Conquistador: Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of the Inca Empire

by Frederick Albion Ober

The gripping, shocking and almost unbelievable story of how a few hundred Spaniards subdued the millions of the Inca Empire. Under the leadership of Francisco Pizarro, Spanish soldiers numbering between as few as 80 and never more than 500, overcame vast Inca armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands through a combination of superior technology, better tactics and the less appealing methods of murder and outright deceit. This work details Pizarro's first two failed attempts to invade the Inca Empire; the daring capture of the Incan emperor Atahulpa at the Battle of Cajamarca; the "ransom of gold"; Atahualpa's brutal execution, and the seizure and subsequent dramatic battles around the of the Incan capital city of Cuzco. Pizarro and his fellow conquistador Diego Almagro fell out with one another, sparking off a war between two Spanish factions which ended in the defeat and execution of Almagro in 1541. The same year, Pizarro met his own violent end at the hands of Almargo's embittered son, and was laid to rest in the Cathedral of Lima, a city which Pizarro founded. Included in this fast-paced and easy-to-read story is an insight into how quickly the leading Conquistadors miscegenated into the native Indian population.

144 pages, Hardcover

Published May 22, 2019

About the author

Frederick Albion Ober was an American naturalist and writer.