The history of the conquest was often distinguished by illogicality, paradoxicality, and the established principles of military art were refuted. Francisco Pizarro, conquering in the early 30s. 16th century the Inca Empire, recalled his conversations with Hernan Cortes: why not try to capture the Great Inca Atahualpa in the same way as his relative captured Montezuma?
Having set up camp in the city of Cajamarca, Pizarro began to prepare for the appearance of the emperor, who wished to look at the white aliens. Expecting a distinguished guest, he first of all took care of the optimal disposition of his forces. Cannons were installed in the center of the main city square, where the welcoming ceremony was to take place, a group with arquebuses was located on a high tower, three cavalry squadrons were led by the most capable and loyal people.
Atahualpa considered that 5-6 thousand troops were enough to reliably ensure his security. Can anyone doubt this, outnumbering the Spaniards by 40 times! The Inca was on his way to Cajamarca to demonstrate his greatness. His endless convoy dazzled with its luxury and wealth; young women amazed with their beauty and magnificent dresses, numerous singers did not stop, dancers did not spare their feet; notable persons stood out among them with degree. On a special platform, eight Indians carried the throne of Atahualpa. The possession of this throne alone would have made the most impracticable dreams of the conquistadors a reality: there was so much gold, silver, and precious stones in it. The golden Sun and silver Moon that adorned the throne emphasized how high and inaccessible to mere mortals its owner was.
Atahualpe came out to meet the priest Vincente Valverde with a cross and a Bible in his hands. Through an Indian translator, he told the emperor that Jesus Christ, the son of God, transferred power over the earth to the Holy Apostle Paul and his followers, the Popes, and they, in turn, instructed the King of Spain, Charles V, to convert the peoples of the New World to the Christian faith.
Calmly listening to the words of the priest, Atahualpa asked for a Bible and said: “This book does not tell me anything. I do not know the God who created the earth and the sky, and at the same time I am convinced that the world was created by Pachacamac (the ancient god of the Quechua Indians, the "creator" of the world and light) and that the Sun and Moon, whom we worship, are immortal, and Jesus Christ that you were talking about is dead. I have never heard of your Pope giving away countries that are not his. No one has the right to possess my kingdom without my knowledge." After these words, the Inca scornfully threw the Bible on the ground. Isn't this the kind of reaction that the operation was designed for? “Revenge, Christians! Attack the heretics who have desecrated the Bible!” shouted the priest.
Cannons and arquebuses roared. In the diverse and crowded surroundings of the Inca, it was difficult for the Indian warriors, dumbfounded by the sudden attack, to organize resistance. The cavalry left no hope for the screaming, panicked crowd. Pizarro with a group of soldiers made his way to the throne of the Inca and captured him. The Indians stopped fighting. The pogrom lasted only half an hour. In and around the square, according to Francisco Jerez, Pisarro's personal secretary, 2,000 corpses remained. The conquistadors suffered no casualties at all. Atahualpa, outwardly remaining calm, said: "This is a common thing in war: either win or be defeated."
Could a former swineherd, who never mastered the wisdom of literacy, imagine that such a triumph would be in his life? The winners captured the richest trophies, but the Inca himself turned out to be the most valuable. Pizarro narrowed the boundaries of the emperor's possessions to one room measuring 22 feet long and 16 feet wide. Atahualpa promised to fill this room with jewels up to the height of a raised hand for his release. The Spaniard, of course, agreed.
The gold rush has begun. A red line was drawn along the walls in the room of the Inca at the appointed place, and hundreds of messengers went to all parts of the empire. And the riches created by many generations of people flowed in an uninterrupted stream to Kaja-marka. The gold and silver of the temples of the Sun and the palaces of the great cities of Cusco, Huamachuco, Huyla-sa, Puitou and Siklalama were sacrificed to the short-sightedness of Atahualpa.
He did not doubt the imminent release and thought about the future. And this future could be crossed out by the brother and legitimate heir of Huascar, who could be used in their own interests by the Spaniards. Through faithful men who were among those who brought gold, Atahualpa ordered the destruction of Wa-scar. And he was drowned in the Anda-mana River, drowned, because, according to the belief of the Incas, only a drowned man will never rise again.
The gullible Atahualpa found peace: the main rival in the struggle for the throne became a ghost, and he has freedom ahead - after all, he, the powerful Inca, poured jewels to the greedy Spaniards to the red line ...
What were the treasures received from Atahualpa, and how did the conquistadors divide them among themselves? Gold was collected in the amount of 15.5 million gold pesos and 25,805 pounds of silver. After a fifth of all the treasures were allocated to the royal crown, the rest was distributed as follows: Pizarro received 57,222 gold pesos and 1,175 pounds of silver, as well as the golden throne of the Inca, valued at 25 thousand gold pesos. His brother Hernando received 31,800 gold pesos and 1,175 pounds of silver, each cavalryman 8,880 and 181, respectively, and each infantryman 4,440 and 90 and a half pounds of silver.
Having become the owner of fabulous wealth, Pizarro nevertheless was in no hurry to provide the promised freedom to the royal prisoner. He understood that Atahualpa would stop at nothing, wanting to avenge the insult, and then it would hardly be possible not only to save the trophies obtained, but also to save a life. To prevent this, Pizarro decided to arrange a trial for the Inca. Atahualpa was accused of killing Huascar, illegally seizing the throne, idolatry, polygamy, embezzling the treasury, and even preparing an anti-Spanish coup. The verdict - burning alive at the stake - chilled Atahualpa's soul. It was not a painful death that was terrible - the warrior was not afraid of it. The Incas believed in immortality at the end of earthly life, but only if the body of the deceased was embalmed.
That is why Atahualpa was horrified by the thought of death. Shortly before the start of the execution, Valverde once again invited the emperor to accept the Christian faith. The Inca flatly refused. And then the priest offered him to change the fire for a noose, but with the condition of obligatory baptism. Atahualpa agreed, receiving the name Juan during the ceremony. Then, to the sound of religious psalms performed by several Spaniards, the life of a thirty-year-old Inca was cut short. The continuation of the judicial hypocrisy of the self-proclaimed servants of Themis was a sophisticated mockery of the memory of the deceased: the next day, Pizarro arranged a solemn funeral, in which he himself and other conquistadors, dressed in mourning clothes, took part. The executioners "mourned" the victim. In fairness, it must be said that some Spaniards protested against this trial and especially the death sentence, believing that Charles V should decide the fate of Atahualpa.
The death of Atahualpa plunged the Inca empire into chaos, which Pizarro took full advantage of, subduing it with "little blood", almost without suffering losses.
According to one of the Aztec legends, the world was completely destroyed four times by tigers, hurricanes, fire and water. After each such catastrophe, mankind arose anew, having inherited absolutely nothing from previous generations. It is curious that after the third cataclysm, according to the Aztecs, some of the remaining people turned into monkeys, and after the fourth, it became necessary to create a new Sun.
And then, as the legend says, the gods gathered in Teotihuacan and asked each other which of them would dare to "take care that there was a day, that there was light." (Teotihuacan is the center of one of the most important pre-Columbian civilizations of Central Mexico, the Toltec civilization (I-XII centuries AD). Currently, this ancient city, located 50 km from the Mexican capital, left the pyramids of the Moon and the Sun, the ruins of palaces and temples, monuments of sculpture and colorful paintings.The city center is crossed by the main street - the Road of the Dead 4 km long.) And two gods volunteered to do this - the powerful and arrogant "ruler of shells" god Tecuxistecatl and the poor, extraordinarily brave god Nanahuatzin. In Teotihuacan, a fire blazed that had been burning for four years. These two gods, who volunteered to sacrifice themselves for the creation of a new luminary, had to rush into it. The tongues of flame did not frighten only Nana-uacin, and the cowardly Tecuxistecatl preferred to rot in the resulting ashes of the fire. And it is not surprising that since then, radiance and brilliance come from Nanahuatzin, who became the god of the Sun, and deathly pallor - from Tecuxistekatl, who turned into the god of the Moon.
However, in order not to dim the brilliance of the Sun, the god of war Uitzilopochtli had to wage a fierce battle daily with the stars and the Moon. In this difficult confrontation, only the souls of those who died on the battlefield or were sacrificed could help him. This is how the idea of human sacrifice arose. It is central to the religion of the Aztecs, who justified it as follows. People cannot live without the daily participation of the gods, and they, in turn, need a person to support them, sacrificing their own life for this. From it, the gods receive a life-giving magical substance for themselves, contained in the blood and in the human heart...
The amazing and unique world of ancient Indian civilizations conveyed to us in the Aztec legend mentioned above its view of one of the great mysteries of being and the universe. And how much mysterious and unknown is still fraught with the history of the Maya, Aztecs, Incas, Chibcha Muisca, etc., who received the name Indians with the light hand of Christopher Columbus.
There are many hypotheses about when man first appeared in the Western Hemisphere and where people came from to the American continent. Starting from the XVI century. and to this day, disputes of pundits on this issue do not subside. Among the first inhabitants of America are called immigrants from the Canary Islands, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, ancient Greeks and Romans, Jews, Spaniards, Egyptians, Babylonians, Chinese, and even Tatars and Scythians. There was also a beautiful legend associated with Atlantis, which allegedly connected the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent in the distant past.
As science developed, there was a natural selection of various kinds of hypotheses and assumptions. There is now no doubt that the first humans in the Western Hemisphere were from other continents. But where? This issue has not yet been finally resolved.
Most researchers believe that they came from Asia, while others (for example, the Norwegian ethnographer and traveler Thor Heyerdahl) defend the Melanesian-Polynesian version of the settlement of America. The French scientist Paul Rive is inclined to the existence of both options.
From the second half of the eighteenth century from time to time, the diametrically opposite point of view, according to which America was one of the centers of the emergence of man, also reminds of itself. The most “reasoned” it was substantiated at the end of the 19th century. Argentine archaeologist and philosopher Florentino Amechino. He argued that *homo pampeanus, which lived on the territory of Argentina 1-2 million years ago, is generally the first person on Earth, and therefore America was the cradle of all mankind. The arguments of the opponents of the Argentine scientist were few, but confirmed by archaeological excavations: there were no great apes in the Western Hemisphere.
