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Inca Apocalypse: The Spanish Conquest and the Transformation of the Andean World
Inca Apocalypse develops a new perspective on the European invasions of the Inca realm, and the way that the Spanish transformation of the Andes relates to broader changes occurring in the transition from medieval to early modern Europe. The book is structured to foreground some of the parallels in the imperial origins of the Incas and Spain, as well as some of the global processes affecting both societies during the first century of their interaction. The Spanish conquest of the Inca empire was more than a decisive victory at Cajamarca in 1532-it was an uneven process that failed to bring to pass the millenarian vision that set it in motion, yet it succeeded profoundly in some respects. The Incas and their Andean subjects were not passive victims of colonization, and indigenous complicity and resistance actively shaped Spanish colonial rule.
As it describes the transformation of the Inca world, Inca Apocalypse attempts to build a more global context than previous accounts of the Spanish Conquest, and it seeks not to lose sight of the parallel changes occurring in Europe as Spain pursued state projects that complemented the colonial endeavors in the Americas. New archaeological and archival research makes it possible to frame a familiar story from a larger historical and geographical scale than has typically been considered. The new text will have solid scholarly foundations but a narrative intended to be accessible to non-academic readers.
As it describes the transformation of the Inca world, Inca Apocalypse attempts to build a more global context than previous accounts of the Spanish Conquest, and it seeks not to lose sight of the parallel changes occurring in Europe as Spain pursued state projects that complemented the colonial endeavors in the Americas. New archaeological and archival research makes it possible to frame a familiar story from a larger historical and geographical scale than has typically been considered. The new text will have solid scholarly foundations but a narrative intended to be accessible to non-academic readers.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2020
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316 people want to read
About the author
R. Alan Covey
10 books5 followersA specialist in the development and organization of ancient empires with particular focus on the Incas of Andean South America, R. Alan Covey is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. Covey earned his A.B. in Anthropology and Classical Archaeology from Dartmouth College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 7, 2021
On November 15, 1632, a group of Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro arrived in the town of Cajamarca on the Andean highlands. Outside the evacuated town were encamped thousands of Inca warriors led by their ruler, Atahualpa, who was concluding a civil war waged against his dissolute brother and predecessor, Huáscar. Greatly outnumbered by the Inca forces, the Spaniards resorted to subterfuge; inviting Atahualpa to meet with him the next day, the Spaniards ambushed Atahualpa’s procession, killing hundreds of Incans and making off with their emperor.
The battle of Cajamarca is among the most famous and misinterpreted events of the history of the Spanish conquest. Numerous writers have portrayed it as the conquest of the entire Inca empire at a single stroke. As Alan Covey explains, however, it was just one event in a decades-long process of interaction, confrontation, and assimilation that only gradually brought the Inca people under a semblance of Spanish control. Drawing upon a range of new archaeological and archival discoveries, he provides a new account of the Spanish conquest of the Andes that makes clear the complex forces at play in an event with enormous implications for the world.
Covey begins by detailing the mindsets of both the Inca and Spanish in the period prior to the conquest. As he reveals both were infused by a degree of apocalyptic thinking that exerted a considerable influence upon their interpretation of events. This also has the effect of establishing a parity between the two empires, emphasizing the degree to which their encounter was far from the unequal clash of worlds as has so often been misrepresented, but one in which the Spanish were at a disadvantage in many respects.
Against this the Spanish benefited unintentionally from a couple of factors. One was the recent Inca civil war, which disrupted the ruling elite and created divisions within it. Another was a recent pandemic that had swept through the empire that, in conjunction with the civil war, left the Inca empire weaker than normal. Though the particulars of this disease remain unknown, Covey gives credence to it as a “virgin soil epidemic” that served as a devastating vanguard for the Spanish. These factors had disrupted Inca society, creating opportunities that the Spanish were able to exploit.
Yet to the Inca, the Spanish themselves posed an opportunity that they might capitalize on for their own ends. The Inca’s civil war fueled factionalism, with all sides seeking to exploit the rapacious Spanish. The wealth of gold and silver plundered only drove further lust, however, as more Spanish soon arrived in the hopes of winning a fortune for themselves. This quickly exceeded the booty available to Pizarro; more importantly, it went against the intentions of Charles V, who as the Spanish king had sought to colonize the region rather than to loot it. The tension between imperial tensions and individual interests defined the next two decades, with the surviving Inca leaders seeking Charles’s protection in the hope of preserving their status. This culminated in the battle of Jaquijahuana in 1548, at which Pizarro’s last surviving brother surrendered to royalist Spanish forces aided by Andean warriors – an illustration of the degree to which Spanish influence still depended upon Inca participation.
With the growing assertion of royal control came its gradual assimilation into the Spanish empire, a process that played out over the rest of the 16th century. Though Catholic missionaries spoke out on behalf of the converted Incans, over time they found their efforts to maintain their sovereignty undermined by Spanish attempts to more ruthlessly exploit the resources of the region. Efforts to resist this growing domination resulted in new rebellions, this time of the Inca against the Spanish, all of which were gradually crushed. For the remaining Inca elites, the only option remaining was to maintain a semblance of their status within the Spanish colonial social structure, which they did with some success right up to independence.
Understanding the Inca requires a careful piecing together of fragmentary information and the interpretation of often partisan sources. Covey proves more than up to the task, demonstrating a command of the available sources for both the Inca and the Spanish. He is particularly good at providing an ethnohistorical interpretation of Inca royal power, detailing the role that the Coya (empress) and other women played in the structure of royal authority and how their position was affected by the events of the Spanish takeover. With its incorporation of the latest research and its comprehensible and often gripping description of developments, it’s a book which is necessary reading for anyone interested in learning about the Inca and their gradual absorption into the Spanish empire.
The battle of Cajamarca is among the most famous and misinterpreted events of the history of the Spanish conquest. Numerous writers have portrayed it as the conquest of the entire Inca empire at a single stroke. As Alan Covey explains, however, it was just one event in a decades-long process of interaction, confrontation, and assimilation that only gradually brought the Inca people under a semblance of Spanish control. Drawing upon a range of new archaeological and archival discoveries, he provides a new account of the Spanish conquest of the Andes that makes clear the complex forces at play in an event with enormous implications for the world.
Covey begins by detailing the mindsets of both the Inca and Spanish in the period prior to the conquest. As he reveals both were infused by a degree of apocalyptic thinking that exerted a considerable influence upon their interpretation of events. This also has the effect of establishing a parity between the two empires, emphasizing the degree to which their encounter was far from the unequal clash of worlds as has so often been misrepresented, but one in which the Spanish were at a disadvantage in many respects.
Against this the Spanish benefited unintentionally from a couple of factors. One was the recent Inca civil war, which disrupted the ruling elite and created divisions within it. Another was a recent pandemic that had swept through the empire that, in conjunction with the civil war, left the Inca empire weaker than normal. Though the particulars of this disease remain unknown, Covey gives credence to it as a “virgin soil epidemic” that served as a devastating vanguard for the Spanish. These factors had disrupted Inca society, creating opportunities that the Spanish were able to exploit.
Yet to the Inca, the Spanish themselves posed an opportunity that they might capitalize on for their own ends. The Inca’s civil war fueled factionalism, with all sides seeking to exploit the rapacious Spanish. The wealth of gold and silver plundered only drove further lust, however, as more Spanish soon arrived in the hopes of winning a fortune for themselves. This quickly exceeded the booty available to Pizarro; more importantly, it went against the intentions of Charles V, who as the Spanish king had sought to colonize the region rather than to loot it. The tension between imperial tensions and individual interests defined the next two decades, with the surviving Inca leaders seeking Charles’s protection in the hope of preserving their status. This culminated in the battle of Jaquijahuana in 1548, at which Pizarro’s last surviving brother surrendered to royalist Spanish forces aided by Andean warriors – an illustration of the degree to which Spanish influence still depended upon Inca participation.
With the growing assertion of royal control came its gradual assimilation into the Spanish empire, a process that played out over the rest of the 16th century. Though Catholic missionaries spoke out on behalf of the converted Incans, over time they found their efforts to maintain their sovereignty undermined by Spanish attempts to more ruthlessly exploit the resources of the region. Efforts to resist this growing domination resulted in new rebellions, this time of the Inca against the Spanish, all of which were gradually crushed. For the remaining Inca elites, the only option remaining was to maintain a semblance of their status within the Spanish colonial social structure, which they did with some success right up to independence.
Understanding the Inca requires a careful piecing together of fragmentary information and the interpretation of often partisan sources. Covey proves more than up to the task, demonstrating a command of the available sources for both the Inca and the Spanish. He is particularly good at providing an ethnohistorical interpretation of Inca royal power, detailing the role that the Coya (empress) and other women played in the structure of royal authority and how their position was affected by the events of the Spanish takeover. With its incorporation of the latest research and its comprehensible and often gripping description of developments, it’s a book which is necessary reading for anyone interested in learning about the Inca and their gradual absorption into the Spanish empire.
June 17, 2025
I really enjoyed this book's focus on belief (religious and otherwise) as a driver for change, as well as the deeper dive into Andean and Spanish politics during the few hundred years the book covers.
February 19, 2026
Covey tries to stress the role of religious beliefs. I like it even if he often defaults to a lightly revisionist narrative history.
January 20, 2021
Very informative, but sometimes hard to follow.
December 17, 2023
This book started out very interesting but soon it became jumpy and hard to follow and repetitive.
January 28, 2023
Repetitive and not focused on most important events.
July 11, 2024
Great book. I wish I had this when I lived in Peru. I enjoyed the telling of Spanish history at the same time as the history in Peru.
I’m surprised the author hasn’t been murdered by all Spaniards and all Catholics for revealing how barbaric they were in this destruction of indigenous peoples and cultures.
I’m surprised the author hasn’t been murdered by all Spaniards and all Catholics for revealing how barbaric they were in this destruction of indigenous peoples and cultures.
November 18, 2021
A very detailed though sometimes tedious history of the long Spanish conquest of the Inca empire, including detailed accounts of Spanish and Inca eschatology and the existing western historiography of Inca society
April 4, 2021
Interesting topic but hard to follow.
May 2, 2022
Exciting, exhaustive. Gives you a good sense of what it was to be Inca and be suddenly faced with Pizarro. Best I have yet read on the topic.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews