One of the major achievements of Francisco Pizarro was conquering the Inca empire, located on the steep Andes Mountains. He explored for Spain and was a conquistador. He claimed most of South America for Spain and brought back treasures such as gold. He wasn't very educated but did accomplish a lot.
Francisco Pizzaro (1478?-1541) was born in Trujillo, Spain, and first came to the Americas in 1502, when he lived in Hispaniola Island. He joined noted explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa's colony of Darien, in what is now Panama. Pizarro became a cattle rancher, but was soon captivated by reports of the rich Incan empire in Peru. He entered into a partnership with an adventurer and priest to conquer the empire. After three failed attempts, the trio decided Pizarro should go to Spain to get the king's permission to subjugate Peru. In 1528, Pizarro persuaded the king to make him governor of 600 miles along the west coast of South America. With a force of just 170 men, he reached the interior Incan city of Tumbez in 1532. Pizarro found the empire in a state of civil war. Huascar, the ruler, had been challenged by his brother, Atahualpa, who had seized the throne. Pizarro advanced to Atahualpa's stronghold in Cajamarca and took him prisoner. Atahualpa offered Pizarro a huge treasure -- legend has it he was required to fill a room full of golden objects up to a man's height -- but once that was paid, Pizarro strangled him then took the loot. Pizarro advanced to the Incan capital of Cuzco then placed a puppet ruler on the throne. Pizarro then founded the coastal city of Lima to be the Spanish capital of Peru. The king of Spain made Pizarro a marquis, and he ruled Peru until 1541, when the followers of one of his original partners assassinated him.
Francisco Pizarro was another important prominent Spanish conquistador whose era of glory was between the period of 1530 and 1532. As Spain was the first nation to build an empire in the continents of North America and South America, the importance of Spanish conquistadors could never be denied by historians.
Pizarro had an army of 180 soldiers who climbed the Andes Mountains to reach the area that was under the control of the powerful and prosperous Inca empire, one of the most flourishing Native American people in the whole of America. With their greed of wealth and power, the army of Pizarro was able to defeat the Inca empire in the year 1530.
Throughout the Andes mountains, there were many gold and silver mines, which were considered as untapped opportunities by the Spanish conquistadors. They forced the imprisoned Inca people to work in those mines and the extracted treasure was later on shipped back to Spain through the sea routes.
