647. The Fall of the Incas: The King in the North (Part 4)
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How did the Spanish conquistadors exploit the Incan civil war?
Their capital is completely round. They call it the navel of the earth, and that's what it looks like. In the middle was a huge temple, the center of their faith. The walls were plated with gold, enough to blind us. Inside, set out on tables, golden platters for the sun to dine off. Outside the garden, acres of gold soil planted with gold maize, entire apple trees in gold, gold birds on the branches, gold geese and ducks, gold butterflies in the air on silver strings. And, imagine this, away in a field, life-sized, twenty golden llamas grazing with their kids. The Garden of the Sun at Cusco. A wonder of the earth. Look at it now. So that was posh boy Anando de Soto in Peter Schaffer's play, The Royal Hunt of the Sun.
Came out in 1964. We've been hearing a lot from it. And de Soto in that passage is describing one of the great wonders of the world in the early 16th century, which was Coricantia, the Temple of the Sun. in cusco and dominic that is from a play but peter shaffer i mean he loves his research doesn't he he's obviously gone to the primary sources and reworked them it's very very closely based on some primary sources that we'll hear from later in this episode they were written by spanish chroniclers a few years after the fall of the incas and that sense um i mean you did it in a sort of very clipped 1950s war film voice but i think generally when people perform that play There's a sense of wonder and awe in their voices.
Well, should I go back and redo it? No, no, no one wants that. Their capital is completely round.
They call it the navel of the earth. Oh, and that's what it looks like. How about that? Have I got the part?
Definitely.
Gold geese and ducks. Very toastery. 20 golden llamas.
It's very Toast of London, that reading. Matt Berry would do a very good job. Right, yes.
And actually, while he's speaking in that voice, loads of Indian porters in the play, I'd say Indian in inverted commas because that's what they're called in the play, they've been removing the rays of the sun, which are like petals, and piling them up in this giant horde of loot for the Spaniards. And this is what we talked about last time. the pillaging of the Temple of the Sun to pile up Atahualpa's ransom. So he ended with Atahualpa being garrotted by the Spanish anyway. So this is paranoid atmosphere in Cajamarca, where since November 1532, Pizarro and his comrades have been holding Atahualpa prisoner. And this is just the beginning of the looting of Peru, because this is the story of one of the greatest gold heists, surely actually the greatest gold heist in history.
The? Surely? I mean, I can't think of anything comparable. And at the heart of the story are the temples and treasure houses of the Incas' holy city of Cuzco. So it's a story today of gold and greed on an epic scale. But there is more. We'll be telling the story of the greatest pitched battle in the history of the conquest of Peru. So tens of thousands of warriors. Because to be honest, we haven't had any yet, have we? No. And I think people are gagging for a battle and they're going to get one. We'll be meeting a terrifying Inca warlord who turns his victims into percussion instruments. We love an Inca warlord who turns his victims into percussion instruments. On the rest is history. And most exciting, and this is a real gift for long-standing listeners, we should be welcoming back to the show one of our favourite characters, top gilet and red trousers model, Pedro de Alvarado.
Bloody good bloke. Total ledge.
So that's something to look forward to.
So let's begin with Pizarro and the Conquistadors in Cajamarca. It's the summer of 1534. They've just killed Atahualpa. What now? So, killing Atahualpa has made their life much simpler in a couple of respects. First of all, they are now free to push on for the gold of Cuzco, which is about 750 miles, 800 miles to the south. And this is especially important for Pizarro's partner, Diego de Amagro, who, as we heard last time, is absolutely seething because he's been cut out of the ransom.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
How did the Spanish conquistadors exploit the Incan civil war?
0:11–13:12
2
What treasures did the Spanish find in Cusco?
13:12–25:44
3
What brutalities were committed by the Spanish during the conquest?
25:44–36:53
4
How did Atahualpa's death impact the Inca Empire?
36:53–49:49
5
What role did Manco play in the Spanish conquest?
49:49–1:00:21
6
How did Pedro de Alvarado's actions affect the conquest of Peru?
1:00:21–1:09:02
Speakers
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