 |
 |
 |
          |
 |
Inca Huayna-Capac "He was much loved by his vassals and held to be valiant and firm. He achieved many and renowned victories; he broadened the borders of his empire with many provinces that he added to it. He showed himself to be as prudent in government as he was vigorous at arms..." (Father Bernabe Cobo - 1653)  Huayna-Capac, meaning "rich and excellent youth", was the 11th Inca king, the son of Topa Inca and Mama Ocllo. Under his rule, the Inca Empire conquered the fierce Chachapoyas and Cayambes tribes of the north. Such was the extent of the empire at that time, that Huayna-Capac began plans to build another capital at Quito - "he would have made that town equal to the city of Cuzco in splendour and wealth".Whilst expanding his empire in the north, Huayna-Capac received the first reports of white strangers with "beards and a ferocious appearance". "These men were so bold that they did not fear dangerous things; they were stuffed into their clothes, which covered them from head to foot the strangers traveled across the sea in large wooden houses". The Inca was greatly troubled by the news, who "[getting] up from his seat and, shaking his cape, said, 'Signs and auguries, be gone, be gone; refrain from disturbing or upsetting my dominion and power'". Huayna-Capac was never to meet the Spaniards himself. Shortly after the news of the strangers arrived, an epidemic of smallpox swept across the Inca Empire. Lacking any immunity to the disease, many thousands of Indians died including Huayna-Capac, and his natural heir, Ninan Cuyuchi. |  |
||||
 |
 |
||||||
 |
 |
