Plank Road: The Conquistadores

Class structure has always been based on money. Aristocrats who believe that they are aristocrats by birth, are really mistaken, as their ancestors acquired their title via wealth and they achieved that wealth by exploiting or taking from someone else. The class structure crushes people, and I cannot help but thinking about all of this with respect to the conquistadores of Extremadura.

We walked the land today, it is not dramatic, but there is beauty in this place. What drove these men to sail across the Atlantic, then over to the Pacific to exact such a tremendous toll on the people of the Americas?

Back in the early 1500's Trujillo had three sectors, the walled town on top of the hill was where the knights and lower nobility lived, Francisco Pizarro’s father and his father’s family lived there. On the flats next to the hill, lived the merchant class and the craftsmen. On the outer periphery in the slums lived the peasants and artisans. Pizarro did not live in the hill top town as he was illegitimate, he lived in the slums with his mother who was a maid. He would have been considered to be ill-bred and he was illiterate. The only way out for him was to get to the New World to make his fortune, secure his position in society or die trying.

The really interesting fact about the conquistadores was that they were not adventurers, they were private citizens turned entrepreneurs, who formed companies that would share in the wealth they extracted rather than earn wages. As if riches from pillaging were not enough, they also wanted to receive tribune by living off the labour and wealth of the native population. This provided a tremendous incentive to torture, kill, lie and pillage native populations to achieve wealth and position.

In the 15th century the Inca kingdom was a small one based in the valley of Cuzco in present day Peru. After defeating a much larger, would be conqueror, the Inca empire began a period of expansion. At its peak, the empire stretched from southern Columbia down to central Chili, from the Pacific to the Andes and east to the Amazon jungle. The success of the Inca empire was derived from taxing the labour of the peasants while providing them with security and no shortages of food. A very small number of Inca elite had control over millions of people.

To make a long story as short as I can, Pizarro and his partner Almagro were in Panama. Pizarro sailed for Columbia and his pilot made contact with a trading raft loaded with Incan goods. They knew that riches were to be had.

Pizarro and his men were dropped on the coast and after nearly starving to death, they were picked up by a ship sent by his partner, he then set off for Peru. He made contact with the Inca but the Inca ruler Capac and his heir were felled by smallpox along with many of the Inca military commanders. The Inca then went through a war of succession between two of Capac’s sons, from different wives, Atahuallpa won the war and became Inca.

Pizarro knew he had found a land of wealth, the Inca were also highly organized with storehouses for food and supplies, roads, communication via runners and a system of taxation of peasant production and labour.

He sailed for Spain to secure exclusive rights to Peru, he wanted to ensure no others would have the opportunity to steal what he wanted. Pizarro was granted the governorship of Peru by Charles V. He then returned to Extremadura to recruit conquistadores, including four of his half-brothers.

The smallpox outbreak and the effects of the Inca war of succession aided Pizarro in his conquest of the Incas. He also learned from Cortes, to secure allies among the indigenous population.

Pizarro met Atahuallpa who gave them lodging in town, the Spanish decided to capture Atahuallpa and ambush the Inca. The Spanish read the ‘requirement’ to Atahuallpa which basically stated that god granted the divine right to rule to the pope who granted the right to rule to the Spanish monarch and the Inca had to submit to their rightful rulers. If they refused, then all necessary violence would be used against them to force them to submit to god or be eliminated. Although the requirement would be read in Spanish and the Inca had no understanding of what was read, they had been read their rights and any ensuing violence was sanctioned by god.

A friar handed Atahuallpa a prayer book which he threw to the ground and told the Spanish he knew they were conquerors and stole from the Inca storehouses and he wanted the goods returned. The Spanish then ambushed the Inca by firing cannon, guns and charging with their cavalry. Atahuallpa was taken prisoner and chained. Historians have speculated that Atahuallpa had planned on capturing or killing the Spanish but his complacency was his undoing.

Atahuallpa decided to ransom himself and give the Spanish gold and silver. The Spanish went completely mad, stripping the temples and carting off every piece they could get their hands on. They melted down beautiful works of art, including life-size gold llamas and ended up with 7 tons of gold and 13 tons of silver, all melted into ingots, 20% went to the king of Spain. The Inca viewed the Spanish obsession with gold as uncivilized, in the Inca world, gold was art, not currency.

Atahuallpa was charged with treason and executed. The Spanish then set up a puppet ruler, the Inca Manco, who was told he could rule independently under the Spanish king, this was completely false of course. The Spanish continued to carry off gold and abuse the Inca princesses, including one of Manco’s wives. Pizarro, who was 54, was given an 18 year old Inca princess, it is said he was fond of her and called her his little Pizpita, which is a bird in Extremadura.

The Pizarro brothers basically created a private empire in Peru and became extraordinarily rich, Pizarro then started building the city of Lima on the Pacific coast. He also had a falling out with his old partner Almagro, who didn’t get in on the bulk of the gold.

Manco finally had enough, escaped and began to wage a type of guerilla war with the Spanish. The bronze age weaponry of the Inca was no match for Spanish steel. The Inca attacked the Spanish in Cuzco and laid siege to the city, the Spanish responded with terrorizing the population by mutilating the people.

The Inca fought with the Spanish and the rebellion spread. Manco finally had to retreat to an area east of the Andes in the Amazon where he would try to sustain the Inca way of life, out of the reach of the Spanish. Manco was assisted by the Antis, an Amazonian tribe who used arrows and were fearless fighters.

The Pizarro brothers were incredibly cruel. They forced confessions via torture, burned people alive, used dogs to attack and kill, subjected their native allies to starvation and worked them to death while pursuing Manco in the forests of the Amazon. They shot Manco’s wife full of arrows and floated her mutilated body down the river so Manco’s people would find her. During the Inca rebellion they murdered all the people in the tribes which revolted and also attacked, robbed, enslaved peaceful Inca villagers who had not rebelled.

Pizarro’s old partner Almagro returned and ended the siege of Cuzco and tried to take the city for himself. He was arrested for treason and executed by Hernando Pizarro. A group of Almagro’s supporters were impoverished and bitter as they had missed out on the division of gold and silver and the political offices that were handed out to the Pizarro men. A group of them, which included Almagro’s son and Almagro’s brother, entered Pizarro’s house in Lima and murdered him.

Gonzalo Pizarro tried to hunt down Manco but was unsuccessful. Manco was eventually killed by members of the group who murdered Pizarro, who had fled to the Amazon and sought refuge with Manco. Manco’s son, Titu Cusi then became Inca, he held the tiny Inca state until he died in 1571.

The Spanish decided they had enough of an independent Inca state so they sent a huge army out to destroy the Incas, although the Incas fled into the forest, the last Inca, another son of Manco, Tupac Amaru was captured and executed, along with his family, in 1572. The Inca resistance had lasted for 36 years.

The Spanish and their African slaves continued to pour into Peru, rule was taken over by a series of Spanish governors and administrators. While the Spanish built towns and cities, mined, cultivated crops and collected tribute from the Incas, the Inca peasants toiled for nothing in return.

As for the Pizarro brothers, Juan died of head wounds suffered during a battle with the Inca. As mentioned previously, Francisco was murdered in Lima. Hernando, who had executed Almagro, went to Spain with a lot of gold and silver to buy favour with the king. Almagro’s supporters testified against him and he went to prison for 23 years. Upon his release at the age of 60, it is said he was a partially blind, aged man but he lived to the age of 77. Gonzalo decided to seize Peru and declared himself governor, his army met the Spanish royal army for battle but most of his supporters abandoned him at the last minute, having been secretly pardoned beforehand. Gonzalo surrendered and was executed, he was the last Pizarro brother in Peru.

So here we are in Trujillo, it was the home of the Pizarro brothers and many other conquistadores. The Inca gold is here in the form of Pizarro palaces and many other historical buildings. There is no denying the fact that the Inca gold and silver has made this town what it is, and it is extraordinary. There is a huge statue of Francisco Pizarro in the Plaza Mayor, there are streets and plazas named for the conquistadores. When I look at the statue, which is heavily photographed, I wonder if the people really know anything about what that man wrought in the New World.

It rained all last night and was raining again this morning. After the rain stopped we set out for a short walk of a couple of hours in the Extremadura countryside. There are quite a lot of cattle here, sheep and Iberian pigs. This is a very agricultural area with numerous specialties.

After our walk we drove back to Trujillo and had tea. Although it was getting late in the afternoon, the sun was shining and we could not wait to explore the town. We have a walking book with a 3 hour walking route of the town, we likely covered about half of it and then walked back to our apartment. We plan to complete the walk tomorrow morning and then go on another walk in the country.

Dehesa of Extremadura, holm oaks in large meadows