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15 November 1533Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Cuzco Falls to the Spanish

The Inca capital surrenders with little resistance, and its golden temples are stripped and melted down

On the timeline · around 15 November 1533 · Resistance at VilcabambaResistance at VilcabambaCuzco Falls to the Spanish15501555156015651570

Quick facts

City
Cuzco
Date
15 November 1533
First puppet ruler
Tupac Huallpa (died of illness)
Second puppet ruler
Manco Inca

What happened

Following Atahualpa's execution, Pizarro's forces moved on the Inca capital, encountering resistance from troops still loyal to Atahualpa near Hatun Xauxa and a retreating Inca army at Vilcaswaman, along with at least one surprise attack that inflicted a real Spanish defeat en route. The Spanish were aided throughout by local populations willing to help against Inca rule and by the ability to resupply from captured Inca storehouses. Cuzco itself, according to World History Encyclopedia, fell into Pizarro's hands on 15 November 1533 after only brief resistance, and the golden treasures of the city and of the Coricancha temple were stripped from the walls and melted down. Pizarro's first attempt to install a puppet ruler, Tupac Huallpa, a younger brother of Huascar, failed when the man died of illness soon after; Pizarro then installed another son of Huayna Capac, Manco Inca, as a second puppet Sapa Inca.

Why it matters

The fall of Cuzco ended organized Inca state resistance in the empire's historic heartland less than a year after Cajamarca, but it also created the puppet-ruler arrangement with Manco Inca that would shortly turn against the Spanish, since propping up a legitimate Inca figurehead gave the empire's remaining loyalists a rallying point rather than eliminating one.

How we know

The sequence of battles and the date of Cuzco's fall come from World History Encyclopedia's narrative account of the conquest, based on Spanish chronicle sources describing the campaign as it happened.

Sources

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Part of a timelineThe Inca Empire26 events · How a highland kingdom without writing, wheels, or iron built the largest empire the Americas ever saw, then lost it in a single generationView all →