On This Day in History: November 16

The Massacre at Cajamarca

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Historians originally called it the Battle of Cajamarca, but upon closer examination many realized “Battle” wasn’t the best descriptor and changed the word to “Massacre.” It’s when Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro slaughtered the Incan leadership to kick off the destruction of the Incan Empire.

--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: November 16, 1532--

The guile of these motherfuckers. Ten years earlier, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés landed in what is now Mexico and said yo we’re like all peaceful and stuff. Take us to your leader. And so, they took him to see Moctezuma II and the Spaniards slaughtered his bodyguards and took the Aztec emperor hostage. Cortés and his men then used this paralysis of the Aztec leadership to break apart the empire and conquer it.

Ten years later Pizarro said well shit that worked out great. I’m gonna do the same to these Incans. And so, he did.

Arriving with fewer than 200 men in what is now Peru, Pizarro did the whole “peaceful emissary of the king of Spain” bullshit line and requested a diplomatic meeting with the Incan ruler Atahualpa. Atahualpa felt he had little to fear from this small group of Europeans, because he had a battle-hardened army of 80,000 behind him. The Incan ruler invited Pizarro and company deep into his territory for a meeting, and they arrived on November 15, 1532.

Atahualpa had no idea of what had happened with Cortés and the Aztecs, so he was fatefully incautious in his dealings with Pizarro. The following day, November 16, he left his army outside the city and he and his retinue did not bring much in the way of weapons to the conference in a sign not only of peaceful intent, but confidence in their superior numbers. Yeah, that was not smart. They misjudged how murderous these Spaniards could be.

With their quarry lacking sufficient weapons, Pizarro and his men ambushed the Incans. The Spaniards used cavalry, cannons, and guns to devastating effect, murdering thousands of commanders, counselors, and attendants. They took Atahualpa prisoner.

Atahualpa’s army was about a mile away, and the Incans who fled the massacre told the horrific tale. Despite outnumbering their foe about 400 to one, they were shocked and demoralized at the loss of leadership and scattered.

Just as Cortés had done in what is now Mexico, Pizarro used Atahualpa to control the Incan Empire and loot the shit out of it. Eight months later he decided the deposed Incan ruler was a liability, so he conducted a sham trial, found the emperor guilty of various crimes, and had him strangled to death.

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