Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook explore the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, featuring Francisco Pizarro, an illiterate conquistador from Extremadura, and the doomed emperor Atahualpa. This series serves as the sequel to their previous coverage of Cortés and the fall of the Aztecs.

The story begins with Pizarro's early expeditions in the 1520s, his partnership with Diego de Almagro, and their discovery of evidence pointing to a vast, wealthy civilization to the south. Meanwhile, the Inca Empire - stretching 2,500 miles from Colombia to Chile - faces internal collapse following a smallpox epidemic and brutal civil war.

The hosts examine how the Incas built their empire without writing, wheels, or horses, creating what some historians call a totalitarian state with forced labor, uniform clothing, and no private property. As described in 1491, this civilization rivaled any in the Old World despite its technological limitations.

Francisco Pizarro: From Pig Herder to Conquistador

Born around 1478 in Trujillo, Extremadura, Pizarro was the illegitimate son of an infantry officer and a servant girl, never learning to read or write unlike his distant cousin Hernán Cortés.

Arrived in Hispaniola in 1502 alongside Bartolomé de las Casas, who would later become the great spokesman for Native American rights, highlighting the ongoing Spanish debates about colonial treatment.

Spent 20 years in the Caribbean as part of Balboa's network, witnessing the first European sighting of the Pacific before later arresting Balboa for execution due to endemic conquistador feuding.

By the 1520s, settled in Panama City with his own estate and indigenous laborers, but remained restless despite his success, driven by 'pothos' - an Alexander the Great-style yearning for glory.

The Partnership and Early Expeditions South

Formed a partnership in 1524 with priest Hernando de Luque and Diego de Almagro, described as 'a man of short stature with ugly features, but with great courage and endurance' who lost an eye in their first expedition.

Their pilot Bartolomé Ruiz made the crucial discovery of an ocean-going raft filled with 'gold and silver ornaments, crowns and diadems, belts and bracelets, tweezers and rattles' - proof of advanced civilization.

Pizarro's famous line-in-the-sand speech on Isla de Gallo: 'Comrades and friends, on one side lies comfort. On the other lies death, hardship, hunger, nakedness, rain, and abandonment... you go to Peru and become rich.'

Only 12 men crossed to Pizarro's side, including artillery expert Pedro de Candia, becoming immortalized in Spanish history as 'The Thirteen of Fame' for their stubborn commitment to the expedition.

Royal Authorization and the Return to Peru

Charles V granted Pizarro the franchise to conquer Peru in 1529, offering double Cortés's salary, but Pizarro 'accidentally forgot to get a good deal for his business partners,' creating lasting resentment.

Returned with 200 recruits from Extremadura, including six Dominican friars and the three Pizarro brothers: impetuous Juan, noble Gonzalo, and legitimate Hernando, described as having 'thick lips and a thick tongue.'

Set sail from Panama on September 27, 1530, with 180 men and 37 horses, while Almagro remained behind to raise additional forces, a decision that would have 'massive consequences.'

Reached the town of Tumbes to find apocalyptic devastation - evidence of the smallpox epidemic and civil war that had shattered the Inca Empire's unity and infrastructure.

The Inca Empire: Land of the Four Quarters

The Incas called themselves 'Uruna' (the people) and their empire 'Tawantinsuyu' (land of the four quarters), ruling approximately 12 million subjects across 2,500 miles without writing, wheels, or horses.

As Charles C. Mann explains in 1491, the empire's scale was like 'one power controlling everything from St. Petersburg in the north to Cairo in the south' - a long, thin empire of unprecedented reach.

Pachacuti, possibly mythical founder-emperor, transformed the Cuzco kingdom into an empire around 1400, described by a Jesuit as one who 'endowed the state with laws, expanded official religion, and organized everything.'

Built a 14,000-mile road network with suspension bridges and warehouses, surpassing anything in Europe, but operated without markets, money, or private property - 'never was there a more pervasive government.'

Smallpox Epidemic and Civil War Catastrophe

Emperor Huayna Capac died of smallpox around 1525 while campaigning in Colombia, having possibly heard 'garbled news' of Spanish arrivals in Panama, triggering a succession crisis.

Two sons competed for the crown: Huascar, based in traditional Cuzco, and Atahualpa, representing Quito in the north - a 'regional as well as factional' conflict lasting three years.

Atahualpa's victory in April 1532 came with extreme cruelty - he 'would order enemy chiefs' hearts to be torn out' and forced Huascar to watch his wives and children being tortured to death.

The civil war left 'the Inca nobility irreparably torn' with 'scars too fresh, too painful' just as 168 Spanish conquistadors prepared for their final approach to Cajamarca.