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When Lorenzo de Huelva and his makeshift brigantine skirted the coast of the southern American continent, he happened upon a bay with a few islands where he took on provisions and met with a group of Indios. “These Indios,” de Huelva said, “were richly dressed and regal in bearing. They greeted us with hospitality, and, from what little could be understood, had an emperor., named Huayna Cápac.” These individuals that de Huelva met in what would become the Bay of Guayaquil were presumably magnates of the Inca, which, unbeknownst to the Spaniards, were a people in possession of a highly developed empire (akin to the Aztecs) encompassing nearly 2 million square kilometers and perhaps 10 million inhabitants.


Amongst the men crewing de Huelva’s expedition was a certain Basque by the name of Beñat Chavarría. As a commoner, Chavarría had virtually bankrupted himself on the voyage from Spain, and found the climate and working conditions of Panamá hazardous and unrewarding. Unable to gather the means to participate in the free-for-all in Nueva Castilla, Chavarría began looking for sponsors who would fund an expedition south, into the land of the Incas. Chavarría found his opportunity when his second cousins Fermín and Íñigo Beraza, as well as Íñigo’s son Esteban, arrived in Panamá in 1522. Fermín and Íñigo were in similar financial straits as Chavarría and, both being widowers, had little reason to remain in Vizcaya, or in Europe for that matter. Equally disappointed with Panamá, the Berazas began working with Chavarría to organize to organize a party of armed men to travel south. After gathering a motley group of 45 Spaniards, 23 Indios (2 of which were translators, 11 of which were slaves), and 9 Africans (all but one of which were slaves), the Beraza-Chavarría expedition set sail in late August of 1525, and was forced to come ashore due to inclement weather a week after. Withdrawing from the unhealthy, tropical coast, the expedition very quickly found themselves amongst dizzyingly tall mountain ranges - the piedmont of which was quite pleasant. When the native populace was met, the name of the locale was determined to be “Atacames,” and its residents were somewhat recently conquered. Taken aback by the sheer number and apparent martial spirit of the Indios, the Spaniards very quickly abandoned the plan of a Caribbean-like conquest and decided to trade with the Indios for survival, building a stockade nearby in the meantime.

Over the next month and a half, the Spaniards survived, assisted in part by the locals and even gaining marriage contracts with some of them. But the expedition’s sudden change in direction and the consequent lack of returns began to sow discontent amongst the ranks - feeling confined and lost, so far from home and an ordained priest that could shrive them - with many wanting either to return or to raid the nearby Indio villages. Just as a full-fledged mutiny was about to break out, the Spaniards found their interests once again united by an attack from the local Indios, who had grown resentful of the Spaniards’ intrusion, especially as it had brought deadly illness which was now starting to afflict. The little Spanish stockade was surrounded by “what must have been 3,000 Indios,” and the situation seemed dire. After two weeks of already diminished rations dwindling, the Spaniards began to grow deliriously desperate, prompting a certain Marcos de Baeza to sneak off with one of the three casks of powder the Spaniards had brought, leave the stockade with it with torch in hand, march out onto a small hillock overlooking the Indio camp, replace the cask’s bung with his shirt, and loudly proclaim “¡Santiago y la Virgen!” - all before lighting it and rolling it amongst his enemies, killing no one but causing a tremendous explosion that greatly frightened them. In the days after, the Indios fled at every Spanish sally, eventually dispersing after 8 days in a hurry. While amazed at their luck, the Spaniards wasted no time in using this break to re-supply, pillaging a number of farms and making off with their crops and stock animals - including, fortuitously, the mysterious potato and the bizarre-looking llama. After finding small quantities of gold and emeralds, the Berazas tasked Chavarría with organizing an 18 man party to salvage their beached brigantine in order to return to Panamá with news of their discovery in the hopes of recruiting more volunteers. Chavarría was sent with the entirety of precious metals and gems found in order to embellish their achievement, while those who remained behind with the Berazas were appeased with promises that they would receive the same tenfold. For the next four months, the Spaniards lived as bandits, relocating their stockade to a higher, less assailable position.


The Berazas timing was good, as there was a glut of manpower in Panamá due to Valmojado’s ambitious building projects - most of whom were anxious to leave, especially with endless news of conquests arriving from Nueva Castilla. Chavarría spent these four months playing up what he had encountered and how easy the Indios were to disperse - like “cattle from a wild flame” - eventually assembling 231 men (193 Spaniards, 25 Indios, and 13 Africans), 36 horses, and 2 cannons. With reinforcements, the Berazas engaged in a more active, colonially-minded offensive, moving south and establishing a settlement at San Lorenzo de Caráquez, before moving inland to find a number of fertile, pleasant valleys (where they began to settle themselves). The Berazas arranged for another voyage back to Panamá (this time with two extra, smaller sailboats to accompany the brigantine) to attempt to acquire more soldiery and supplies. However, the land these Spaniards had chosen to gallivant in was by no means another Cuba or Española - there were cities here, walled and well-organized, as well as a whole system of imperial government, complete with governors, notaries, and garrisons. These peoples of the “Tawantinsuyu” - “Four Regions” - were not ignorant of the Spanish presence nor were they inclined to tolerate it. In mid January of 1526, emissaries of the Cañari people of Tumebamba approached the Berazas and, identifying themselves also as representing the interests of the “Sapa Inca,” expressed their desire to know why these strangers were attacking his subjects. Upon inquiring who this Sapa Inca was, the Cañari responded with “Huáscar.” Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, this was a contentious claim.


Huáscar had succeeded his father Huayna Cápac, who, along with his eldest son Ninan Cuyochi, had died a month and a half prior - presumably from Spanish smallpox, as he was en route to visit the Spaniards when he died, leading to the need for a local delegation. The Incas rules for succession were unclear as to who should inherit if the eldest son died heirless, so the issue was to be resolved by Huayna Cápac’s two younger sons, Huáscar and Atahualpa. Huáscar had the deathbed approval of his father, as well as of the majority of the Inca nobility and religious figures, but he was a short-tempered man, as well as chronically paranoid and contemptuous of ancient Inca traditions. Huáscar became greatly unpopular almost right away, and his brother Atahualpa organized a front against him - initiating a civil war, with Huáscar centered around his powerbase in Cusco and Atahualpa gaining the support of the north. The Berazas very quickly became keen to these developments, and contemplated which side might benefit them more. A battle near Chimborazo between the Spaniards and the Cañari in early April of 1526 - which ended in a tremendous rout of the Cañari - convinced Huáscar, whose situation was growing more desperate, to reach out to the Berazas and their frightfully powerful warriors. Huáscar promised the Berazas sizeable concessions - including the rank of “Inkap rantin” (roughly equivalent to a viceroy) over Chinchaysuyu to Fermín (being the eldest) and “toqrikoq” positions (governorates) to Íñigo, Esteban, and Chavarría - in exchange for assistance against his brother. Sensing the ritual weight of Huáscar’s claim over that of Atahualpa, the Berazas accepted his offer and moved against Atahualpa. After garrisoning Cajamarca, Atahualpa moved north to treat with the Spaniards near Tumebamba, hoping to counter his brother’s offer. However, the Spaniards took advantage of Atahualpa’s unarmed, diplomatic vanguard to kill his guard and capture him, prompting thousands of his soldiers to flee in response to the sheer audacity of such an act (notwithstanding the awful combined effect of the Spaniards’ gunpowder, horses, and cruelly sharp steel swords). With Atahualpa delivered to Huáscar (and promptly executed), the Berazas were formally received at Cajamarca by the Sapa Inca and bestowed (along with their subordinates) with all the promised honors - as well as with an impressive amount of gold, silver, precious stones, and wives from amongst the nobility. Fermín and Íñigo, now 53 and 48, respectively, were more or less content with these gains and began to settle into their roles, founding a new city at Santiago del Ríochambo and a new port at Puerto Noble de Guayaquil while re-organizing the cities of Tumebamba and Tumbes, but Esteban and Chavarría were not yet ready to simply grow old, especially not in a realm that proclaimed a heathen god and sacrificed its own. Luckily for the two of them, they would not have to wait long for another opportunity.


With European disease now spreading like wildfire with Spaniards traipsing all over the Tawantinsuyu, both the upper and lower echelons of Inca society began to despise Huáscar even more - after all, had he not been the one who invited in these Spaniards, who now sow death everywhere? Had Huáscar not sealed this devilish pact with an act of fratricide? Sensing a coup, the Sapa Inca scrambled to remediate the situation, and did so in the most imprudent way possible: revoking the the titles given to the Spaniards and declaring them outlaws in his realm in March of 1529. It had been nearly two years since the Inca civil war had ended and the Spaniards had been installed in their current capacity, during which time Esteban Beraza had procured from his attorney in Sevilla the right of conquest and colonization to the remainder of the Inca Empire, and consequently had been able to accumulate the service of hundreds more Spaniards - who had thus far gained experience in putting down incessant revolts in Chinchaysuyu. Esteban responded to Huáscar’s breach of contract with immediate military action, and, accompanied by Chavarría and his uncle Fermín (Esteban’s father Íñigo had died in late 1528), pushed southward. After sacking Cajamarca in early May, the Spaniards, with an army now 1,300 strong buffered by more than 30,000 Indio allies, were met by Huáscar and his attendants, who had to flee Cusco due to the unrest. Huáscar again requested Spanish assistance in reclaiming his realm, promising even greater titles and wealth, but instead the Spaniards seized him as their prisoner and marched on to Cusco. On July 23rd, the Spanish appeared before the Inca royal city with Huáscar in tow, and, at the behest of Esteban, he was forced to announce to his people that neither he, nor any of the Sapa Inca, were divine by either descent or nature, and that the true son of Inti Tayta was “Jesucristo.” Huáscar renounced his sovereignty and declared himself a loyal subject of King Miguel. The inhabitants of Cusco were enraged by this debacle and clamored for Huáscar’s blood, but internally they were deeply demoralized by this sorry state of affairs. Huáscar would die shortly after from complications from measles. When Cusco fell to the Spanish on July 29th, Esteban was surprisingly clement in his treatment of its Inca populace, and, putting a Spanish soldier named Hernando Pizarro in temporary charge of the city, moved to capture the city of Abancay, where the central Inca resistance was rallying in force, some 80,000 in number. However, with the mountainous terrain evening the consequences of the two armies, Abancay was another mockery of a battle, ending in butcher for the Inca. With Chinchaysuyu pacified, Esteban moved south again, this time to Nazca, where another army of Incas had assembled and were, again, defeated handily. Esteban would make his residence at Cusco, establishing a captaincy-general over what he deemed “Nueva Vizcaya,” after his birthplace, while Chavarría was given a concession between Fermín and Esteban’s claims, wherein he was commissioned to construct a port - which he named San Martín de Limac, founded on May 23rd of 1530 and marking the end of the conquest. The Incas would continue to resist their conquerors for many more generations, but the end of their empire was now firmly set in stone.