Tom Holland

Please don't turn me into a drum.

So then the Spanish disgraced themselves massively.

They couldn't find the treasure.

They sort of raid around the local countryside looking for the treasure.

They can't find it.

They start slaughtering all the women and children, demanding, you know, where is the gold?

Even the official royal chronicler of the expedition said this was cruelty unworthy of a Castilian.

God, that is stern words.

Those are some words.

And actually, if you're Ecuadorian, you think things are bleak, but now things are going to get a lot worse because both Diego de Almagro and Pedro de Alvarado are fast advancing on the Ecuadorian heartland.

So Almagro arrived first, and actually he behaved himself by his own standards quite well.

Unfortunately, it's a very different story with Marlborough College's Pedro de Alvarado.

He has absolutely disgraced himself.

Even by his previous standards.

So basically, after he left the coast, he got completely lost in the jungle.

His men were hacking their way through the jungle, being attacked by insects and ravaged by disease.

All their stuff rusts in the humidity.

They're caught in a volcanic eruption and covered with ash.

They get through the jungle.

They emerge into the Andes.