The Crown of Castile issued the Capitulation of Toledo, a royal contract that gave Francisco Pizarro legal authority to conquer and govern a new territory called “New Castile” (roughly Peru). This agreement set the political and financial framework for the invasion and shaped later rivalries among Spanish leaders over power and spoils.
With royal backing secured, Pizarro departed Panama with a small force of soldiers and horses to begin the final push into Inca territory. This voyage mattered because it turned earlier scouting trips into an official conquest effort aimed at permanent Spanish rule.
A succession crisis after Emperor Huayna Cápac’s death led to a civil war between his sons Huáscar and Atahualpa. In April 1532, Atahualpa’s forces won a decisive victory at Quipaipán, leaving the empire politically divided and militarily strained just as the Spanish arrived.
Pizarro founded San Miguel de Piura in 1532 as the first Spanish town in Peru, creating a coastal foothold for supplies, allies, and administration. This base helped the Spanish move inland and made the conquest more than a temporary raid.
In mid-November 1532, Pizarro’s small force arrived at Cajamarca, where Atahualpa was encamped nearby after the civil war. The meeting location mattered because Cajamarca’s main plaza allowed the Spanish to plan an ambush using horses, firearms, and surprise.
On November 16, 1532, the Spanish attacked Atahualpa’s entourage in Cajamarca’s plaza and seized the Inca ruler. Capturing the emperor was a turning point: it disrupted Inca command and gave the Spanish a powerful hostage to control politics and extract wealth.
While imprisoned, Atahualpa promised to fill one room with gold and two rooms with silver in exchange for freedom. The ransom demand mattered because it drove Spanish expeditions deeper into the empire to seize sacred and political treasures, weakening Inca authority and cultural centers.
On June 17, 1533, Spanish officials documented the distribution of the collected ransom at Cajamarca. This record shows the conquest was becoming bureaucratic and profit-driven, and it also intensified internal Spanish competition over who deserved the largest share.
Soon after Atahualpa’s death, the Spanish installed his relative Túpac Huallpa as a compliant Sapa Inca (emperor). This step helped the Spanish claim legitimacy by ruling “through” an Inca figure, but it also deepened factional conflict among Inca supporters of different dynastic lines.
After a Spanish trial, Atahualpa was executed by garrote in Cajamarca on July 26, 1533. His death removed the most important symbol of Inca unity and cleared the way for the Spanish to choose rulers who depended on them.
On November 15, 1533, Spanish forces entered Cusco, the Inca capital, after campaigning inland with Indigenous allies. In Cusco they backed Manco Inca as a new ruler under Spanish influence, marking a shift from hostage-taking to occupation and political control from the empire’s main center.
By late 1533, the Spanish had captured the emperor, seized the ransom, and occupied Cusco, allowing them to begin reorganizing the region under Spanish governance. The conquest’s immediate outcome was not peace but a new power structure built on Spanish military force, alliances with some Indigenous groups, and the use of puppet rulers—conditions that would soon spark wider resistance.
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire (1532–1533)