The Last Days of the Incas

This book recounts the fall of the Inca Empire to Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro following a brutal Inca civil war. In 1532, Pizarro and 167 men defeated Emperor Atahualpa at Cajamarca, capturing and later executing him despite a massive ransom. The Spaniards seized Cuzco, making Peru a colony. Yet the Incas resisted fiercely: Atahualpa’s brother led a prolonged rebellion, eventually establishing a hidden guerrilla capital, Vilcabamba. After thirty-six years of resistance, the Spanish finally captured the last Inca emperor, ending native resistance, with Vilcabamba only recently rediscovered by American explorers.