Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ATAHUALPA'S BRIEF REIGN
Other Inca kings would continue the expansions. Pachacutec's grandson, Huayna Cápac,
who began his rule in 1493, took over much of modern-day Ecuador all the way into Co-
lombia. Consequently, he spent much of his life living, governing and commanding his
armies from the north, rather than Cuzco.
By this time, the Spanish presence was already being felt in the Andes. Small pox and
other epidemics transmitted by European soldiers were sweeping through the entire Amer-
ican continent. These were so swift, in fact, that they arrived in Peru before the Spanish
themselves, claiming thousands of indigenous lives - including, in all likelihood, that of
Huayna Cápac, who succumbed to some sort of plague in 1525.
Without a clear plan of succession, the emperor's untimely death left a power vacuum.
The contest turned into a face-off between two of his many children: the Quito-born Atahu-
alpa, who commanded his father's army in the north, and Huáscar, who was based in
Cuzco. The ensuing struggle plunged the empire into a bloody civil war, reducing entire
cities to rubble. Atahualpa emerged as the victor in April of 1532. But the vicious nature of
the conflict left the Incas with a lot of enemies throughout the Andes - which is why some
tribes were so willing to cooperate with the Spanish when they arrived just five months
later.
