Francisco Pizarro González was a Spanish conquistador and explorer. He was a Spanish conqueror of the Inca empire and founder of the city of Lima.
Background
Francisco Pizarro was born on March 16, 1478, in Trujillo, Estremadura, Spain He born and raised in Trujillo, Spain. His parents were Gonzalo Pizarro de Aguilar, who was the royal infantry captain of Spain, and his mother was Francisca González Mateos, who was just an ordinary woman. He had three brothers and one half-brother. Through his father, Pizarro was a second cousin, once removed, of Hernán Cortés. Pizarro lived as a poor child when he was growing up. His parents were never married. He was raised by his grandparents and his brothers. Pizarro lived in Spain’s poorest region. He spent much of his early life in the home of his grandparents. According to legend, he was for a time a swineherd, a not unlikely possibility since this was a common occupation of boys in that region. He doubtless participated in local manorial wars and, when these were ended, very probably went to fight in Italy.
Education
Francisco Pizarro never attended school. He never learned how to read or write. He couldn’t do a chore or even any small job that required education.
Career
In 1502 Francisco Pizarro González went to Hispaniola (modern Haiti and the Dominican Republic) with the new governor of the Spanish colony.
Pizarro had little inclination toward the settled life of the colonizer, and in 1510 he enrolled in an expedition of the explorer Alonso de Ojeda to Urabá in Colombia. He appears to have been marked out as a hard, silent, and apparently unambitious man who could be trusted in difficult situations. Three years later, acting as captain, he participated in an expedition led by the explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa that was credited with the European discovery of the Pacific. From 1519 to 1523 he was mayor and magistrate of the newly founded town of Panamá, accumulating a small fortune.
It was not until 1523, when he was some 48 years old, that Pizarro embarked upon the adventure that was to lead to his lasting fame. In partnership with a soldier, Diego de Almagro, and a priest, Hernando de Luque, he made preparations for a voyage of discovery and conquest down the west coast of South America. Many hardships were endured along the Colombian coast during the first (1524-1525) and second (1526-1528) expeditions. Bartolomé Ruiz, who joined Pizarro and Almagro for the latter, sailed ahead and crossed the Equator, encountering a trading raft carrying embroidered fabrics and precious metals from Peru. He returned and led the expedition as far south as Ecuador. Pizarro and others remained on coastal islands while Almagro was sent back to Panama for reinforcements. The new governor of Panama, however, sent back orders that the expedition to be abandoned in order that no more lives be lost. At this point Pizarro is reputed to have drawn a line on the ground with his sword, inviting those who desired wealth and glory to cross it. The "famous thirteen" who did cross the line continued their exploration of the coast as far as 9° S, obtaining distinct accounts of a great Indian empire as well as many Inca artifacts. They christened the new land Peru, probably a corruption of Virú, the name of a river.
Finding the governor of Panama still opposed to their now promising enterprise, the explorers decided that Pizarro should go to Spain to ask the emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) for permission to undertake conquest. Sailing in the spring of 1528, Pizarro was in Sevilla (Seville) at the same time as Hernán Cortés, conqueror of Mexico, and was able to win Charles over to his scheme. He was decorated, granted a coat of arms, and, in July 1529, made governor and captain-general of the province of New Castile for a distance 600 miles (965 km) south of Panama along the newly discovered coast. Pizarro was invested with all the authority and prerogatives of a viceroy, and Almagro and Luque were left in subordinate positions. All the “famous thirteen” received substantial rights and privileges in the new territories.
Joined by four of his brothers, Pizarro sailed for Panama in January 1530 and by January of the following year was ready to set off for Peru. He set sail with one ship, 180 men, and 37 horses, being joined later by two more ships. By April they had made contact with emissaries of Atahuallpa, emperor of the Incas, who was residing near the city of Cajamarca with an army of about 30,000 men. Somewhat scornful of Pizarro’s small force, the Inca accepted a proposal that the two leaders meet in that city.
Arriving on November 15, Pizarro immediately set up his artillery and sent his brother Hernando and another Spaniard to request an interview. After a day of tense waiting, Atahuallpa, borne on a litter, entered the great square of Cajamarca with an escort of between 3,000 and 4,000 men, who were either unarmed or carrying short clubs and slings beneath their tunics. Pizarro sent out a priest, Vicente de Valverde, to exhort the Inca to accept Christianity and Charles V as his master. Atahuallpa disputed both the religion and the sovereignty of the Spaniards and, after examining a Bible offered by the priest, flung the book to the ground. Valverde reported these events to Pizarro, who immediately ordered an attack. The astonished Incas were cut down from all sides, Pizarro himself seizing Atahuallpa.
Atahuallpa was held as a hostage and failed to win his release, though he fulfilled a promise to fill the chamber in which he was held with gold and silver. Accused of ordering the execution of his brother Huascar, a rival for the title of Inca, and of plotting to overthrow the Spaniards, Atahuallpa was put to death by strangulation on August 29, 1533. With news of Atahuallpa’s death, the Inca armies surrounding Cajamarca retreated, and Pizarro progressed toward Cuzco, the royal capital, which was occupied without a struggle in November 1533. The Spaniards declared Manco Capac, Huascar’s brother, as Inca.
For the remainder of his life, Pizarro was engaged in consolidating the Spanish hold on Peru and in defending his and his brothers’ share of the spoils. A certain enmity and rivalry developed between him and Almagro as a result of Pizarro’s overriding powers from the king of Spain. This contravened a solemn agreement between the original three partners that the spoils of the expedition should be shared equally. Almagro at one stage seized Cuzco but was persuaded by Pizarro to depart for Chile, over which he had been granted extensive powers by the king. Disappointed by the poverty of that country, however, he returned to Peru, where he was made prisoner and later executed by Hernando Pizarro.
Francisco Pizarro, meanwhile, was in Lima, a city that he had founded in 1535 and to which he devoted the last two years of his life. Almagro’s former adherents had grouped around Almagro’s son in Lima, where they were confined and watched. Suspecting that they were to be eliminated, they decided to move first, attacking Pizarro’s palace on June 26, 1541. Pizarro died that day a protracted death, drawing a cross of his own blood on the ground, kissing it, and crying "Jesus" as he fell.
Francisco Pizarro with a small force of Spaniards was able to capture Atahualpa, emperor of the mighty Inca Empire, in 1532. Eventually, he led his men to victory over the Inca, collecting mind-boggling quantities of gold and silver along the way. Pizarro, like Hernán Cortés in Mexico, is honored sort of halfheartedly in Peru. There is a statue of him in Lima and some streets and businesses are named after him, but most Peruvians are ambivalent about him at best. They all know who he was and what he did, but most present-day Peruvians do not find him much worthy of admiration.
Francisco Pizarro was loyal to his Spanish sovereign Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the King of Aragon and Castile.
Views
Pizarro founded the city of Lima, named la Ciudad de los Reyes (the City of Kings), in Peru's central coast on January 18, 1535, a foundation that he considered one of the most important things he had created in life.
Quotations:
"Friends and comrades! On that side [the south] are toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, desertion, and death; on this side ease and pleasure. There lies Peru with its riches; here, Panama and its poverty. Choose, each man, what best becomes a brave Castilian. For my part, I go to the south."
"Prepare your hearts as a fortress, for there will be no other."
Membership
Francisco Pizarro was a member of the Order of Santiago.
Order of Santiago
,
Spain
Personality
The cruelty and violence of the conquest of Peru are undeniable - it was essentially outright theft, mayhem, murder, and rape on a massive scale - but it is hard not to respect the sheer nerve of Francisco Pizarro. With only 160 men and a handful of horses, he brought down one of the largest civilizations in the world. Pizarro could be cruel and violent, but in general, his acts of violence served some purpose, and he tended to think his actions through much more than others did. He realized that wantonly murdering the native population was not a sound plan in the long run, so he did not practice it.
Connections
Francisco Pizarro was first married to N de Trujillo with whom he had a son. In Peru he was married Inés Huaylas Yupanqui until 1537; they had two children. With his mistress Angelina Yupanqui, a woman of the native elite he also had two children.
Father:
Gonzalo Pizarro Rodríguez de Aguilar
Gonzalo Pizarro Rodríguez de Aguilar was married to Isabel de Vargas, by whom he had three children. He was married to María Alonso, they had two sons. Gonzalo Pizarro had relationthip with Francisca González Mateos, by whom he had two sons. In addition, he had a son, Mateo Pizarro, from María Biedma.
Mother:
Francisca González Mateos
Francisca González Mateos was married to Juan Casco de Alcántara, by whom she had a son, Francisco Martín de Alcántara.
