Francisco Pizarro

Francisco Pizarro, 1st Marquess of the Conquest, was a Spanish conquistador, best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Born in Trujillo, Spain, to a poor family of pig farmers, he chose to pursue fortune and adventure in the New World, accompanying Vasco Nunez de Balboa in his crossing of the Isthmus of Panama, where they became the first Europeans to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas. He served as mayor of the newly founded Panama City and undertook two failed expeditions to Peru before obtaining permission from the Crown of Castile in 1529 to lead a campaign to conquer Peru. Finding Peru in a vulnerable state of civil war, Pizarro moved inland, founded the first Spanish settlement at San Miguel de Piura, and after a series of manoeuvres relying heavily on Spanish guns and cavalry captured the Inca emperor Atahualpa at the Battle of Cajamarca in November 1532; after Atahualpa filled a room with gold as ransom, Pizarro charged him with various crimes and executed him by garrotting in July 1533. That same year Pizarro entered the Inca capital of Cuzco, completing his conquest of Peru; in January 1535 he founded the city of Lima, and in 1537 was created 1st Marquess of the Conquest, before falling victim to political power struggles and being assassinated in 1541.