A Year: Day to Day Men: 18th of January
Seaside Shelter
On January 18, 1535, Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro founds Lima, the capital of Peru.
Francisco Pizarro was the illegitimate son of infantry colonel Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisca Gonzalez, a woman of poor means. Little attention was paid to his education and he never achieved literacy.
Reports of Peru’s riches and Cortés’s success in Mexico tantalized Pizarro. He undertook two expeditions to conquer the Incan Empire in 1524 and in 1526. Both failed as a result of native hostilities, bad weather and lack of provisions. Pedro de los Rios, the Governor of Panama, made an effort to recall Pizarro, but the conquistador resisted and remained in the south. In April 1528, he reached northern Peru and found the natives rich with precious metals.
This discovery gave Pizarro the motivation to plan a third expedition to conquer the area. He returned to Panama to make arrangements, but the Governor refused to grant permission for the project. Pizarro returned to Spain to appeal directly to King Charles I. His plea was successful and he received not only a license for the proposed expedition, but also authority over any lands conquered during the venture.
When hostile natives along the coast threatened the expedition, Pizarro moved inland and founded the first Spanish settlement in Peru, San Miguel de Piura. Atahualpa, the ruler of the Inca Empire, refused to tolerate a Spanish presence in his lands, but was captured by Pizarro during the Battle of Cajamarca on November 16, 1532. A ransom for the emperor’s release was demanded and Atahualpa filled a room with gold, but Pizarro charged him with various crimes and executed him on July 26, 1533, overriding his associates who thought he was overstepping his authority.
The same year, Pizarro entered the Inca capital of Cuzco and completed his conquest of Peru. In January 1535, Pizarro founded the city of Lima, a project he considered his greatest achievement. Quarrels between Pizarro and his longtime comrade-in-arms Diego Almagro culminated in the Battle of Las Salinas. Almagro was captured and executed. On June 26, 1541, his embittered son, Diego de Almagro “el mozo”, assassinated Pizarro in Lima. The conquistador of Peru was laid to rest in the Lima Cathedral.