by Hugh Thomas
Pizarro sent the useful Soto and the powerful Benalcázar ahead on horses to explore. They found ample provisions and gold in many temples. The Indians attacked them, but Soto’s force responded very effectively, the local people having no answer to Spanish swords.
Through Soto, Atahualpa’s captain Ciquinchara sent Pizarro a present of some duck and two model earthenware fortresses. He also sent chicha and tiles of gold. Ciquinchara stayed with Soto till he returned to Pizarro, who, in his turn, sent to Atahualpa the typical Spanish present of a good Holland shirt of fine white linen, two crystal glasses from Venice (only slightly less typical), some pearls from Panama, and a random collection of scissors, knives, combs, and mirrors from Spain.51
The Spanish expedition was still in the pretty valley of the river Puira on October 8, 1532; it was at Serrán on October 16, and then passed several towns at the foot of the sierra on October 19. From there, Pizarro sent an emissary to Atahualpa. At the same time, he held an open meeting of his followers at which he declared that his intention was “to carry this barbarous people to their union with Christianity without doing them any damage.”52 In the mountains, Atahualpa asked his secret agent all kinds of sensible questions, including whether the Spaniards ate human beings, to receive the correct reply: “I have seen them eat nothing but sheep [llamas], lamb, duck, pigeon, and venison and with these they eat tortillas of maize.”53 As they marched south, Soto was sent inland on a reconnaissance to Cajas on the main Inca road. He took over five hundred women from their “convent” in the main square and allowed his men to rape them (the evidence is that of Diego de Trujillo, an eyewitness).
On November 15, 1532, Pizarro and his men made their way to Atahualpa’s city of Cajamarca, through plantations of cotton.
At this time, Atahualpa, with a large army of perhaps forty thousand soldiers, was at some baths about four miles outside Cajamarca, at Kónoj. In a palace with two towers that rose from a courtyard, there was a pool, in which the Inca was taking the waters. There were two pipes, one of cold, one of hot water. The Spaniards could easily identify with such a spa.
20
Cajamarca
The courtier’s chief purpose and end to which he is directed must be to provide the ruler with sound political advice and to ensure that the public seeks honour and profit.
CASTIGLIONE, The Courtier
The Pizarros and their expedition of now 168 men, of whom sixty-two were horsemen, reached Cajamarca by what the Romans would have named forced marches. The last part of the road had been harsh: Hernando Pizarro, every day more important because of his superior education and his experience in a European army, later said that if the Inca had taken any trouble “they could have stopped us easily.”1 But Atahualpa took no such trouble. He had a big army with him. It was the last day of one of his fasts. He was looking forward to seeing these strange animals, horses, of which he had heard so much.2 One report was that when they had to walk uphill, the Spanish footsoldiers hung on to the horses’ tails.
One conquistador, Juan Ruiz de Arce, from Alburquerque in Extremadura, from a family of petty hidalgos that had long fought for the Christian cause in Castile, said that, from the hillside over which they had come, the Indian encampment beyond Cajamarca looked like a beautiful planned city. But, he commented, it would have been a serious psychological mistake to indicate any kind of fear, so they “descended into the valley and entered the city.”3
Cajamarca lay in a fertile flat valley with complicated watercourses, a sun temple, and sacred buildings full of women chosen either for their birth or their beauty. Their main task seems to have been to make chicha for the Inca.
Pizarro’s first action on reaching Cajamarca was to dispatch his brother Hernando with Soto and fifteen horsemen to go to Atahualpa and ask him to come and meet them. They went with one of the native interpreters whom Pizarro had seized on his first visit to Peru and trained in Spain. He was not up to the task and must be considered partly responsible for the tragedy that followed. For the translator rendered Spanish words barbarously, giving some of them the meaning opposite to what was intended. The mistranslations irritated Atahualpa: “What does this fellow mean stammering from one word to another and from one mistake to the next as if he were dumb?” The interpreter also found it difficult after two years’ absence to render the speech of the Inca adequately.4
The Inca said that he knew that the Spaniards were gods—sons of Viracocha, that is—and messengers from the long-lost god-king Pachacutí, and that their arrival had been foreshadowed by his father, Huayna Capac. So he, Atahualpa, had decreed that no one should take up arms against them. All the same, he wondered why the Spaniards continually spoke of peace while often killing people. For example, he had heard from Marcavilca, the chief of the Poechos on the river Zuracan, how Pizarro had put several chiefs into chains.5
Hernando Pizarro replied by saying that his brother Francisco loved Atahualpa. That was why he had gone so far to find him. He wanted Atahualpa to know that if any enemy should appear, he, Francisco Pizarro, would send ten horsemen to destroy them. That should be adequate. Even that turbulent tribe the Chachapoyas would be easily beaten.6
At this, Atahualpa asked the Spaniards to drink chicha with him. Comforted by this sign that the New World had something at least in common with the old, when the offer was made of a drink, Hernando accepted. Atahualpa also asked his visitors if they would like to stay the night. They refused, saying that they had to return to their friends in Cajamarca. Atahualpa said that the Spaniards could stay in the center of Cajamarca, where there were three large dormitories that might suit them.
Before they left the spa, Hernando performed before the Inca on a small horse that had been trained to rear. Atahualpa was very interested. Like most of Pizarro’s horses, this beast was small, Arab stock from Andalusia, hardy and intelligent. The other Hernando, Hernando de Soto, gave the Inca a ring from his finger as a sign of peace. The Spaniards then went back to Cajamarca. Before they left, Atahualpa promised to pay a return visit the following day, with an escort of several thousand men. Pedro Pizarro commented that one or two of Atahualpa’s followers who had shown signs of fear were executed “to encourage the others.”7
On the return of Hernando Pizarro’s mission, he and his brother Francisco examined the main square in Cajamarca. Each side was about two hundred yards long. On three sides, there were low buildings, each with twenty gates. The fourth side had a low wall of adobe with a tower and gate in the center. The Spaniards moved into the buildings on the first three sides but left the fourth unattended.8
The Spaniards present at Cajamarca have been carefully studied by James Lockhart in an admirable work.9 Of the hundred or so men whose past is known, about half had been in the Indies for five or more years. All the captains (Pizarro, Soto, Benalcázar) had been there for twenty or more years, while Cristóbal de Mena and García de Salcedo had been there for ten years. Most of those who had been in the Indies for any length of time had, like Francisco Pizarro and Soto, been companions of Pedrarias. None of the men with Pizarro had been with Cortés in New Spain.10 Practically nobody except Pizarro himself had spent any time in the Caribbean. Most of the rank and file were in their twenties, but the captains were mostly in their thirties. Pizarro was exceptional, since having been born about 1479, he was, as we have seen, in his fifties. Candía said that he was forty.
Of those whose origins we know something, thirty-six came from Extremadura (fourteen from Trujillo), thirty-four came from Andalusia (mostly Seville), seventeen were from Old Castile, and fifteen were from New Castile. Perhaps thirty-six out of the 168 were hidalgos and could read and write. Two had Italian surnames (Piñelo, Cataño) but many men with such names were considered Spanish: The Piñelos had been major entrepreneurs in Seville for two generations. Almost certainly these men were merchants as well as soldiers. There was only one man who certainly had been at a university, the priest Valverde. So, perhaps, had Hernando Pizarro. About three-quarters of this
Spanish army were literate: One hundred and eight could sign their names, thirty-three could not. One in ten was a notary. Two may have had Muslim blood.11 There seems to have been a small unit of perhaps thirty African slaves at Pizarro’s orders.
The Spaniards in Cajamarca did not know what their plan for the following day should be. Pedro Pizarro wrote of real doubt among the rank and file: “We took many opinions,” he said, “as to what should be done. All were full of fear, because we were so few and so far away from home that we could not be reinforced. All assembled in the governor’s [i.e., Pizarro’s] quarters to debate what should be done next day. There was [in this discussion] no distinction between great men and unimportant ones, nor between foot soldiers and horsemen. All carried out their sentry duties fully armed. On that night all were gentlemen. The Spaniards had no knowledge whatsoever as to how the Indians would fight.”12 At the same time, Miguel de Estete thought that the “campfires of the Indian army [being so many] were a terrible sight. Most were on the hillside and they seemed like a star-studded sky.”13 There were moments of alarm, even of panic, effectively restrained by Pizarro’s comforting self-confidence.
John Hemming suggests that it was agreed among the Spaniards that Governor Pizarro himself should decide on the spur of the moment the course of action to be taken the next day.14 It seems, though, likely that the brothers Pizarro had in truth already decided what to do. They remembered Cortés’s successful seizure of Montezuma. Surely they, too, had decided to act similarly in respect of Atahualpa.
Probably Pizarro wanted Atahualpa to be absolutely at his disposal. He had a dais made for the Inca to sit upon: “He would be asked to sit there in the square of Cajamarca and then order his men to return to their camp.”15
Pizarro also prepared for a battle. He organized his modest cavalry in two groups, one under his brother Hernando, the other under Soto.16 Candía was to control the artillery as well as a detachment of trumpeters. Pizarro himself, always a footsoldier, would lead the infantry, with his brother Juan as his deputy. When Atahualpa arrived in the square, Candía was to fire his guns and have trumpets blown. At that signal, the cavalry, bells attached to the bridles of the horses, would ride out of the long building where they were in readiness.
Things did not go according to plan. Atahualpa made no appearance in the morning. Indeed, he did not come to Cajamarca till the late afternoon, the sun sinking. He was accompanied by about five hundred men—so it was said—each carrying small battle axes, slings, and pouches full of stones under their tunics.17 The Inca himself was carried on a litter with silver ends, and he was adorned with jewels (including emeralds round his neck), with many highly colored parrot feathers, and with some plates of gold and silver. The work of carrying the litter was performed by about eighty nobles—that is the Castilian estimate—surrounded by others in checkered clothing who were busy singing and sweeping away rubbish in front of the Inca, including straw and feathers. These attendants were armed with slings. The lord of Chincha, a prominent courtier, was present, too—also, it seems, on a litter. Pedro Pizarro reflected that it was “a marvel to see how the sun glittered” on the gold and silver of the litter of Atahualpa. The latter had charmingly explained to his court that the Spaniards were ambassadors of God and so it was not necessary to carry offensive arms.
The only Spaniard who came to greet the Inca was Hernando de Aldana, an Extremeño from Valencia de Alcántara, close to the Portuguese frontier, who had already learned a little Quechua. Atahualpa was astounded to find only one man present. But shortly, the Dominican Fray Vicente de Valverde also came out to address him. Apparently this was improvised. He spoke to Atahualpa through an interpreter. One native source explained that Atahualpa was surprised by Valverde’s uncouth appearance: Perhaps he had not been able to shave for a time.18 Valverde gave Atahualpa in effect a rough version of the famous Requirement. This included a short history of Christianity. Valverde insisted that Atahualpa should begin to pay tribute to Emperor Charles V and become his vassal. He should hand over his kingdom to him and repudiate his gods. He also said, “If you obstinately seek to resist, you may rest assured that you and all your Indians will be destroyed by our arms, even as the Pharaoh of old and all his host perished in the Red Sea.”19 That abstruse biblical reference could not have been appreciated by the unfortunate Inca.
There followed a moment of confusion. According to Garcilaso de la Vega, Valverde by mistake dropped his daybook and his cross; but Pedro Pizarro said that Atahualpa had asked to see these objects. The Inca could not open the book, perhaps because it was locked, and so threw it onto the ground. Or did he throw it to his relations? At all events, Atahualpa fumbled, and this gave the Christians what they later considered a good excuse for their extraordinary conduct.20
Candía’s moment had come. He fired two guns, the trumpets were sounded. The cavalry streamed out of their quarters at a gallop. The infantry followed, their steel swords mercilessly active. Though they were in a vast majority over the foreigners, the Indians had no knowledge of what to do. Most panicked and broke through the adobe wall on the square’s fourth side. They fled into the country, but Spanish horsemen followed and caused many further deaths. In the square, hundreds were quickly killed. No Spaniards seem to have died, but the Indians killed were without limit: Garcilaso thought that five thousand Indians died that afternoon. Other Spanish chroniclers made similar estimates: Trujillo thought in terms of eight thousand; Ruiz de Arce, seven thousand; Mena, six to seven thousand; Xerez, two thousand.21 If we accept the lowest estimate, Xerez’s, it still must seem a vast number to be killed by fewer than two hundred Europeans.
Atahualpa was captured by Pizarro himself, having been wounded by Miguel de Estete, the notary from Santo Domingo de la Calzada, who had wanted to kill the Inca with a knife.22 Almost all the nobility of old Peru were killed, however, and Atahualpa, the Inca, became a frightened prisoner, being held at first in the temple of the sun and then in Pizarro’s own lodgings, in one of the palaces in the square.
The explanation of this massacre must be sought in the mood of anxiety and apprehension among the Spaniards, who, even outnumbered, thought that they had to fight in order to live. The Spaniards felt an extreme unease at being surrounded by a large horde of people of a quite different race to themselves. That done, they assumed that violence worked, and that terrible day in the square of Cajamarca was not forgotten. Indeed it would be repeated. The barbarity of the Spaniards was due to their fear, isolation, and uncertainty.
That does not justify their disgraceful behavior, for which the illiterate but charming Francisco Pizarro must take full responsibility. It is true that his achievement was a triumph of European warfare, though the numbers reported to have been killed have an unbelievable implication! Nevertheless, the probability is that even Xerez exaggerated and that casualties did not in reality exceed a thousand.
21
The End of Atahualpa
It is better for a ruler to be feared than loved. Better to rely on punishment than considerateness.
MACHIAVELLI, Discourses
It must seem improbable that anything new can be said of the imprisonment of Atahualpa, last independent Inca in Peru. Such great historians as Prescott and Hemming have admirable pages on these matters in their famous books. Macaulay in an essay of 1840 pushed aside any such pre-tensions when he made his famous comment that every schoolboy knew who strangled him.1 Yet little is clear in history.
Atahualpa was afraid that he would be killed the day following his capture (November 13, 1532). He was led by the interpreter to think that the Pizarros and their expedition really favored his defeated brother, Huascar, which would explain to him what had occurred the previous day. Atahualpa realized that he had been deceived by his agent, Apoo, about the Spaniards’ capacity to fight. Atahualpa told the interpreter Martinillo that he would give Pizarro a quantity of gold and silver. He had been fully informed by Apoo and others of the Spaniards’ preoccupation with gold. Pizarro c
ame to ask how much he would provide. Extremeños such as Pizarro liked to have such questions clear. Atahualpa replied that he would fill the room where they were talking with gold “as high as he could reach with his hand on the wall.”2 He made “a line on the wall” (hizo una raya en la pared).3 This room was apparently twenty-two feet long by seventeen feet wide by eleven and a half feet high. That would mean a gift of three thousand cubic feet.4 This present would be procured in two months. An escribano (notary) wrote everything down.5 Pizarro seems to have promised Atahualpa his life if this undertaking was fulfilled, but this detail seems a little unclear, as events were to show.6 Perhaps that was merely the implication of Pizarro’s response.
The Spaniards settled down to wait. Some went with Hernando de Soto again to see Atahualpa’s camp, which they found full of troops behaving as if nothing had happened. Instructed by the Inca, these troops made the sign of the Christian cross as a mark of surrender. Soto and his men also ransacked the Inca’s camp at Cajamarca and seized what is said to have been 80,000 pesos of gold and 7,000 silver marks. They also seized fourteen emeralds.7 These thefts were independent of the promises to fill the room where Atahualpa was. A little later, three Spaniards set off for Cuzco, of which Pizarro and his friends by now had heard a great deal. These were Martín Bueno, Pedro Martín de Moguer, and Juan de Zárate. They were carried in hammocks by Indians on Atahualpa’s orders. Atahualpa had established his general Quizquiz also at Cuzco, to ensure the collection of the ransom—if that is what it was. Publicly he continued to conduct himself as the leader of the empire, consulting advisers, appointing new officials (necessary after the killings in the square), seeing messengers from the outer provinces, issuing orders. The mood was much as it had been in New Spain in November 1519 after the kidnapping of Montezuma, except that at the equivalent stage, Cortés had killed no one.