Lima, who married Álvaro de Abreu de Lima, another Portuguese nobleman, and had issue in Portugal.

Legacy

Atahualpa's disastrous handling of the Spanish invasion notwithstanding, his actions previous to the actual invasion also contributed to the fall of the empire. One could see the parallel with Harold Godwinson's feud with his brother Tostig, which led to the civil war and the Battle of Stamford Bridge as well as the Battle of Hastings, as it severely weakened their positions in a time of crisis.

However, given that there were fewer than 200 Spaniards and 1000 Native allies, it is easy to understand why Atahualpa did not immediately sense the threat. Atahualpa quickly recognised them as human beings and intruders to be dealt with. For all their weapons and horses he knew he had more than enough soldiers to handle Pizarro. In fact, Atahualpa was planning to speak with them and then arrest them. He planned to put Pizarro and his officers to death and retain the needed specialists, such as the horsebreaker, blacksmith, and gunsmith to equip his army.

See also

• History of Peru
• Ransom Room
• The Royal Hunt of the Sun
• Spanish conquest of Peru
• War of the two brothers

Further reading

• The Discovery and Conquest of Peru by William H. Prescott
• Conquest of the Incas, John Hemming, 1973.
• The Last Days of the Incas, by Kim MacQuarrie. Simon & Schuster, 2007. ISBN 978-0743260497.
• The Royal Hunt of the Sun, by Peter Shaffer, 1964.

External links

• Capture of an Inca King