Post Contact of the Incas
When the Spanish arrived at the borders of the Inca Empire in 1528 which expanded them from southward from the Incs Maya (meaning the Blue River) which is now known as the
Patia River in southern Columbia to the Maule River in Chile, and eastward from
the Pacific Ocean to the edge of the Amazonian jungles, the empire covered some
of the most MOUNTAINIOUS places on earrth. In 1528, Emperor Huayna Capac (Young Lord) ruled the Inca Empire .He could
trace his line age back to a "stranger king" named Manco Capac, the mythical
founder of the Inca clan, who supposedly emerged from a cave in a region called
Pacariqtambo.More importantly, Huayna Capac was the son of the previous ruler, Topa Inca, and
the grandson of Pachacutec, the Emperor who had begun the dramatic expansion by
conquest of the Inca Empire from its base in the area around Cusco. Huayna Capac had continued the expansion by conquest by bringing Inca
armies north into what is today Ecuador.
Among the most important aspects of Huayna Capacs reign were his sons. While he had many legitimate and illegitimate children (legitimate meaning born of his sister-wife), two sons are historically important. The first was Prince Tupac Cusi Hualpa, also known as Huascar, whose mother was Coya (meaning Empress) Mama Rahua Occllo. The second was Atahualpa, an illegitimate son who was likely born of a daughter of the last independent King of Quitu. These two sons would play EXTREME IMPORTANT roles in the final years of the Inca Empire.
In 1528, The Inca emperor Huanya Capac dies from European introduced smallpox. Death sets off a civil war between his sons: Atahualpa and Huascar.In 1533, Atahualpa is executed; Almagro arrives; Pizarro captures Cusco and installs seventeen year old Manco Inca as new Inca emperor.
