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1536-1537Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Manco Inca Turns on the Spanish and Besieges Cuzco

The puppet ruler raises two armies and nearly retakes the capital before his forces are forced to abandon the siege

On the timeline · around 1536-1537 · Resistance at VilcabambaCivil War and the Spanish ConquestResistance at VilcabambaManco Inca Turns on the Spanish and Besieges Cuzco15321536153815401542154415461548

Quick facts

Rebel leader
Manco Inca
Cities besieged
Cuzco and Lima
Sieges
Two, both eventually broken
Outcome
Manco Inca forced to retreat south

What happened

Installed by Pizarro as a puppet Sapa Inca to keep the state functioning, Manco Inca instead organized his own rebellion, raising large armies that besieged both Cuzco and the new Spanish capital at Lima. World History Encyclopedia describes the sieges as prolonged, with the Spanish holding out until the besieging Inca forces, composed largely of farmers who could not afford to abandon their own harvests indefinitely, were forced to withdraw; a second siege the following year again failed once the Spanish killed the Inca army's commanders in a targeted attack, after which organized resistance around Cuzco collapsed.

Why it matters

Manco Inca's rebellion proved the puppet-ruler strategy had backfired: rather than pacifying the empire, installing a legitimate Sapa Inca gave Inca resistance an authoritative leader capable of raising real armies. Its failure, however, also showed the Spanish had learned to target the same command-dependent weakness in Inca warfare that had already doomed Atahualpa's forces at Cajamarca.

How we know

World History Encyclopedia's narrative of the conquest describes the sieges and their outcome, drawing on Spanish accounts of a campaign fought close to the new colonial capitals where events were closely observed and recorded by the Spanish themselves.

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 →