Atahualpa
Atahualpa was the last independent Inca ruler and was garrotted eight months after meeting the Spanish. Born around 1502, he was a son of the emperor Huayna Capac, who died around 1527 of a disease that reached the Andes ahead of the Europeans themselves — almost certainly smallpox — along with his designated heir. The succession fell between two brothers. Huáscar was recognised at Cuzco, the capital; Atahualpa held the northern provinces and the veteran army that had campaigned with their father. The civil war lasted about five years and Atahualpa won it decisively in 1532, capturing Huáscar shortly before Pizarro arrived. The empire was therefore exhausted, divided, and demographically shattered when 168 Spaniards landed. Atahualpa was at Cajamarca with a large army when Pizarro invited him to a meeting in the town square in November 1532. He came with several thousand lightly armed retainers, apparently regarding the strangers as a curiosity he could dispose of at leisure. A friar offered him a breviary; he examined it and threw it down, and the Spanish opened fire with concealed cannon and cavalry into a packed and unarmed crowd, killing thousands and seizing him. He offered to fill a room with gold and twice with silver as ransom, and it was delivered from across the empire over months. He was tried anyway in July 1533 on charges including polygamy, idolatry and the killing of Huáscar, and sentenced to burn. He accepted baptism to have the sentence commuted to strangulation, because burning would prevent the afterlife.
- Lived: 1502 CE – 1533 CE
- Nationality: Inca
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state
