World-changing1532 – 1572 · 40 years
Spanish Conquest of Peru
Peru · Inca Empire · South America
Francisco Pizarro's soldiers toppled the Inca Empire and established Spanish rule over vast Andean territories.
Estimated casualties
1.0M – 2.0Mestimated dead
HEADLINE2.0M — the single figure used on the map
Conquest 1532-1572. Combat + disease/enslavement aftermath. Inca population fell ~80%.
SOURCEWikipedia: Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire
What happened
In 1532, Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrived in Peru with about 170 men. The Inca Empire, the world's largest pre-Columbian state, was fractured by civil war between the brothers Huascar and Atahualpa. Pizarro exploited divisions by allying with indigenous groups. At Cajamarca (1532), Pizarro captured Atahualpa through treachery and ransomed him for gold and silver; Atahualpa was subsequently executed. Pizarro's forces then marched on Cusco, the capital, though resistance continued under Manco Inca (1536-1572). Spanish reinforcements and disease gradually overwhelmed Inca resistance. By 1572, Spanish colonial rule was firmly established; the last Inca stronghold fell.
Why it mattered
The conquest of Peru provided Spain with vast wealth (silver from Potosí mines) and an empire spanning South America. The conquest devastated indigenous populations through warfare, enslavement, and disease (estimated 1-10 million deaths). The Spanish imposed Christianity and feudal labor systems (encomienda). The conquest established Spain as the dominant European power and financed its wars in Europe for centuries.
Belligerents2
- Spain
- Inca Empire
ON THE MAPSpanish Empire (Americas)Inca Empire
Conflict graph
SUB-CONFLICTS · 2
Sources
- Wikipedia: Spanish Conquest of Peru
- Clodfelter, Warfare and Armed Conflicts (4th ed., 2017)
- Wikipedia — text reused under CC BY-SA 4.0
Open in the atlas →Seeks the timeline to 1532 and opens this record.
Cite as: Spanish Conquest of Peru (1532 – 1572). War Atlas. https://waratlas.org/c/spanish-conquest-peru · Sources & methodology