Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Battle of Cajamarca (Encore)

Starting point is 00:00:00 The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily. Some of the most important battles in history, the ones that change the course of civilizations, are often very small battles. In 1532, a battle, really just a skirmish, took place which completely changed the future paths of Peru, Spain, and the entire continent of South America. Despite the importance of this battle, few people have ever even heard of it. Learn more about the battle of Cajamarka and how it changed. the shape of the world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Starting point is 00:00:49 What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. I'm guessing that most of you listening to this are not familiar. with the Battle of Kahamarka. However, you should be. By the end of this episode, I hope you

Starting point is 00:01:24 have an appreciation for the event that took place almost 500 years ago, and how it shaped the world in ways that still can be felt today. The year 1532 was 40 years after Columbus arrived in the Americas. Spain had established a foothold in the new world. Hernan Cortez had conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico. Spain had major ports in the Caribbean and had begun the takeover of Central America. However, at this point, they still hadn't conquered what would be perhaps their most lucrative colony, Peru. Peru was further away than Mexico or the islands in the Caribbean, which could be accessed directly by ship from Spain. It was in the Andes Mountains and had to be accessed by land, or at least by ship from the Pacific coast. Peru at the time was ruled by the Incan Empire.

Starting point is 00:02:11 The Incas were not an ancient empire at that time. It was established in the 13th century in the Peruvian Highlands, around the city of Kusko. According to Incan mythology, the first emperor, Monko Koppak, founded Kusko and started the dynasty. Initially, the Inca's were one of several small and competing tribes in the region that happened to become the one that was the most powerful. The Incan Empire is certainly worthy of its own episode in the future, but for the purpose of this episode, we can establish that the Inkans were the dominant power in the region, a position that they had held at this point for several centuries. Most importantly, in the early

Starting point is 00:02:47 In early 16th century, just before the arrival of the Spanish, the Incan Empire had reached its zenith under the 11th Incan Empire, Huenah Kapak. The empire stretched from present-day Southern Colombia to central Chile, including most of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and northern Argentina. This vast area was home to diverse peoples and environments, all integrated into the empire through an extensive system of roads, sophisticated agricultural techniques, and a centralized administration. Of all the great pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, the Incas were by far the largest and the most powerful. However, a united, powerful empire under a great ruler, is not what

Starting point is 00:03:28 the Incan Empire was by the time the Spanish arrived. Hwena Capac died in 1527 of some disease, which was probably a disease brought by the Europeans like measles or smallpox. Around the same time of his death, his eldest son and heir apparent died as well. This resulted in a struggle for the throne between the two youngest sons of Hwana Koppak, Huskar and Adahualpa, and the start of the Incan civil war. Adahua, based in the northern city of Quito, and Huscar, ruling from the traditional Incan capital of Kusko, engaged in a bitter and bloody struggle for the control of the empire. The conflict weakened the Inca state, both militarily and administratively, culminating in Adahualpa's victory in 1532. The timing of the Civil War could not have been worse. The war weakened the Inca

Starting point is 00:04:18 Empire just at the exact moment that the Spanish were about to enter under the leadership of Francisco Pizarro. Estimates had been placed on the number of Incan losses on both sides of the conflict at around 100,000. Francisco Pizarro was a Spanish conquistador born around 1474 in Trujillo, Spain. motivated by tales of rich civilizations in the new world, he traveled to the Americas for fame and fortune. He joined Vasco Nunez de Balboa in his expedition to cross Panama to the Pacific Ocean, and he later turned on Balboa, resulting in Balboa's arrest and execution. And he was rewarded for this by being appointed the mayor of the newly founded Panama City.

Starting point is 00:04:59 Having heard stories of the wealth of Peru, he led an expedition down the coast in 1524 and again in 1526. He then returned to Spain to raise money and men and to get crowned approval for another expedition to Peru to finally conquer it. He set out from Panama on December 27, 1530, with three ships, 180 men, and 27 horses. After establishing a base on the coast and being reinforced by Hernando de Soto, he set out into the interior of Peru on September 24, 1532. The time he spent on the coast gave him a clearer picture of the political and military situation in Peru. especially what had been happening with the civil war, which had ended only months before. Adahualpa had been resting in the mountains, not far from the city of Kahamarka, after the end of the war with his brother.

Starting point is 00:05:49 Pizarro wanted to conquer Peru, but he was vastly outnumbered. There were perhaps millions of people in the Incan Empire, and Pizarro had about 200 men in total, now spread across several camps, plus some guns and horses. Despite a massive advantage in technology, it really didn't matter when they were that outnumbered. They literally wouldn't have had enough ammunition. Pizarro set up a base in Cajamarka with only 110 infantry, 67 cavalry, three muskets, and two cannons. Ata Hualpa, who was not that far away, had an army of 50,000. Pizarro's plan was to use subterfuge and to use Atahuapua as the means to conquer Peru. with just a skeleton force.

Starting point is 00:06:36 He had sent his brother Hernando, as well as his chief lieutenant Hernando de Soto, to meet with Adahualpa in his camp, surrounded by his army. They were sent there to deliver a message that Pizarro wanted to meet with Adahualpa the next day in Cajamarka, November 16, 1532. Adahualpa agreed, and the two men returned to Pizarro at his base in Cajamarka. The next day, Adahualpa arrived in Cajamarka with about 6 to 8,000 people in tow. It isn't known if these were non-military personnel or if it was just a smaller number of his larger 50,000-man army. Either way, Ata Hawalpa didn't come prepared for combat.

Starting point is 00:07:14 He came, assuming that he was there to parlay with the Spanish. When Ata Huapa arrived in the central plaza of the city, he was approached by a priest and an interpreter. The priest demanded that he adopt the one true faith and that he pay tribute to Emperor Charles V, the King of Spain, and the Holy Roman Emperor. Ata Hualpa is reported to have replied, quote, I will be no man's tributary. With that, Pizarro unleashed his plan. He and his men were hiding and buildings surrounding the central plaza.

Starting point is 00:07:43 At the appointed moment, they opened fire with his muskets and cannons, and his cavalry ran into the central plaza. And here I should note that while this is usually called the Battle of Cajamarka, it's also sometimes referred to as the massacre of Cajamarka. and I can't say that is an unfair description. Adahualpa and his entire retinue were not prepared for battle. They had come under the guise of diplomacy, not looking for a fight. When the fighting began, the Inca's were not just caught by surprise,

Starting point is 00:08:15 but they were simultaneously experiencing firearms and horses for the first time in their lives. They were in a state of shock, not just from the surprise attack, but from the loud guns and cannons, and the strange creatures that these men were riding. Over the course of the next hour, several thousand Inca's were killed, with the estimates being placed between two to five thousand and thousands more being captured. The Spanish had zero casualties. In fact, the only injury that was sustained was on Pizarro himself. He had a cut on his hand when he rushed in to capture Ata Hualpa. His wound didn't even come from an Incan, but from another Spanish soldier who was trying to kill Ata Huolpa.

Starting point is 00:08:57 That was the point of the entire ambush. Pizarro knew that the best chance they had was to capture Ataahuapa alive, not kill him. Ataahualpa wasn't even standing upright by all accounts. He was sitting on the litter that he was carried in on. His servants would throw themselves in the way of the Spanish sacrificing their lives to protect their ruler. Not only had the Spanish captured the leader of the Incan Empire, but they had also killed many of Ataahualpa's top commanders in the prime. leaving the Inca's leaderless. The remaining Incan forces that were outside of town ended up scattering after the attack. Pizarro then demanded a ransom for the release of

Starting point is 00:09:39 Adahualpa, an incredibly steep ransom. He demanded that the Inca's provide a room filled with gold and then two more rooms filled with silver. Pizarro was going to get the riches that he had come to the New World for. After several months, the Inca's managed to assemble the ransom. a room filled with gold and two with silver. However, Pizarro didn't hold up his end of the bargain. Instead, Ata Hualpa was put on trial for 12 different counts, including killing his brother during the Civil War and plotting against the Spanish. Pizarro didn't want to put Ata Huapa on trial at first.

Starting point is 00:10:15 Rather, he agreed to do it after pressure from his men. Pizarro wanted to send Ata Huapa back to Spain where he could be judged by the king of Spain. Ata Huolpa was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was to be burned alive, which was normally reserved for heretics. But he was allowed to convert, which he did at the last minute, and then was executed by strangulation. The execution of Othahualpa was not received well by Holy Roman Emperor Charles I, who wrote to Bizarro saying, quote, we have been displeased by the death of Othauwelpa since he was a monarch and particularly as it was done in the name of justice, end quote. With Othahawalpa dead, Pizarro, still with a very small number of men,

Starting point is 00:10:56 managed to conquer the rest of Peru. At first they did it with puppet rulers and then finally through direct rule. The Incan army weakened after years of civil war and with the loss of all of their top commanders wasn't a force that had to be reckoned with. There were some minor skirmishes with the Spanish but there were never any major battles that were fought that could have resulted in a conclusive victory. The diseases that took the life of the previous emperor, Huenna Koppak, spread throughout Peru over the next several years, making the conquest of the region just that. much easier. Spain ended up ruling Peru for almost 300 years until it finally became an independent country in the early 19th century. During that time, Peru was the greatest source of silver for the

Starting point is 00:11:38 Spanish Empire, and it was the driving force behind the Manila galleon trade across the Pacific ocean with China. The Battle of Cajamauga was the effective end of the Incan Empire, the greatest such empire in the new world. It opened the way for the Spanish to conquest the rest of the continent all the way down to Tierra del Fuego. Pizarro managed to defeat a massively larger force with an absurdly small number of men, and he managed to do this via a sizable advantage in technology and a whole lot of deception.

Starting point is 00:12:10 The Battle of Cajamarka wasn't a great battle in terms of the number of combatants, but it was an incredibly significant battle insofar as its outcome shaped world history. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Oakden and Cameron Kiefer. I want to thank everyone who supports the show over on Patreon.

Starting point is 00:12:34 Your support helps make this podcast possible. I'd also like to thank all the members of the Everything Everywhere community who are active on the Facebook group and the Discord server. If you'd like to join in the discussion, there are links to both in the show notes. And as always, if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you too can have it read on the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Battle of Cajamarca (Encore)

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.