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Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541) "Comrades and friends, there lies the part that represents death, hardship, hunger this side represents comfort. Here you return to Panama to be poor; there, you may go forward to Peru to be rich. Choose which best becomes you as good Spaniards!" (Francisco Pizarro to his troops requesting a retreat to Panama - 1527)  Francisco Pizarro was born in Trujillo de Extremadura, 140 miles southwest of Madrid, as the illegitimate son of a distinguished professional officer. Pizarro is thought to have left Trujillo at the age of nineteen and served in military campaigns in Italy before sailing for the Indies in 1502. During the next two decades, Pizarro fought in numerous campaigns against natives and gained a reputation as a tough, experienced soldier.Pizarro became one of the richer citizens of Panama and, as a middle-aged man, should have been expected to settle down to a comfortable retirement. But Pizarro chose to risk his life and riches on explorations for a civilisation rumored to lie far to the south of Panama. His first expedition in 1524 was decidedly unsuccessful, but his second expedition in 1526 captured an Inca raft laden with treasure. Pizarro was illiterate and a poor horseman, inexperienced in the administrative skills required to run a vast empire. But his command of the conquest was never in question and his troops respected and obeyed him faithfully. He gained support of the Spanish Crown for his invasion and was named Governor and Captain-General of Peru. Pizarro never married, though he was fond of his Inca princesses and the children they bore him. At the time of his murder in 1541 he was one of the richest men in the Indies, though he never had opportunity to make great use of his wealth. |
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