Francisco Pizarro Timeline

In 1529, Pizarro obtained permission from the Crown of Castile to lead a campaign to conquer Peru. In the king's absence, Queen Isabel signed the Capitulación de Toledo on 6 July 1529, a licence document authorizing Pizarro to proceed with the conquest of Peru.

Image source: Francisco Pizarro

Unable to raise the number of men the Capitulación required, Pizarro sailed clandestinely from the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda for the Canary Island of La Gomera in January 1530.

Image source: Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Pizarro's third and final expedition left Panama for Peru on 27 December 1530, setting out on the voyage that would culminate in the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.

In 1531, Pizarro once again landed on the coasts near Ecuador, the province of Coaque and the region of Esmeraldas, where some gold, silver and emeralds were procured and then dispatched to Almagro.

Image source: Coaque River

As Tumbes no longer afforded safe accommodations, Pizarro led an excursion into the hinterland in May 1532 and established San Miguel de Piura, the first Spanish settlement in Peru, along with a repartimiento.

Image source: Piura

Leaving 50 men back at the settlement under the command of Antonio Navarro, Pizarro proceeded with his conquest accompanied by 200 men on 24 September 1532, marching into the Andes toward the Inca emperor Atahualpa.

Image source: Battle of Cajamarca

Arriving at Cajamarca on 15 November 1532, Pizarro had a force of just 110 foot soldiers, 67 cavalry, three arquebuses and two falconets, facing the vast Inca army camped nearby.

After Atahualpa's refusal to submit led Pizarro and his force to attack, the Battle of Cajamarca erupted on 16 November 1532. Relying heavily on Spanish guns and cavalry, Pizarro captured the Inca emperor Atahualpa in a stunning victory against overwhelming odds.

By February 1533, Diego de Almagro had joined Pizarro in Cajamarca with an additional 150 men and 50 horses, reinforcing the Spanish position in the heart of the Inca Empire.

A ransom for the emperor's release was demanded and Atahualpa filled a room with gold to the highest point he could reach, but Pizarro charged him with various crimes and executed him by garrotting in July 1533.

Image source: Atahualpa

Atahualpa was formally executed by garrote on 29 August 1533, removing the Inca emperor and dealing a decisive blow to organized Inca resistance to the Spanish conquest.

The Spanish sealed the conquest of Peru by entering Cuzco, the Inca capital, on 15 November 1533, completing their takeover of the heart of the Inca Empire.

Image source: Cusco

Jauja, in the fertile Mantaro Valley, was established as Peru's provisional capital in April 1534, but it was high up in the mountains and too distant from the sea to serve effectively as the capital.

Image source: Jauja

In January 1535, Pizarro founded the city of Lima on Peru's central coast on 6 January 1535, which he considered one of the most important things he had created in life. It replaced Jauja as the capital.

Image source: Lima

By early 1536, Manco Inca Yupanqui, supported by an army of perhaps 100,000 people, initiated a siege of Cuzco, launching a major indigenous uprising against Spanish rule.

Image source: Siege of Cusco

Rivalry between the Pizarro brothers and Almagro escalated, leading to confrontations in which Almagro was eventually defeated during the Battle of Las Salinas in 1538 and executed.

Image source: Battle of Las Salinas

Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui eventually married her uncle Hernando Pizarro in Spain on 10 October 1537; a third son of Pizarro who was never legitimized, Francisco, by Doña Angelina, died shortly after reaching Spain.

Image source: Hernando Pizarro

By 1538, it was known that Pizarro had fathered two sons, Juan and Francisco, adding to his complicated personal legacy alongside the conquest itself.

In Lima, on 26 June 1541, a group of 20 heavily armed supporters of Diego de Almagro II stormed Pizarro's palace, assassinating him and then forcing the terrified city council to appoint young Almagro as the new governor of Peru. Pizarro had fallen victim to political power struggles.

Pizarro is the title and subject of a dramatic tragedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, presented in 1799, cementing the conquistador's place in popular culture and drama.

Image source: Pizarro (play)

In 1892, in preparation for the anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas, a body believed to be that of Pizarro was exhumed and put on display in a glass coffin.

A statue associated with Pizarro was presented to the city by his widow in 1926. It was later taken to Lima in 1934 and re-purposed to represent Pizarro.

In 1952 the Pizarro statue was moved to Plaza Pizarro, continuing its journey through various locations in Lima over the decades.

In 1977, workers on the cathedral's foundation discovered a lead box in a sealed niche bearing an inscription identifying it as containing the head of Marquess Don Francisco Pizarro, prompting forensic examination.

A team of forensic scientists from the United States, led by William R. Maples, examined the two bodies and soon determined that the body honored in the glass case for nearly a century had been incorrectly identified as Pizarro.

In 2003 the statue was relocated to Parque de La Muralla after 17 months in a warehouse, placed on a concrete base without its original pedestal, which it had throughout its history since inauguration.

Pizarro appears in 2025's Civilization VII as a conquistador leader unit for the Spanish Empire, demonstrating his enduring presence in popular culture and video games.

Image source: Civilization VII

On 15 January 2025, the statue was again moved to a pedestrian street next to the Plaza Mayor to be inaugurated, with the pedestal restored, as part of the city's 490th anniversary celebrations on the 18th.