Description
By Frederick 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.
Contents
Authorities on Francisco Pizarro
Chapter I In the Land of Poisoned Arrows
Chapter II With Balboa in Darien
Chapter III Sailing the Unknown Sea
Chapter IV The Desperate Adventurer
Chapter V Success in Sight at Last
Chapter VI An Appeal to the Crown
Chapter VII On the Peruvian Frontier
Chapter VIII A Glance at the Peruvians
Chapter IX A March to the Mountains
Chapter X In the Inca’s Stronghold
Chapter XI How Atahuallpa was Captured
Chapter XII The Prisoner and his Ransom
Chapter XIII The Inca and his Murderers
Chapter XIV In the Heart of Peru
Chapter XV In the City of the Sun
Chapter XVI Quarrels of the Conquerors
Chapter XVII The Inca Raises His Standard
Chapter XVIII The Downfall of Almagro
Chapter XIX How Pizarro was Assassinated
Index
About the author: Frederick Albion Ober (1849–1913) was a self-educated American naturalist who won fame exploring the Lesser Antilles, where he discovered 22 bird taxa. Two of these, the Lesser Antillean flycatcher and the Montserrat oriole – were named in his honor. He then journeyed through central America researching the history of that region, an adventure which provided the material for a number of highly successful books. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1893, and was a co-founder of the Explorers Club.
143 pages. Paperback.
