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1532 - The conquest begins Atahualpa approaches Cajamarca The Spanish had spent the previous night considering their limited options. They could use the element of surprise and attack the natives first or they could emulate Cortés' success in Mexico of kidnapping the head of state. They could try to exploit the tensions of civil war in the empire or they could attempt to maintain the illusion of friendship and hope for more favourable circumstances in the future. At midday, Atahualpa's army began to move - "the entire plain was full of men, rearranging themselves at every step, waiting for the Inca to emerge." The Spanish, concealed in the buildings surrounding the main square, waited anxiously as a series of messages were exchanged. Atahualpa started to pitch his tents just half a mile away from the town but the Spanish, fearful of a night attack, impressed upon the Inca the urgency of him coming to meet Pizarro in Cajamarca. Atahualpa finally agreed and, leaving behind most of his warriors, entered the town square with "five or six thousand men, unarmed except that they carried small battle-axes, slings and pouches of stones". The Inca approached "in a very fine litter with the ends of its timbers covered in silver... eighty lords carried him on their shoulders, all wearing a rich blue livery. [The Inca] was very richly dressed, with his crown on his head and a collar of large emeralds around his neck". The Inca halted in the middle of the square, surrounded by his leading commanders and chiefs. Confrontation  Friar Vicente de Valverde and Martin, the interpreter, emerged to talk with Atahualpa. The friar began to deliver the famous Requirement, a self-justifying speech that was proclaimed in any conquest before resorting to violence. The Inca expressed interest in the friar's Bible but became angry when he was unable to open it. Finally opening it, he admired the form and layout before angrily throwing it to the ground.Atahualpa rose in his litter, telling his men to make ready. The Spanish launched their ambush by firing cannons into the crowd and then unleashing a charge of cavalry from their hiding places in the buildings around the square. The booming cannons, the trumpets, the battle cries of "Santiago!" and the onslaught on horses had a devastating effect on the Indians. They were "thrown into confusion and panicked. The Spaniards fell upon them and began to kill." "[The Indians] were filled with so much fear that they climbed on top of one another - to such an extent that they formed mounds and suffocated one another". Atahualpa captured Francisco Pizarro focused his attention on capturing the Inca from his litter. "All those who were carrying Atahualpa's litter appeared to be important men, and they all died..." "Many Indians had their hands cut off but continued to support their ruler's litter with their shoulders. But their efforts were of little avail for they were all killed." "Those who were carrying the litter and those who escorted the Inca never abandoned him: all died around him". The Spanish succeeded in capturing Atahualpa and escorted him under heavy guard to the Temple of the Sun. Meanwhile, the Indians trying to flee the carnage in the square "broke down a fifteen-foot stretch of wall six feet thick". The cavalry followed the Indians into the surrounding fields. "All were shouting, 'After those with the liveries!', 'Do not let any escape!', 'Spear them!'" The Inca's army, standing just a mile away on the plain, was ready for battle but did not make a move against the Spanish. "Night had already fallen and the horsemen were continuing to lance natives in the fields, when they sounded a trumpet for us to reassemble at the camp. On arrival we went to congratulate the Governor [Pizarro] on the victory". "In the space of two hours - all that remained of daylight - all those troops were annihilated... that day, six or seven thousand Indians lay dead on the plain and many more had their arms cut off and other wounds." "During all this no Indian raised a weapon against a Spaniard". |
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