Francisco Pizarro y González, 1st Marqués de los Atabillos*, was assassinated on this date in 1541. Pizarro had participated in expeditions led by both Alonso de Ojeda and Vasco Núñez de Balboa before legends of the wealth of the Incas led him into an alliance with Diego de Almagro “El Adelantado”**. While their first excursion in the New World reached only the region now known as Ecuador, their second pushed deeper into the continent and produced evidence of the Inca kingdom. Consequently, the Spanish monarch Carlos I*** sponsored further expeditions, with the promise that Pizarro and not Almagro would receive the majority of any profits from them. In addition, Pizarro would have the title of Gobernador y Capitán General (Governor and Captain General), which bestowed absolute authority in all of the territories he might discover. During their second voyage Pizarro met Atahualpa, the 13th and final emperor of the Incas, in 1532. After gaining his trust, Pizarro captured Atahualpa and promised to spare his life for a ransom of the gold and silver that would fill a chosen room. Although Atahualpa provided the bounty, Pizarro still had him executed. The conquest of Nueva Castilla (Peru) and fall of the Incan Empire came in the following year. After plundering the Incan capital of Cuzco, Pizarro founded La Ciudad de los Reyes (The City of the Kings), which was so named because its site was chosen on the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6th) in 1535. This city later came to be known as Lima, as Limaq was a shrine from before the time of the Incas that the Spaniards replaced with a church. Following Pizarro’s failure to provide his comrade with all of the land he had been promised, Almagro seized Cuzco in 1538. In retaliation Pizarro sent his half-brother Hernando to reclaim the city, and Almagro was executed after his defeat. Three years later, in turn, Pizarro was assassinated by men hired by followers of Almagro, in his palace in the city he established. *The Atabillos (or Atavillos) was a district in Nueva Castilla that remains until this day. The name also refers to a tribe of Indians that likewise lived then and live now. **This office was bestowed by the Crown of Castilla and gave conquistadores the rights of governing and adjudicating specified regions in return for bearing the cost of exploring, conquering, and settling them. Diego de Almagro, also called el Viejo (the Elder) was the adelantado menor (lesser adelantado) of Nueva Toledo (now Chile and southern Peru). The title is an abbreviation of por adelantado (“in advance”). ***Carlos I was also the Holy Roman Emperor Karl V, a throne he held from 1519 through his abdication in 1556. Francisco Pizarro y González was born between 1470 and 1480. Alonso de Ojeda was born c. 1466 and died c. 1515. Vasco Núñez de Balboa was born c. 1474 and died c. 1519. Diego de Almagro, called El Viejo (The Elder), was born c. 1475 and died in 1538. Carlos I lived from 1500 - 1558. His reigned lasted from 1516 until his abdication in 1556.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 08:56:25 +0000
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