Atahualpa managed to escape, however, and returned to Quito to gather his forces. This maneuver seems to have been quite successful initially, and Huáscar’s troops supposedly defeated Atahualpa, and captured him near Tomebamba. As a result, Huáscar decided to strike first by making an attempt to capture Quito. This was not to be so, as Huáscar saw Atahualpa’s command of the empire’s armed forces as a threat to his own position as Sapa Inca. It is possible that Huayna Capac had hoped that the two brothers would rule the empire together harmoniously. Painting depicting General Rumiñahui, (1925) by José Yépez. It is thought that they originated in the northern part of the empire, and thus felt an affiliation with Atahualpa. Moreover, three capable generals – Chalcuchima, Quisquis, and Rumiñahui, would transfer their allegiance to Atahualpa. Ruling from Cuzco (Cusco), the capital of the Inca Empire, Huáscar commanded the loyalty of most of the population.Ītahualpa, on the other hand, commanded the loyalty of the Inca army, which was stationed in the north at that time, with the purpose of subjugating smaller tribes on the empire’s frontier. Thus, Huáscar was given the entire Inca Empire to rule, with the exception of Quito and its surrounding area, which was situated in the northern part of the empire. In comparison, Atahualpa was said to have been the son of one of Huayna Capac’s concubines. Of these two sons, Huáscar was the elder, and the second son of Huayna Capac’s legitimate wife. ( CC BY SA 3.0 ) The Division of the Inca Empire The Sapa Inca decided to break with tradition, and divided the empire between his two younger sons – Huáscar and Atahualpa. Not long after his son’s death, Huayna Capac too was on his deathbed. In Huayna Capac’s case, however, his eldest son, Ninan Cuyochi, is said to have died before him. Traditionally, the Sapa Inca would pass his throne to his eldest son. The two men had likely succumbed to smallpox, a disease which had spread to the native communities from the Spanish arrival to the continent. The War of the Two Brothers began with the death of the Sapa Inca Huayna Capac, and his heir apparent, Ninan Cuyochi in 1527. This war is known variously as the Inca Civil War, the Inca Dynastic War, the Inca War of Succession, and the War of the Two Brothers. Only a year earlier, Atahualpa had emerged victorious from a bloody civil war to become the Sapa Inca (meaning ‘the only Inca’).
This marked the end of the once mighty Inca Empire, and the beginning of the Spanish conquest of that region of South America. On the 26th of July 1533, the last ruler of the Inca Empire, Atahualpa, was executed by the Spanish with a garrotte (a device used to strangle someone).
0 kommentar(er)
