Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE SPANISH INVADE
In 1528, explorer Francisco Pizarro and his right-hand-man Diego de Almagro landed in
Tumbes, a far-flung outpost on the north coast of Peru. There, a crew of welcoming natives
offered them meat, fruit, fish and corn beer. To their delight, a cursory examination of the
city revealed an abundance of silver and gold. The explorers quickly returned to Spain to
court royal support for a bigger expedition.
They returned to Tumbes in September of
1532, with a shipload of arms, horses and
slaves, as well as a battalion of 168 men.
Tumbes, the rich town he had visited just four
years earlier had been devastated by epidemics,
as well as the recent Inca civil war. Atahualpa,
in the meantime, was in the process of making
his way down from Quito to Cuzco to claim his
hard-won throne. When the Spanish arrived, he
was in the highland settlement of Cajamarca, enjoying the area's mineral baths.
Pizarro quickly deduced that the empire was in a fractious state. He and his men charted
a course to Cajamarca and approached Atahualpa with royal greetings and promises of
brotherhood. But the well- mannered overtures quickly devolved into a surprise attack that
left thousands of Incas dead and Atahualpa a prisoner of war. (Between their horses, their
armor and the steel of their blades, the Spanish were practically invincible against fighters
armed only with clubs, slings and wicker helmets.)
In an attempt to regain his freedom, Atahualpa offered the Spanish a bounty of gold and
silver. Thus began one of the most famous ransoms in history - with the Incas attempting
to fill an entire room with the precious stuff in order to placate the unrelenting appetites of
the Spanish. But it was never enough. The Spanish held Atahualpa for eight months before
executing him with a garrote at the age of 31.
The Inca empire never recovered from this fateful encounter. The arrival of the Spanish
brought on a cataclysmic collapse of indigenous society. One scholar estimates that the nat-
ive population - around 10 million when Pizarro arrived - was reduced to 600,000 within a
century.
In Lima, from the 16th to 19th centuries, many wo-
men donned head scarves that obscured everything
but one eye, leading locals to dub them
las tapadas
(the covered ones). The origins of the tradition are
unclear (some say it is Moorish), but the practice
allowed women to venture out alone public.
