The Sons of Inti Shall Not Perish
- Thread starter King of the Uzbeks
- Start date
Chapter 1.12: Why can't you just talk it out?
Chapter 12: Why can't you just talk it out?
Belalcázar ordering his men to seek peace with the heathen in the name of Christ
Atahualpa was well aware of how perilous his position was, plague and rebellion had swept over the empire and the Spanish kept invading his lands. He had no way to stop them, he had no way to sail to Spain and force them to cease their assaults on his empire.
The Tawantinsuyu Empire was under siege and Atahualpa wanted to end it. Meeting with the Spanish was certainly not his first choice but he recognized how weak his empire had become under the strain of Spanish attack and decided that it was better to attempt to force terms on the Spanish when they were near collapse like Belalcázar was rather then if the Spanish arrived in full force once again.
So he sent overtures to Belalcázar after the bloodbath at Olmos, bringing lavish gifts of silver to sooth over the suspicious Spaniards. What Atahualpa offered them was simple, a small group of Spanish should enter the mountains and meet with him at Cajamarca, a royal retreat. There they could negotiate an end to the violence. The message was vague, certainly not giving the impression of surrender to the "civilizing influence" of Spain that the conquistadors wanted, but it included hints at gold being given in exchange for peace so the Spanish did not reject it completely. Belalcázar deliberated, the prospect of peace with gains would be snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, seizing glory for Spain. On the other hand if some enterprising rival spun it the wrong way he could find himself humiliated and watch his dreams of conquest go up in flames. But his army was nearly broken, if he fought on it would probably go up in flames anyway. So Belalcázar agreed to talk, cautiously, with Atahualpa in hopes of salvaging something from the bloody war. Perhaps he harbored some fantasy about seizing the Sapa Inka during negotiations and claiming total victory. But as he and a select few men rode up into the mountains any such notions were swept away by the thousands of soldiers surrounding them. Watching every move they made.
Atahualpa was no fool.
The meeting at Cajamarca was extremely tense for obvious reasons. Atahualpa, despite having learned a few rudimentary greetings and threats from the captive Spanish, maintained an aloof persons befitting a god. The constant waiting and inevitable mistranslations make each side irritable. As did the Sapa Inka's insistence on maintaining his godlike status in front of the Spanish, often the humbleness and religious overtones required to address Atahualpa personally nearly drove the Spanish to abandon their negotiations.
Atahualpa's first proposal to Belalcázar was simple. The Spanish who were currently in the empire would be given two liters, one full of gold, one full of silver. Trading would be allowed so long as it was done peaceably, with representatives of the Sapa Inka and without attempts to convert locals. But other then that the Spanish would stay out of the Tawantinsuyu. Atahualpa made it clear that, should Belalcázar agree to the terms, the Conquistador would be held responsible for keeping other Spanish from violating the treaty.
This proposal, while personally beneficial to Belalcázar, would not be able to stand. Other Spanish, not getting any of the gold or silver, would simply attack anyway. Being able to trade only with the government would limit possibilities for profit, which to the mercantilist Spanish meant that such an agreement would not be accepted by the Government in Madrid. Then there was the ban on missionary activity, which deeply offended the Spanish. As they slaughtered their way across the New World the Conquistadors displayed a massive amount of hypocrisy regarding the core ideals of Christianity, but they remained commuted to converting as many natives as they could. It was simply unacceptable to bar missionaries from the Empire.
Belalcázar fired back with his own proposal, just as unacceptable to the Tawantinsuyu as Atahualpa's was to the Spanish. Firstly it required that the Sapa Inka accept the "benevolent protection" of Emperor Charles V. This carried the unspoken demand of conversion to Christianity, the devoutly catholic emperor would accept nothing less, at least nominally. Conversion, to a man who was seen as literally a god, was out of the question. Belalcázar also requested the right to trade freely everywhere in the empire. The Conquistador also requested that the Spanish be exempt from Tawantinsuyu law, being turned over to their own nation for any crime. In order to expedite such hypothetical trials Belalcázar requested control over the city of Tumbez as a Spanish base. Such territorial demands were unacceptable to Atahualpa, and he made that fact clear via translators to the Spanish.
Atahualpa constantly reminded the Spanish of his power
Now that both sides had established their positions clearly both Belalcázar and Atahualpa had to decide wether negotiating was worth the trouble at all, given that they each saw the others demands as ludicrous. Atahualpa, realizing that Belalcázar had to balance his own greed with the possibility of his deal being rejected by the Spanish decided to exploit this fact.
Atahualpa agreed to allow the Spanish a permanent foothold at Tumbez in the form of a fort near the city. The fort, soon to be a town, would not be subject to local law inside its boundaries. However Tumbez and the defenses around it would remain in the hands of the Tawantinsuyu. Trade would be allowed, but only along a single route. The trail of trade snaked from Tumbez along the coast until it reached the town of Paita, where it curved inland. It continued inland until it reached Saña whereupon it entered the mountains, climbing upward to Cajamarca before continuing southward through the Andes. It ended at the city of Abancay, which Atahualpa claimed was the edge of the Tawantinsuyu heartland. This was somewhat of a fib, Abancay had once been the edge of Queacha culture, but that was back when there was only Cusco, not the Empire. Of course Belalcázar did not know that, his captured men only could tell him that Abancay was up in the mountains near Cusco. Cusco itself would only allow the Spanish in as the Sapa Inka decided on a case by case basis. Both sides gained from the deal about the trading route. The Spanish got trading rights and (nominally) free passage into the empire's heartland. The Tawantinsuyu got the benefits of trade and had (nominally) constrained the Spanish to one are, lessening the pressure on the manpower short army. The endpoint of Abancay favored the Tawantinsuyu as well, for just past the city lay the mighty Apurimac gorge and the steep, narrow hills nearby. These provided ample cover and choke points should a Spaniard in Abancay decide to try and force his way to Cusco, though of course Atahualpa had no intention of not carefully supervising any Spanish movements. To sweeten the pot for Belalcázar the Sapa Inka famously gave the Spaniard enough gold to cover the floor of the room they were sitting in. This gold went a long way in smoothing over any disappointment from Belalcázar's men over a lack of loot. A liter full of silver was thrown in for good measure as well.
Once the trade/money situation was worked out only a few other details remained. The largest was religion, Atahualpa conceded the inevitability of missionaries in and around the soon to be Spanish settlement near Tumbez. The Sapa Inka reluctantly allowed a mission to be built in Abancay, as well as at the halfway point for the trading route in the town of Bambán. Outside of the missions priests were never to stay in any one place for more then a day. The next issue was that of the numerous prisoners Atahualpa had captured, Belalcázar wanted them returned. Atahualpa did not particularly want to let these sources of new knowledge go, but recognized that it was inevitable and so agreed to a full exchange of the captured. Here Belalcázar made what can only be described as a blunder, inexplicably mentioning that a few Tawantinsuyu subject were probably in Spain by now to be presented to the royal court. Atahualpa seized on this opportunity and demanded that they be returned before he turned over the captured Spanish. He obviously didn't care about the kidnapped men, but they were a useful delaying tactic so he could beat out every last scrap of information from his prisoners.
The agreement was finalized on the 29 of August 1539. Copies were written in Spanish and given to both sides, Tawantinsuyu officials also recorded the details of the agreement onto Quipu knots.
Despite numerous attempts Atahualpa was never able to strike up a consistent correspondence with Charles V
Atahualpa took the time to have the Spanish transcribe a letter from himself to the King of Spain, Charles V, carefully looked over by the translators of course. It asked for him to accept the treaty and bind his subjects to its terms, made overtures of friendship and in general provided a stark contrast to the haughty indifference the Sapa Inka treated the Conquistadors with. Along with the letter he included a bushel of Coca leaves and a cloak made of Vicuna skin, signs that he recognized the power Charles V.
With that Belalcázar departed, happy for the gold and silver he acquired, and already thinking of possible loopholes in the treaty. Under heavy escort he began establishing San Miguel, the first Spanish settlement in the Tawantinsuyu empire. One fifth of the treasure was, as required by law, sent to the treasury of Charles V along with the gifts of Atahualpa.
Charles V shrugged his shoulders about the treaty, granting Belalcázar the governorship of San Miguel and "any further lands" conquered. Charles of course wanted the conversion of as many natives as possible and ordered that every attempt be made to convert this pagan king.
Charles V reportedly found the cloak humorously quaint and found the Coca leaves quite nice and requested some more.
But most of all he liked the Gold. The gold and silver were the only reason he payed any attention to the strange empire at all. Total conquest was all well and good, but it did not bring him a reliable supply of gold at the moment. And at the moment he desperately needed more money.
Belalcázar ordering his men to seek peace with the heathen in the name of Christ
Atahualpa was well aware of how perilous his position was, plague and rebellion had swept over the empire and the Spanish kept invading his lands. He had no way to stop them, he had no way to sail to Spain and force them to cease their assaults on his empire.
The Tawantinsuyu Empire was under siege and Atahualpa wanted to end it. Meeting with the Spanish was certainly not his first choice but he recognized how weak his empire had become under the strain of Spanish attack and decided that it was better to attempt to force terms on the Spanish when they were near collapse like Belalcázar was rather then if the Spanish arrived in full force once again.
So he sent overtures to Belalcázar after the bloodbath at Olmos, bringing lavish gifts of silver to sooth over the suspicious Spaniards. What Atahualpa offered them was simple, a small group of Spanish should enter the mountains and meet with him at Cajamarca, a royal retreat. There they could negotiate an end to the violence. The message was vague, certainly not giving the impression of surrender to the "civilizing influence" of Spain that the conquistadors wanted, but it included hints at gold being given in exchange for peace so the Spanish did not reject it completely. Belalcázar deliberated, the prospect of peace with gains would be snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, seizing glory for Spain. On the other hand if some enterprising rival spun it the wrong way he could find himself humiliated and watch his dreams of conquest go up in flames. But his army was nearly broken, if he fought on it would probably go up in flames anyway. So Belalcázar agreed to talk, cautiously, with Atahualpa in hopes of salvaging something from the bloody war. Perhaps he harbored some fantasy about seizing the Sapa Inka during negotiations and claiming total victory. But as he and a select few men rode up into the mountains any such notions were swept away by the thousands of soldiers surrounding them. Watching every move they made.
Atahualpa was no fool.
The meeting at Cajamarca was extremely tense for obvious reasons. Atahualpa, despite having learned a few rudimentary greetings and threats from the captive Spanish, maintained an aloof persons befitting a god. The constant waiting and inevitable mistranslations make each side irritable. As did the Sapa Inka's insistence on maintaining his godlike status in front of the Spanish, often the humbleness and religious overtones required to address Atahualpa personally nearly drove the Spanish to abandon their negotiations.
Atahualpa's first proposal to Belalcázar was simple. The Spanish who were currently in the empire would be given two liters, one full of gold, one full of silver. Trading would be allowed so long as it was done peaceably, with representatives of the Sapa Inka and without attempts to convert locals. But other then that the Spanish would stay out of the Tawantinsuyu. Atahualpa made it clear that, should Belalcázar agree to the terms, the Conquistador would be held responsible for keeping other Spanish from violating the treaty.
This proposal, while personally beneficial to Belalcázar, would not be able to stand. Other Spanish, not getting any of the gold or silver, would simply attack anyway. Being able to trade only with the government would limit possibilities for profit, which to the mercantilist Spanish meant that such an agreement would not be accepted by the Government in Madrid. Then there was the ban on missionary activity, which deeply offended the Spanish. As they slaughtered their way across the New World the Conquistadors displayed a massive amount of hypocrisy regarding the core ideals of Christianity, but they remained commuted to converting as many natives as they could. It was simply unacceptable to bar missionaries from the Empire.
Belalcázar fired back with his own proposal, just as unacceptable to the Tawantinsuyu as Atahualpa's was to the Spanish. Firstly it required that the Sapa Inka accept the "benevolent protection" of Emperor Charles V. This carried the unspoken demand of conversion to Christianity, the devoutly catholic emperor would accept nothing less, at least nominally. Conversion, to a man who was seen as literally a god, was out of the question. Belalcázar also requested the right to trade freely everywhere in the empire. The Conquistador also requested that the Spanish be exempt from Tawantinsuyu law, being turned over to their own nation for any crime. In order to expedite such hypothetical trials Belalcázar requested control over the city of Tumbez as a Spanish base. Such territorial demands were unacceptable to Atahualpa, and he made that fact clear via translators to the Spanish.
Atahualpa constantly reminded the Spanish of his power
Now that both sides had established their positions clearly both Belalcázar and Atahualpa had to decide wether negotiating was worth the trouble at all, given that they each saw the others demands as ludicrous. Atahualpa, realizing that Belalcázar had to balance his own greed with the possibility of his deal being rejected by the Spanish decided to exploit this fact.
Atahualpa agreed to allow the Spanish a permanent foothold at Tumbez in the form of a fort near the city. The fort, soon to be a town, would not be subject to local law inside its boundaries. However Tumbez and the defenses around it would remain in the hands of the Tawantinsuyu. Trade would be allowed, but only along a single route. The trail of trade snaked from Tumbez along the coast until it reached the town of Paita, where it curved inland. It continued inland until it reached Saña whereupon it entered the mountains, climbing upward to Cajamarca before continuing southward through the Andes. It ended at the city of Abancay, which Atahualpa claimed was the edge of the Tawantinsuyu heartland. This was somewhat of a fib, Abancay had once been the edge of Queacha culture, but that was back when there was only Cusco, not the Empire. Of course Belalcázar did not know that, his captured men only could tell him that Abancay was up in the mountains near Cusco. Cusco itself would only allow the Spanish in as the Sapa Inka decided on a case by case basis. Both sides gained from the deal about the trading route. The Spanish got trading rights and (nominally) free passage into the empire's heartland. The Tawantinsuyu got the benefits of trade and had (nominally) constrained the Spanish to one are, lessening the pressure on the manpower short army. The endpoint of Abancay favored the Tawantinsuyu as well, for just past the city lay the mighty Apurimac gorge and the steep, narrow hills nearby. These provided ample cover and choke points should a Spaniard in Abancay decide to try and force his way to Cusco, though of course Atahualpa had no intention of not carefully supervising any Spanish movements. To sweeten the pot for Belalcázar the Sapa Inka famously gave the Spaniard enough gold to cover the floor of the room they were sitting in. This gold went a long way in smoothing over any disappointment from Belalcázar's men over a lack of loot. A liter full of silver was thrown in for good measure as well.
Once the trade/money situation was worked out only a few other details remained. The largest was religion, Atahualpa conceded the inevitability of missionaries in and around the soon to be Spanish settlement near Tumbez. The Sapa Inka reluctantly allowed a mission to be built in Abancay, as well as at the halfway point for the trading route in the town of Bambán. Outside of the missions priests were never to stay in any one place for more then a day. The next issue was that of the numerous prisoners Atahualpa had captured, Belalcázar wanted them returned. Atahualpa did not particularly want to let these sources of new knowledge go, but recognized that it was inevitable and so agreed to a full exchange of the captured. Here Belalcázar made what can only be described as a blunder, inexplicably mentioning that a few Tawantinsuyu subject were probably in Spain by now to be presented to the royal court. Atahualpa seized on this opportunity and demanded that they be returned before he turned over the captured Spanish. He obviously didn't care about the kidnapped men, but they were a useful delaying tactic so he could beat out every last scrap of information from his prisoners.
The agreement was finalized on the 29 of August 1539. Copies were written in Spanish and given to both sides, Tawantinsuyu officials also recorded the details of the agreement onto Quipu knots.
Despite numerous attempts Atahualpa was never able to strike up a consistent correspondence with Charles V
Atahualpa took the time to have the Spanish transcribe a letter from himself to the King of Spain, Charles V, carefully looked over by the translators of course. It asked for him to accept the treaty and bind his subjects to its terms, made overtures of friendship and in general provided a stark contrast to the haughty indifference the Sapa Inka treated the Conquistadors with. Along with the letter he included a bushel of Coca leaves and a cloak made of Vicuna skin, signs that he recognized the power Charles V.
With that Belalcázar departed, happy for the gold and silver he acquired, and already thinking of possible loopholes in the treaty. Under heavy escort he began establishing San Miguel, the first Spanish settlement in the Tawantinsuyu empire. One fifth of the treasure was, as required by law, sent to the treasury of Charles V along with the gifts of Atahualpa.
Charles V shrugged his shoulders about the treaty, granting Belalcázar the governorship of San Miguel and "any further lands" conquered. Charles of course wanted the conversion of as many natives as possible and ordered that every attempt be made to convert this pagan king.
Charles V reportedly found the cloak humorously quaint and found the Coca leaves quite nice and requested some more.
But most of all he liked the Gold. The gold and silver were the only reason he payed any attention to the strange empire at all. Total conquest was all well and good, but it did not bring him a reliable supply of gold at the moment. And at the moment he desperately needed more money.
That is how they are allowed. Allowed in the three missions/waystations along the Spanish Road (not to be confused with the European on). They can move around on the road but not stay anywhere for too long.
I doubt the map is very different from OTL at this point, but I would still very much like to see one. I am very unfamiliar with the geography of the Tawantinsuyu, where the major cities are, ETC.
(Also, isn't it just criminal that MS Word and its ilk do not recognize "Tawantinsuyu" as a real word?
)
(Also, isn't it just criminal that MS Word and its ilk do not recognize "Tawantinsuyu" as a real word?
)Interesting TL! But I think that even the fairly limited progress the Inca are showing with iron here is optimistic, unless they got some knowledgeable Spanish prisoners. Making iron that's not brittle crap requires some major advances in smelting technique from bronze making, and Tawantinsuyo hasn't got past copper yet: I suspect they'll be limited to stuff taken from the Spaniards and maybe meteoric iron for quite some time unless they get some European expertise. (In the 16th century, nobody has really come up with the idea of "R & D" yet). For mining and bog iron extraction, do they even know what the ores look like?
Bog iron ore - really screams "shiny metal", doesn't it?
Bog iron ore - really screams "shiny metal", doesn't it?
They've found some stuff that looks vaguely what some captured Spanish think Iron ore looks like. By a stroke of luck it is indeed Iron ore. But with the chaos of the plagues their sources are not consistent at all. They understand that to get Iron you need to get the ore really hot. That is the extent of their knowledge. That is also a big goal for trading with the Spanish.Interesting TL! But I think that even the fairly limited progress the Inca are showing with iron here is optimistic, unless they got some knowledgeable Spanish prisoners. Making iron that's not brittle crap requires some major advances in smelting technique from bronze making, and Tawantinsuyo hasn't got past copper yet: I suspect they'll be limited to stuff taken from the Spaniards and maybe meteoric iron for quite some time unless they get some European expertise. (In the 16th century, nobody has really come up with the idea of "R & D" yet). For mining and bog iron extraction, do they even know what the ores look like?
Bog iron ore - really screams "shiny metal", doesn't it?
twovultures
Donor
Probably not long.
But the conquest of a different conquistador might result in Belalcazar losing access to what is, for him, a sweetheart trade deal. So he is quite liable to oppose any rival conquistador.
This sort of fractious inter-conquistador politics was actually quite common. IOTL Pizarro was assassinated by other Spaniards angry over what they perceived as him blocking their personal enrichment. Atahualpa may have unwittingly stumbled upon a decent method of conquistador control.
Considering the Inca themselves aren't aware of it, I think Potosi won't be the cause of any (further) deterioration of relations.
Well, it does have the 5 holy sites of the Inti faith down...Perhaps you just need to inject more piety to reform the Inti faith?
Sorry, still on that CKII mentality.
>inb4 the Spanish discover the Mapuche
>inb4 they see parallels with the Tlaxcala
>inb4 they try to sweet-talk the Mapuche into fulfilling the same purpose
>inb4 Spain slowly crumbles anyway as a result of Charles V's newfound cocaine addiction
>inb4 they see parallels with the Tlaxcala
>inb4 they try to sweet-talk the Mapuche into fulfilling the same purpose
>inb4 Spain slowly crumbles anyway as a result of Charles V's newfound cocaine addiction