Pizarro (FRANCISCO a Spanish explorer)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

FRANCISCO, a Spanish explorer, the conqueror of Peru; the illegitimate son of a gentleman of Truxilla, being left entirely dependent on his mother, a peasant girl, he received no education. He embarked in 1510, with some other adventurers, for America; and, in 1524, after having distinguished himself under Nuñez de Balboa on many occasions, he associated at Panama with Diego de Almagro and Hernandez Luque, a priest, in an enterprise to make fresh discoveries. In this voyage they reached the coast of Peru, but being too few to make any attempt at a settlement, Pizarro returned to Spain, where all that he gained was power from the court to prosecute his object. However, having raised some money, he was enabled again, in 1531, to visit Peru, where a civil war was then raging between Huascar, the legitimate monarch, and his half - brother, Atahualpa, or Atabalipa, as he is variously called, the reigning inca. Pizarro, by pretending to take the part of the latter, was permitted to march into the interior, where he made the unsuspecting king his prisoner, while partaking of a friendly banquet to which he had invited him and his whole court; then extorting from him, as it is said, a house full of the precious metals by way of ransom, he had him tried for a pretended conspiracy, and sondemned him to be burned, al allowing him first to be strangled, as a reward for becoming a Christian. In 1533 the conqueror laid the foundation of Lima; FRANCISCO PIZARRO but, in 1537, a contest arose between him and Almagro, who was defeated and murdered by executed. Pizarro was Almagro's followers, June 26, 1541.