Skip to content
History–Tours
15321532–1537 · Cusco

Spanish conquest of the Incas and the siege of Cusco

The huge fitted stone walls of Sacsayhuamán above Cusco
Photo: Esoltas. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Francisco Pizarro captured the Inca ruler Atahualpa at Cajamarca in 1532 and executed him the next year. In 1536 Manco Inca, installed by the Spanish as a puppet ruler, rebelled and besieged them in Cusco for ten months, with fierce fighting at Sacsayhuamán. Unable to retake the city, he withdrew to Vilcabamba, where an Inca state held out until 1572.

Sites

  1. Site 1: SacsayhuamánZigzag walls of huge fitted stones above the city.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Plaza de Armas, CuscoSquare where the Spanish held out, later the site of Inca executions.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: OllantaytamboTerraces where Manco Inca repulsed a Spanish attack in 1537.Map ↗

Guides who take you there

History-only · order never for sale
We haven't found an independent history guide for this yet. Guide here? Tell us about your tours.

Also in Cusco & Machu Picchu

More from the Renaissance & Early Modern

Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.