Francisco Pizarro - illiterate bastard who toppled the Inca - Video

Today we’re exploring the personality of Francisco Pizarro. He was the conquistador of Peru, the Spanish mercenary turned governor, the regicidal explorer, and the destroyer of native peoples and culture.

Or at least, this is how he’s remembered.

He led the overthrow of the sprawling Incan Empire with under 200 men. He exploited a succession crisis and civil war between Inca brothers Atahualpa and Huascar, which had left the empire in complete chaos when Pizarro arrived.

Let's profile him.

Credits:

Host: Iain Russell
Video Editor: Alicia Gómez
Script Editor: Jennifer Conerly

Sources:

David E. Vassberg, Concerning Pigs, the Pizarros, and the Agro-Pastoral Background of the Conquerors of Peru

Jerry D. Moore, Recent Journeys in Ancient South America

Pedro Pizarro, Relation of the Discovery and Conquest

Pizarro's will (transcribed by Raul Porras)

Agustín de Zárate, The discovery and conquest of Peru

Reinhard Augustin Burneo, El Damero de Pizarro - El trazo y la forja de Lima

José Antonio del Busto Duthurburu, Francisco Pizarro, el marqués gobernador

Cieza de Leon, The Discovery and Conquest of Peru,

James Lockhart, The men of cajamarca, a social and biographical study of the first conquerors of Peru

Cartas del Peru, Raul Porras

Francisco de Jerez, True Account of the Conquest of Peru,

William Prescott, History of the Conquest of Peru

John Hemming, The Conquest of the Incas

This video has used visual segments from:

Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) by Werner Herzog