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How an Incan empire was thrown by a thirst for riches an "appetite" for gold?
All over the Andes, Spanish colonial buildings are supported by the foundations
of Inca masonry, relics of the bloody conquest that shaped Peru’s fate. It remains
one of the most astonishing acts of bravura in military history. On September 24,
1532, a haphazard group of conquistadors – a mere 106 foot-soldiers and 62 cavalrymen
– landed on the Pacific coast, at the edge of the powerful Inca empire, led by an
illiterate pig farmer named Francisco Pizarro. Their timing could not have been
better. The sprawling empire had recently been weakened by civil war and a smallpox
epidemic transmitted by the first European explorers, and the new arrivals boasted
metal armor, gunpowder and horses, all unseen in South America. In the faraway capital
of Cuzco, the Inca ruler, Atahualpa, assumed that the mysterious new arrivals were
possibly of divine origin. Not realizing how bloodthirsty and ruthless the Spaniard
could be, he agreed to meet Pizarro in Cajamarca surrounded by thousands of guards.
But within minutes of the encounter, the conquistadors seized the Inca king in a
surprise attack, using blasts of gunpowder and cavalry to terrify the vastly superior
Inca forces. The Spaniards then threw Atahualpa into a cell with a chain around
his neck. During his imprisonment, the Inca observed that the Spanish were obsessed
with gold. (He assumed they must eat it). So he offered to fill his cell – about
90 cubic yards – with the precious metal as a ransom. Pizarro eagerly agreed. But
no sooner had the room been filled than the greedy conquistadors double-crossed
the Inca. He was put on trial and executed by strangulation. Pizarro then marched
on capital Cuzco – called by Incas “the navel of the world” – where they looted
such wonders as the Temple of the Sun and melted its fabulous gold artifacts into
ingots. The greatest empire South America had ever seen was defeated, although its
culture, language and traditions would survive in its people – the living foundations
of Peru.
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