Francisco Pizarro

Pizarro, Francisco (c. 1474–1541), Spanish conquistador who destroyed the Inca empire in the course of his conquest of Peru. He was with Vasco de Balboa when he discovered the Pacific Ocean (1513). In 1524 and 1526–7, Pizarro attempted, with Diego de Almagro and Fernando de Luque, to conquer Peru. In 1531, with royal assent, he began a new campaign and found Peru in an unsettled state under the Inca emperor Atahualpa. At Cajamarca in the Andes, Pizarro's small band, at first pretending friendship, kidnapped Atahualpa and massacred his unarmed followers. Pizarro, a vicious and greedy man, forced the emperor to pay a massive ransom, then executed him. Turning on Almagro, Pizarro cheated him and eventually had him killed; Almagro's followers assassinated Pizarro.

See also: Conquistadors.