Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/58

Dios. After a disagreement with Almagro, who thought himself neglected, Pizarro yielded him the title of adelantado; but after nine months of unceasing efforts he could gather only 180 men and 27 horses, with which he sailed in January, 1531, for Tumbez, while Almagro remained to collect further forces. He was joined in Tumbez by 130 men, with whom came Hernando de Soto and Sebastian de Velalcazar (q. v.). In June, 1532, he founded in the valley of Piura the town of San Miguel, and, after leaving a garrison, he continued his march southward, on 24 Sept., with 110 infantry and 60 cavalry, and on 15 Nov. they entered the beautiful valley of Cajamarca. Next day they met the emperor Atahualpa, whom they made a captive by surprise, and the Peruvian army fled in dismay. The inca offered as a ransom to fill with gold the apartment in which he was confined, and the ornaments of the temples and palaces were brought and melted so that, after separating one fifth for the emperor and two large amounts for the garrison of San Miguel and for Almagro's followers, every one of Pizarro's cavalrymen obtained for his share 362 marks of silver and 8,800 weights of gold, and every foot-soldier half that amount. The total was more than $17,000,000. Notwithstanding this, Atahualpa was kept a prisoner, and, under pretext of having killed his brother Huascar, he was condemned to death and executed on 29 Aug., 1533. Pizarro now marched on Cuzco, the ancient capital of the incas, and entered it on 15 Nov., proclaiming Manco Yupanqui (q. v.) inca. He determined to build the new capital of his possessions near the sea, and selected the beautiful valley of the river Rimac, where, on 6 Jan., 1535, he founded Los Reyes, now called Lima, probably a corruption of the name of the river. Shortly afterward disputes between Pizarro and Almagro began over their respective powers; but they were amicably arranged, and, to avoid further difficulties, Almagro set out on 3 July, 1535, for the conquest of Chili. During the latter's absence the Indians rose and besieged Cuzco for a long time, but on his return they retired. Meanwhile a royal decree had arrived appointing Almagro governor of the southern part of the country under the name of Nueva Toledo, and there were new differences between the two conquerors about the possession of Cuzco, which both believed to be included in the limits of their respective governments. Almagro was finally defeated and captured by Hernando Pizarro, and executed on 8 July, 1538, it is said with the secret acquiescence of his former partner. When these occurrences were reported at court by two commissioners, who had been sent by Almagro's partisans, the emperor decided in 1540 to send out Cristobal Vaca de Castro as a commissioner to investigate Pizarro's conduct; but before his arrival the feud between Pizarro and Almagro's followers had culminated. On a Sunday morning twenty-one of Almagro's partisans, who were called Chilenos in Lima, penetrated into the governor's palace, and, after a desperate affray, in which Pizarro killed three of their number, assassinated him and proclaimed Almagro's son governor. When the conspirators returned to drag Pizarro's body through the streets, it had already been removed and secretly buried by a friend, and later, hy King Philip's orders, it was buried in the cathedral of Lima. Pizarro was not married, but had two children by the Indian princess Ines Huayllas Ñusta, Atahualpa's sister, a son, who died in infancy, nnd a daughter, Beatriz, who married her uncle, Hernando, in 1551, and whose descendants inherited her father's riches and his title of marquis of the conquest. Pizarro was tall and of commanding presence, possessing extreme courage and fortitude, but cruel, cunning, and perfidious. He was grasping in the acquisition of money, yet liberal in its use, and he not only gave largely to his followers, but spent part of the vast treasure, of which he robbed the incas, in public buildings and improvements. — His half-brother, Gonzalo, b. in Trujillo in 1506; d. in Cuzco, Peru, 10 April, 1548, served in boyhood with his father in the Italian war in 1521-'5, and, although wholly uneducated, was thoroughly conversant with the art of war. He went to Peru with his brother in 1531, and did good service in the conquest, especially in the campaign of Charcas, in the siege of Cuzco by Manco Yupanqui, and in the defence of that city against Almagro, by whom he was taken prisoner, but escaped a few days after the latter's march from Cuzco. In 1539 he was appointed governor of Quito, and he soon resolved to explore the eastern slope of the Andes, where the popular belief located the famous “El Dorado” and the country of the cinnamon-tree. Early in 1540 he left Quito with an army of 250 soldiers and 4,000 auxiliary Indians, and, after innumerable hardships, reached Napo river, whence he despatched Francisco de Orellana (q. v.) on an exploration which resulted in the discovery of Amazon river. Having awaited in vain the return of Orellana, he began the homeward journey, and after terrible privations reached Quito in June, 1542, with only eighty half-starved Spaniards on foot and less than half of his Indians. There he received the news of his brother's assassination, and retired to his commandery of Charcas, not taking part in public life during the short administration of Vaca de Castro. But when, in 1544, the viceroy Blasco Nuñez-Vela (q. v.) appeared with the imperial decree that forbade the personal servitude of the Indians, Gonzalo, fearing to lose the advantages of the conquest, went to Cuzco and was proclaimed by the Spanish colonists supreme justice and captain-general of Peru. At the head of the army he marched against the viceroy, who abandoned Lima, and the city was occupied by Gonzalo, 24 Oct., 1544. After various encounters he met the royalist troops at Añaquito, near Quito, where Nuñez was defeated and slain, 18 Jan., 1546, and for a time Pizarro was undisputed master of Peru, until the new royal commissioner, Pedro de la Gasca (q. v.), appeared in June, 1547, when, by suspension of the royal decree regarding the Indians and a general amnesty, Gasca succeeded in causing the defection of many of Gonzalez's followers. When the two armies met at last in Xaquixaguana, 8 April, 1548, Garcilaso de la Vega, the elder, and many others went over to the royalists, who gained an easy victory. Gonzalo was taken prisoner, condemned to death, and beheaded in Cuzco two days afterward. — Another brother, Hernando, the only legitimate son of Col. Pizarro and his wife, Isabel de Vargas, b. in Trujillo in 1474; d. there in 1578, received a fair education, and served with his father in Italy under Gonzalo de Cordova in 1502-'3, and in 1512 in Navarre under the Duke of Najera. In 1530 he came to Peru with his brother Francisco and took an important part in the conquest; but from the first he showed great hatred of Almagro, so that his brother sent him, in 1533, to Spain with the royal share of the booty. He was well received, made a knight of Santiago, and empowered to equip an expedition in Seville, with which he returned early in 1535 to Peru. There he was appointed governor of Cuzco, which he defended from March till August, 1536, against Manco Yupanqui and his warriors. When the city was