Chapter 1: The Call of Peru
In Early 1527 the first Spanish
Conquistadors, came into contact with ships from the Tawantinsuyu Empire. It was a brief meeting, hardly worth the time of the Inca merchants who were looking to trade for shells and corals. However the wealth the traders had shocked the Spaniards. The leader of the group that first met the Inca, Bartolomé Ruiz, sent back a stunned report to King Charles I. "They were carrying…silver and gold as personal ornaments…including crowns and diadems, belts and bracelets…"
Ruiz's actions did not bode well for future relations between the Tawantinsuyu Empire and the Spanish. He immediately captured the raft upon seeing it, most of the men aboard jumped over to avoid capture. Most of those who were captured were eventually set shore, but Ruiz would keep three to serve as translators.
Ruiz returned to the San Juan River where the leader of the expedition, Francisco Pizarro. The expedition, seeking to find the source of this trading vessel, went south, but found little. They set up camp on a hostile, completely uninhabited island near the mouth of the Tumaco River, a Island they called Isla del Gallo, Island of the Cock. Soon men began to die at a rapid pace, some 16 or so a month. The men got so desperate that they appealed to the Governor of Spanish Panama, who ordered an inquiry and the evacuation of those who wished to leave Isla del Gallo. Only 13 men stayed behind with Pizarro. Pizarro's fanatical devotion to the cause reaped benefits, in 1528 he began explorations southward and encountered the first true Tawantinsuyu city any European had seen, Tumbez. The meeting of Pizarro and the Inca was cordial, but Pizarro, a man of common birth, was already planning conquest for the riches it would bring him. Further visits to nearby towns only solidified his desire to see the Tawantinsuyu subjugated. He saw quantities of gold and silver, pottery and valuable textiles. He saw a great empire for him to rule for Spain. But upon the expedition's return to Panama he found the Governor unwilling to finance him and bitter memories of Isla del Gallo hurting his recruitment efforts.
So Pizarro returned to Spain to seek support from the Royal Court at Toledo in mid-1528. By a stroke of luck he arrived at a similar time to his old commander Cortés from Mexico. Cortés encouraged his former subordinate in his endeavor The excitement brought about by the conquest of the Aztec Empire made it relatively easy for him to gain royal approval for such an adventure as well as recruit young men to assist in the invasion. The lure of conquest following the victories in Mexico was powerful and Pizarro used it to his advantage. He gained a commission from King Charles as Governor and Captain-General of Peru. His allies gained titles as well. His partner Diego de Almagro was promised the position of Commandant of Tumbez and the Governorship of territory beyond Peru. Hernando de Luque, a priest who also acted as a middleman between conquistadores and their financial backers, was to become the Bishop of Tumbez.
In late 1530 Pizarro left Panama on his mission of conquest, but it would not be until mid 1532 that he reached the city of Tumbez again, do to a landing site farther north then was advisable and an arduous march south through the jungle and skirmishes with natives who lacked the organization of the Tawantinsuyu. When the expedition sailed from the island of Puná to the mainland they had officially begun invading the Tawantinsuyu Empire.
The intervening years had been unkind to the Tawantinsuyu Empire. The Inca, Huayna-Capac had been campaigning in the hinterland for control of the area north of Quito. Huayna-Capac had ruled over the empire for years with internal peace, and had been on campaigns to subjugate the areas in the northern Andes that had not yet fallen to the Tawantinsuyu. At this period in time the Tawantinsuyu were at the hight of their power. They controlled almost the entire Andes Mountain chain, a sophisticated system of roads tied the Empire together and allowed the court at Cusco to quickly send orders to the four Suyu. Despite lacking a written language they kept detailed records using their system of knots called Quipu. Their architecture was a sight to behold and their massive terrace farming system produced large yields of Maize and Potatoes to communal stores. The ruling class was expanding as the Cusco elite reluctantly allowed the most powerful chiefs from conquered groups to join the highest groups in the empire. But all of that was about to change.
Smallpox, the most deadly of the various diseases that swept the Americans during the Columbian exchange. The disease killed countless thousands of ordinary Tawantinsuyu, as well as the powerful. Society was destabilized as massive sections of it died. Ironically the excellent road system probably helped spread the disease. The exact percentage of the population that died is disputed but it ranges from 40% to 85%. And it pulls strike even into the heard of the royal family, the supposed children of the sun.
Huayna-Capac had heard rumors of white men from the north and had been preparing march from Quito to meet them when the plague struck. Huayna-Capac was killed quickly, never being able to see the white man, his presumed heir, Ninan Cuyuchi, died as well. Even the great capital at Cusco was unsafe, Huayna-Capac's next son Huascar was also killed by the virus[1]. The deaths of so many members of the Inka's family created a massive power vacuum in the Empire. None of the other sons of Huayna-Capac and his many wives had been expecting to gain the title of Sapa Inka. Various intrigues began in Cusco over who would become Inca, however these games were shattered when runners arrived from the north. The army was marching south.
At the head of the army near Quito following his father's death was Atahualpa, one of the Inka's many son's. He had not been born to a mother of noble Cuscan blood, his mother was the daughter of a kingdom subjected by the empire years before. This made him unpalatable to the nobles in Cusco[2]. However he commanded the respect of the professional army and the only thing the nobles controlled were poorly trained militia. He had broad support in the north and while his popularity in the south and central part of the Empire was low what remained of the court at Cusco failed to present a figure for them to rally around, the capital was still caught up with subtly bickering claimants. At the head of the advancing Army was Quisquis, a major general from the northern campaigns loyal to Atahualpa. The presence of the largely Quitan Army felt like an invasion of the Queacha homeland, but Quisquis easily defeated a ragtag militia unsure of its loyalties at Jauja. When Quisquis arrived at Cusco in the name of "Atahualpa, the Twelfth Sapa Inka" the city, having no time to organize a defense made no fight and wishing to avoid a sacking, allowed him in.
The New Sapa Inka: Atahualpa
In the wake of Quisquis Atahualpa marched south along with his Commander in Chief, Chalcuchima. They bore the largest chunk of the Army with them in a slow and meandering march to Cusco, with stops to attack chiefs who had foolishly backed some minor claimant from Cusco. The third of the great generals loyal to Atahualpa. Rumiñavi, was left in charge of Quito, Atahualpa's power base.
Atahualpa's time in Cusco was short lived as he remained unpopular there with the nobles and his troops were becoming unpopular due to their occupation of the city. He impressed loyalty upon the city leaders, executed or imprisoned a few of the leading pretenders. He assumed the name Tikki Capac, however a combination of his Quitian troops calling him what they knew him as and Cusco elites privatly refusing to acknowledge his rule means he is still often referred to as Atahualpa. His coronation was well recived but the new Inka was northern raised and his father had not been in Cusco for years, instead staying at the front of the long running wars north of Quito. Though he did not dare say it to the powerful nobles in Cusco he was considering going through with a plan of his late father and establishing a second capital in the north, most likely Quito, or perhaps in Tumipampa in order to have a permanent base of operations. The issue of the capital was likely in the forefront of Atahualpa's mind as he turned around and began a long march north. He left Quisquis in control of Cusco and left with his grand entourage to the north.
However Pizarro was about to shove himself into the spotlight.
After crossing the frontier the about a hundred strong Spanish invaders had been using their horses, steel and guns to pillage the disease hit hinterland. Rumor's of white gods spun southwards as their advance continued and they continued stealing and fighting. They killed several chiefs along the way and terrified some locals into conversion to Christianity. The first major town they came across was one Pizarro had already seen, Tumbez[3]. The port city had been ravaged by smallpox and was greatly weakened compared to the splendor that Pizarro had seen earlier. It was March 1532 when Pizarro took Tumbez. The city was lightly defended by unprofessional and he'd asked to negotiate with the garrison commander. The garrison commander had brought his forces to the talks only to be ambushed by gun wielding Spaniards on horseback. Not a single casualty occurred for for the Spanish as they defeated hundreds of Inca militia men mainly through sheer terror. The occupation of Tumbez was a shock to its inhabitants who had known relative peace for quite some time. Women from sacred temples were taken for the men and readings from the foreign object of a book occurred. The invaders rode on strange beasts and carried strange weapons. The attempted conversion of the populace of what was supposed to be a Bishop's seat went poorly.
The Spanish Victory at Tumbez
Word of the occupation spread quickly to Rumiñavi, who by this point was south of Quito near the town of Zaroma. While the other two generals were either keeping down a rebellious populace or in support of Atahualpa Rumiñavi had a region loyal to the Inka around him. Sending word of his plans southward to Atahualpa he marched southwards even further, planing to pass Tumbez then swing north so as to block the strangers's southward march and ascertain their intentions.
What Rumiñavi was unaware of was that Pizarro, having received meager reinforcements, was slowly leaving Tumbez and beginning to explore the arid area around the Chira River. Near the town of Tangarara he laid out plans for a new Spanish town but did not settle it[4] due to his numbers having been sapped by leaving men behind to occupy Tumbez. Leaving the area in late September he began to turn inward and begin a full invasion of the Tawantinsuyu Empire. However he ran straight towards Rumiñavi who, having found Tumbez largely empty of anything but a few lightly armed Spaniards, has been rushing south by a more inland route. They both turned towards each other in early October. The first meeting between the full might of the Tawantinsuyu Empire and Pizarro would occur in the town of Saña.
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1: This is our point of divergence, in our timeline Huascar survived and helped kick off a civil war.
2: They supported Huascar IOTL.
3: IOTL he found Tumbez abandoned due to the civil war.
4: Unlike IOTL
