Summary
Overview
This episode chronicles the Spanish conquest of Peru following Atahualpa's execution in 1533. The conquistadors, led by Francisco Pizarro, march 800 miles south to seize Cusco, the Inca capital, encountering battles with northern armies and installing a puppet emperor. While initially welcomed as liberators, the Spanish quickly begin pillaging temples and redistributing land, setting the stage for future conflict with their puppet ruler Manco and among themselves.
The March to Cusco and the Temple of Gold
Following Atahualpa's execution in summer 1533, Pizarro's forces prepare to march south to Cusco, approximately 800 miles across the treacherous Andes. They install a new puppet emperor, Tupac Hualpa, who represents the southern faction. The journey becomes a legendary feat of endurance through mountain passes, rope bridges, and hostile territory. The Spanish arrive in Cusco on November 15, 1533, discovering the fabled Temple of the Sun with its golden garden, life-sized golden llamas, and the sacred Puncao - an enormous golden image of the sun that mysteriously disappeared.
- Pizarro installs Tupac Hualpa, Huascar's younger brother, as the new puppet emperor in a coronation ceremony
- The Spanish undertake an 800-mile march south across the Andes, facing treacherous terrain
- Tupac Hualpa dies mysteriously during the journey, creating a power vacuum
- Pizarro and his forces enter Cusco on November 15, 1533, welcomed as liberators
" Looking up at it from below, it seemed impossible for birds to scale it by flying through the air, let alone men on horseback climbing by land. "
The Spectacular Wealth of Cusco and Manco's Coronation
Upon reaching Cusco, the Spanish are astonished by the capital's beauty and wealth. The city features stone buildings with thatched roofs in a clean grid system, palaces lining the central square, and mummified former emperors housed in their own mansions. A new candidate for emperor emerges: Manco, Huascar's younger brother who had been in hiding. Pizarro crowns him in an elaborate ceremony featuring feasting, dancing, and the parading of royal mummies complete with their preserved fingernails, teeth, and hair. The celebration concludes with a traditional hunt where 11,000 animals are killed with clubs.
- Manco presents himself to Pizarro as a candidate for emperor, appearing 'like a common Indian'
- Pizarro orders the melting down of Cusco's gold and silver treasures beginning December 15, 1533
- The coronation ceremony features royal mummies displayed on thrones with their preserved body parts
- The celebration includes drains running abundantly with urine from heavy drinking
" I have come for one reason only, to free you from slavery by the men of Quito. Knowing the injuries they were doing to you, I wanted to put a stop to them, and I wanted to liberate the people of Cuzco from this tyranny. "
" In the rear of the cloisters was the garden of the sun where all the flowers, fruits and leaves were of pure beaten gold. "
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