Dominic Sandbrook

In his brilliant book, The Conquest of the Incas, John Hemming makes the excellent point that basically, in most places the Europeans conquered, Europeans had arrived multiple times before they actually turned up for good.

You know, missionaries had come, traders, envoys.

What's very unusual about the conquest of Peru is basically the Spanish do it all in one go.

So these generals have literally never seen a European.

They've never heard of a European until they hear some mad guys with beards have turned up and captured the emperor.

They didn't even know Europe existed.

As we will see, they didn't even look the emperor in the eye.

The emperor doesn't meet their eye when he talks to them.

So the idea that these guys would have laid hands on him, dragged him out of his litter, and then forced him to sleep next to them, that's surely the biggest twist of all.

Now, you mentioned that Huascar was being brought north under guard.

In a cage, yes.

So Pizarro, when Atahualpa tells him this, Pizarro says, do not harm your brother because Pizarro obviously thinks, wow, if I get both of them, I can make them fight.

Well, we sleep with one on each side.

Who knows?

But Atahualpa has no intention of allowing his brother to fall into the Spanish hands because, of course, he worries that they might prefer his brother.

So he sends orders to the people who are bringing Huascar up at a place called Andamarca, which is south of Cayamarca in the mountains.

Huascar is murdered by his guards and his body is thrown into the river.

Exactly right.

And it's also a good example of how Atahualpa is not this sort of martyr, saintly martyr.

Atahualpa is a very hard man.