Manco Inca

Timeline

1. 1533–1535Cuzco · South AmericaAfter the fall of Cuzco in 1533, Pizarro chose Manco Inca (son of Huayna Cápac and half-brother of Atahualpa) as puppet emperor, using his legitimacy to pacify the Inca people. Manco Inca initially cooperated with the Spanish, helping to suppress resistance. However, the Spanish grew increasingly arrogant in their plundering, especially seizing the property of his wives and concubines, which gradually turned him toward rebellion.
2. 1536–1537Cuzco · South AmericaIn April 1536, Manco Inca escaped house arrest under cover of a religious ceremony and quickly rallied tens of thousands of warriors for a full-scale uprising. The Inca army set fire to Cuzco (including fierce fighting over the Sacsayhuamán fortress) and dispatched general Quizquiz to attack Lima. Although they outnumbered the Spanish, the Inca army could not sustain logistics during the siege and could not counter cavalry charges or firearms; after about a year they were forced to withdraw.
3. 1537–1544Vilcabamba · South AmericaManco Inca led his remaining forces into the dense forests of Vilcabamba, between the upper Amazon and the Andes, establishing an exiled Inca regime that continued raiding the Spanish colonies. He sheltered several Spaniards who had fled after losing the Peruvian civil war (the Almagrist faction), but around 1544 these sheltered Spaniards assassinated him during a gambling break in hopes of receiving pardons. His son Sayri Túpac continued the Vilcabamba regime until it was finally destroyed by the Spanish in 1572.