Smallpox Versus Incas Empire and Its Role in Conquistadors’ Victory

Spanish Conquistadors were able to conquer the Inca Empire, which at the time had an estimated population of six to twelve million people and an army consisting of thousands of warriors. The Conquistadors, led by Francisco Pizarro, benefited greatly from a diminished Incan Empire that had recently toiled in a Civil War and suffered mass casualties due to smallpox, which had been imported to the Americas twelve years earlier on a Spanish ship. The superior weaponry that included agile horses, swords, and guns also played a decisive role in the conquest of the Incas. The odds appeared to be greatly against the small band of Spanish Conquistadors, but the significant advantages in weaponry and circumstance shifted the odds significantly in the direction of the Conquistadors.

The first appearance of smallpox in the Americas is believed to have been twelve years prior to the beginning of Pizarro’s conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532. A slave carrying the disease arrived in the Americas on a Spanish ship in present-day Mexico and it is believed that this one slave contributed significantly to the decline of the Inca Empire. Unlike Europeans who had been exposed to various infectious diseases, including the devastating bubonic plague, and had built up immune resistance over generations, the inhabitants of the Americas had not been exposed to these diseases and did not have any immune resistance to these diseases. Smallpox would end up devastating the native population in the Americas. It is estimated that infectious diseases including smallpox, influenza, and measles unwittingly brought to the Americas by Europeans killed 90 percent of Native Americans.

One of the victims of smallpox in the Americas was Huayna Capac, the Inca Emperor who succumbed to the disease in 1528. His successor would either be his older son Atahuallpa or his younger son Huascar. It isn’t clear by historical records who his choice was, but after the death of Huayna Capac, Huascar seized the throne and the two brothers engaged in a damaging Civil War. Atahuallpa would eventually win the Civil War and he ordered the death of Huascar, which cleared the way definitively for Atahuallpa to become the next Inca Emperor. The Civil War depleted the ranks of the Inca army and the lasting damage of the Civil War made it the perfect opportunity for Pizarro and his men to make their move in conquering the Inca Empire. The Inca Civil War ended in 1532, which would be the year that goes down in history as the beginning of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, led by Pizarro.

Adding to the depletion of the Inca Empire due to the Civil War, the Inca Empire had already been stretched thin due to the vast size of the empire that had stretched thousands of miles along the western coast of South America. The Inca Empire was made up of disparate groups of people with different cultures, who lived in isolation due to the mountainous barriers of the Andes and the pure distance between various areas of the Inca Empire. The less than diehard loyalty the Inca people had for the emperor would be exploited by Pizarro after his sacking of the Incan emperor Atahuallpa in 1532. Pizarro also had the advantage of learning from his countrymen Hernán Cortés, who had conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521.

Despite the circumstantial advantage the Conquistadors had, it may still be puzzling to many how a band of 168 Conquistadors were able to take out thousands of Incan warriors. To get a better understanding of this, we have to go back to the Iberian Peninsula, where Pizarro and the Conquistadors had grown up. The Spanish had utilized horses for travel and herding for at least four thousands years. The Conquistadors would have been experienced riders who could control their horses to be powerful and nimble. While the Incas were still using crude weapons made out of bronze, the Spanish had developed advanced swords. Some of the best swords in the world at the time were being developed and manufactured in Toledo, Spain. The espada ropera, or rapier was made to be light, but powerful and was developed as a dueling sword, but it would be used by the Conquistadors to conquer the Americas. The arquebus was the gun used by the Spanish and nothing like it had been seen in the Americas. Its effectiveness was limited due to its crudeness, but its real effect would have been its symbolic fear that it put into the natives of the Americas.

The Conquistadors arranged a meeting with Atahuallpa in the town of Cajamarca. Atahuallpa was convinced that the small band of Conquistadors were no match for the thousands of Inca soldiers he had at his disposal. He was so confident that he ordered his soldiers to leave their weapons behind. Pizarro’s priest Friar Vincente de Valverde was the first to speak to Atahuallpa. The priest explained that the Spanish were here to convert the natives to Christianity. He handed a Bible to Atahuallpa, who denounced the suggestion and threw the Bible on the ground. Friar Vincente de Valverde signaled to the Conquistadors to come out and what became known as the Battle of Cajamarca commenced. With the Inca soldiers possessing no weapons and the Spanish having what was essentially the high ground with horses and far superior weapons, it would have been like shooting fish in a barrel for the Conquistadors.

It is estimated that approximately 2,000 Inca soldiers were killed by the 168 Conquistadors. The rest of the Inca soldiers either fled or were captured. Atahuallpa was captured by Pizarro himself and was imprisoned. Atahuallpa was used as a puppet leader by the Spanish and they used him to convince the people to accept Spanish rule. Once the Spanish felt they no longer needed him to rule over the Inca Empire, Atahuallpa would later be accused of plotting the death of his brother Huascar. He was tried, found guilty, and put to death by the Spanish. The ease in which the Spanish had in dethroning the Inca emperor sent a strong message to the rest of the Inca Empire and it would have a profound impact in the decades of conquest afterwards, which culminated in the execution of Túpac Amaru in 1572, the last indigenous Inca monarch.

The Inca Empire had thrived for almost a century, but the arrival of the Spanish marked the end of the civilization. The Conquistadors arrived with the desire to convert the natives to Christianity and to reap the wealth of gold in the region. The Inca Empire which had conquered and ruled over nearly all of the western coast of South America was decimated by infectious diseases and Civil War. The Spanish had superior weaponry and the potential for conquest was ripe. The Conquistadors, led by Pizarro, made quick work of the Inca soldiers and their imprisonment of the Inca emperor Atahuallpa would lead to the eventual conquest and the end of the Inca Empire.