PIZARRO, FRANCISCO. - Spanish conqueror of Peru, b. around 1475 at Trujillo (Cáceres, Extremadura), d. June 26, 1541 at Lima. The natural son of Gonzalo P., he received no education at all, nor did he learn to read and write, and he was employed by his father as a swineherd.
The marvelous stories about the New World vividly struck his imagination, and P. seized the first favorable opportunity to go there. Having embarked at Seville (though it is not known in what year), we have record of his residence at Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) in 1509, when he left that island, together with Alonso de Ojeda, to set sail for the mainland, where he took part in the founding of the colony of San Sebastián, in the Gulf of Urabá, remaining there as captain and lieutenant of Ojeda until diseases and the hostility of the Indians forced him to withdraw. Subsequently he accompanied Balboa on the expedition that led to the discovery of the Pacific Ocean, and Pedro Arias Dávila to Veragua, and he settled at Panama. Having there received from Pascual de Andagoya, who had made a voyage along the coasts of the South American mainland, detailed reports about a very wealthy Empire in those regions, P. came to an agreement with the captain and colleague Diego de Almagro and with the priest Fernando de Luque to outfit an expedition to those distant lands. Financed by Fernando de Luque, P. set out in Nov. 1524 from Panama, but after many hardships and fierce fighting with the Indians, he had to give up the enterprise; nevertheless the gold and silver, received as gifts or taken from the natives, made possible a second expedition in 1526-27, which carried P. as far as Túmbez, on the borders of the Empire of the Incas, whose emperor Huayna Capac he heard extolled for his deeds and power. Having obtained definitive certainty of the existence of the wealthy Empire, P. went in 1528 to Spain to obtain the support of Charles V for the conquest of the country. The Emperor, by the capitulation of Toledo, conferred on him on July 26, 1529 the governorship for life and the captaincy general of New Castile (the name by which Peru was then designated); to Almagro was granted the alcaidía of the fortress of Túmbez and the right of succession to P. in the event of the latter's death, to Fernando de Luque the bishopric of Túmbez and the office of protector general of the Indians of the region. Having returned to America, he set sail in Jan. 1531 from Panama with three ships for the definitive conquest of the Empire, which was facilitated by a civil war raging in the country. Having taken Atahualpa prisoner by a stratagem at Cajamarca — Atahualpa, who was usurping the throne of the Indians — P. occupied Cuzco, the capital of the Empire, on Nov. 15, 1533, taking a very rich booty there. On Jan. 18, 1535 P. moved to Lima, where he established the capital of New Castile. Afterward, divergences arose between P. and Almagro, who claimed the direct government of a part of the conquered lands according to the agreements concluded before P.'s departure for Spain; P.'s brother, Fernando, brutally crushed Almagro's claims, having him condemned to death and hanged. This summary act of justice drew upon P. the hatred of Almagro's numerous followers, who decided to seize the opportune moment to take revenge. On June 26, 1541 the conspirators, led by Juan de Rada, managed to penetrate P.'s palace and killed him despite his fierce defense.