After his unheard claims as governor of New Castile (Peru) following the death of his brother, Gonzalo Pizarro pressed claims to be recognized as the ruler of the land he and his brothers had conquered. After the arrival of appointed royal viceroyBlasco Núñez Vela in 1544, Gonzalo succeeded to have him repelled and sent to Panama in chains. He was released, however, and returned to Peru by sea while Gonzalo was mustering an army. The two met on January 18 at Iñaquito in the outskirts of Quito, present-day capital of Ecuador, where the superiority of the Nueva Castilla army ensured victory for Gonzalo. Blasco Núñez Vela reportedly fought bravely but fell as a victim in battle and was later decapitated on the field of defeat, a fate Gonzalo himself would share two years later at Jaquijahuana.
The Governorate of New Castile was the gubernatorial region administered to Francisco Pizarro in 1528 by King Charles I of Spain, of which he was appointed governor.
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the west by the Pacific Ocean. Peru is a megadiverse country with habitats ranging from the arid plains of the Pacific coastal region in the west to the peaks of the Andes mountains vertically extending from the north to the southeast of the country to the tropical Amazon Basin rainforest in the east with the Amazon river.
Francisco Pizarro González was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that conquered the Inca Empire. He captured and killed Incan emperor Atahualpa, and claimed the lands for Spain.
In 1542, The position Viceroy of Peru and the Royal Audience of Lima were created, and the next year Viceroy Blasco Núñez Vela and the new judges of the Royal Audience arrived at Peru. The said viceroy arrived with the strong intention of enforcing the recently enacted New Laws that abolished the encomienda prohibited the personal labor of the indigenous people. The encomenderos (the masters) protested and organized a rebellion, choosing Gonzalo Pizarro as leader, who was then a wealthy encomendero in Charcas (present-day Bolivia)
A viceroy is an official who runs a country, colony, city, province, or sub-national state, in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roy, meaning "king". A viceroy's territory may be called a viceroyalty, though this term is not always applied. The adjective form is viceregal, less often viceroyal. The term vicereine is sometimes used to indicate a female viceroy suo jure, although viceroy can serve as a gender-neutral term. Vicereine is more commonly used to indicate a viceroy's wife.
Blasco Núñez Vela y Villalba was the first Spanish viceroy of Peru. Serving from May 15, 1544 to January 18, 1546, he was charged by Charles V with the enforcement of the controversial New Laws, which dealt with the failure of the encomienda system to protect the indigenous people of America from the rapacity of the conquistadors and their descendants.
The New Laws, also known as the New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians, were issued on November 20, 1542, by King Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire and regard the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Following complaints and calls for reform from individuals such as the Dominican friar Bartolomé de Las Casas, these laws were intended to prevent the exploitation and mistreatment of the indigenous peoples of the Americas by the encomenderos, by strictly limiting their power and dominion over groups of natives. The text of the New Laws has been translated to English.
Gonzalo went to Cuzco, where he was magnificently received and proclaimed Attorney General of Peru to protest the New Laws before the Viceroy and, if necessary, before the Emperor Charles V himself (1544).
Charles V was Holy Roman Emperor (1519-1556), King of Spain and ruler of the Spanish Empire, Archduke of Austria, and ruler of the Habsburg Netherlands (1506-1555). The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs and Incas, and the German colonisation of Venezuela both occured during his reign. Charles V revitalized the medieval concept of the universal monarchy of Charlemagne and travelled from city to city, with no single fixed capital: overall he spent 28 years in the Habsburg Netherlands, 18 years in Spain and 9 years in Germany. After four decades of incessant warfare with the Kingdom of France, the Ottoman Empire, and the Protestants, Charles V abandoned his multi-national project with a series of abdications between 1554 and 1556 in favor of his son Philip II of Spain and brother Ferdinand I of Austria. The personal union of his European and American territories, spanning over nearly 4 million square kilometres, was the first collection of realms to be defined as "the empire on which the sun never sets".
In Lima, the viceroy Núñez Vela was hated for his capriciousness, even to the extreme of killing a prominent resident of the city, an administrator by the name of Illán Suárez de Carbajal, with his own hands. The judges of the Royal Audience, in their eagerness to gain popularity, were inclined to defend the rights of the encomenderos and take the Viceroy prisoner. On September 18, 1544, they sent him back to Spain.
Gonzalo Pizarro triumphantly entered Lima on October 28, 1544, followed by 1200 soldiers. The judges, somewhere between joyous and fearful, received him as Governor of Peru. The rebellion against the Spanish crown was already a fact. The leader enjoyed popular support; his men called him the Great Gonzalo, and the uprising with the "Great Rebellion".
Meanwhile, the Viceroy managed to escape, by convincing his keeper, the judge Juan Álvarez, to set him free. He landed at Tumbes, on the northern coast of Peru, and headed to Quito, where he formed a new army. With these forces he marched south, to confront Gonzalo's rebels.
Juan Nepomuceno Álvarez Hurtado de Luna, generally known as Juan Álvarez, was a general, long-time caudillo in southern Mexico, and interim president of Mexico for two months in 1855, following the liberals ouster of Antonio López de Santa Anna. Álvarez had risen to power in the Tierra Caliente, in southern Mexico with the support of indigenous peasants whose lands he protected. He fought along with heroes of the insurgency, José María Morelos and Vicente Guerrero in the War of Independence, and went on to fight in all the major wars of his day, from the "Pastry War", to the Mexican–American War, and the War of the Reform to the war against the French Intervention. A liberal reformer, a republican and a federalist, he was the leader of a revolution in support of the Plan de Ayutla in 1854, which led to the deposition of Santa Anna from power and the beginning of the political era in Mexico's history known as the Liberal Reform. "Álvarez was most important as a champion of the incorporation of Mexico's peasant masses into the polity of [Mexico] ... advocating universal male suffrage and municipal autonomy."
Tumbes is a city in northwestern Peru, on the banks of the Tumbes River. It is the capital of the Tumbes Region, as well as of Tumbes Province and Tumbes District. Located near the border with Ecuador, Tumbes has 111,595 inhabitants as of 2015. It is served by the Cap. FAP Pedro Canga Rodriguez Airport.
Quito is the capital and the largest city of Ecuador, and at an elevation of 2,850 metres (9,350 ft) above sea level, it is the second-highest official capital city in the world, after La Paz, and the one which is closest to the equator. It is located in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains. With a population of 2,671,191 according to statistical projections (2019), Quito is the most populous city in Ecuador. It is also the capital of the Pichincha province and the seat of the Metropolitan District of Quito. The canton recorded a population of 2,239,191 residents in the 2010 national census. In 2008, the city was designated as the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations.
Preliminary Movements
The Viceroy occupied San Miguel de Piura and continued south. Aware of these movements, Gonzalo left Lima with his forces and went north, arriving at Trujillo. The viceroy retreated then, fearing the power of his adversary, and returned to Quito at a forced march. The journey was long and tiring, all the while being closely pursued by Gonzalo, without fighting or fighting very little. Later they went further north, towards Popayán (present-day Colombia).
Piura is a city in northwestern Peru located in the Sechura Desert on the Piura River. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. Its population is 484,475 as of 2017.
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central coastal part of the country, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima Metropolitan Area. With a population of more than 9 million, Lima is the most populous metropolitan area of Peru and the third-largest city in the Americas, behind São Paulo and Mexico City.
Trujillo is a city in coastal northwestern Peru and the capital of La Libertad Region. It is the third most populous city and center of the third most populous metropolitan area of Peru. It is located on the banks of the Moche River, near its mouth at the Pacific Ocean, in the Moche Valley. This was a site of the great prehistoric Moche and Chimu cultures before the Inca conquest and subsequent expansion.
Meanwhile, Captain Diego Centeno revolted in Charcas (Bolivia), raising the flag of the King. From Quito, Gonzalo Pizarro ordered Francisco de Carvajal to tackle this new campaign front, while Gonzalo was awaiting the viceroy.
Francisco de Carvajal was a Spanish military officer, conquistador, and explorer remembered as "the demon of the Andes" due to his brutality and uncanny military skill in the Peruvian civil wars of the 16th century.
In the meantime, the viceroy remained concentrated in Popayán, where he received reinforcements from the north; one of the captains who joined with him was Sebastián de Benalcázar, the governor of Popayán. While he was winning the support of the native chiefs in the region, whose work was invaluable, as they left the followers of Pizarro, thus increasing the impatience that Pizarro's men were suffering due to the prolonged inactivity. There was only one skirmish at a place called Río Caliente.
It was then that Pizarro planned an intelligent strategy to draw the viceroy out of Popayán, a position that he was finding difficult to attack: leaving a small garrison in Quito, under the command of Pedro de Puelles, Pizarro appeared to march south with his entire army, instructing their indigenous allies to spread the story that he was marching to aid Carvajal against Centeno. The viceroy was deceived and soon after moved his troops out of Popayán with the intent to seize Quito. He did not expect that the rebel leader instead of going south had stationed his men three leagues from Quito, along the river Guallabamba. The spies didn't catch the ruse until they reached Otavalo. Since it was too late to head back, so the viceroy withheld this news from his troops, so as not to discourage them, and continued to advance, already deciding to go to battle. Thus he came to the bank of the Guallabamba that faced the position of the rebels. It was too advantageous, the reason being that Benalcázar had advised the viceroy to divert to Quito by a less-traveled road, a plan which the viceroy accepted.
Sad was the reception given to the viceroy in Quito, where there were women who, knowing the military superiority of Gonzalo, reproached the viceroy for having "gone there only to die." The superior of the Franciscans, who was also pessimistic, offered refuge for Blasco Núñez in his convent and invited Benalcázar to retire as soon as possible, propositions which were ignored. Meanwhile, Pizarro's troops had also taken the road to Quito. The viceroy, considering the difficulties of mounting a defense in the city, rallied his troops and gave orders to leave and do battle outside of Quito. This was the evening of January 18, 1546.
The Armies
The Valley of Iñaquito is about 4km long and it adorns a lagoon on whose shores colorful birds frolic.
At a height that slightly dominates the Valley, Gonzalo Pizarro rallied his troops. He had about 700 men; of these 200 carried muskets and 150 rode horses. His Maestre de Campo, in the absence of Francisco de Carvajal, was Pedro de Puelles. One the leaders of the cavalry was Benito Suárez de Carbajal. They were accompanied by the judge Vásquez de Cepeda. Pizarro gave a fiery speech, whose final phrases were: "Gentlemen, to fight a defend your freedom, life and property."
ViceroyBlasco Núñez Vela's forces made up just over 400 men. His cavalry was almost the same in number as his adversary (some 140 men). Juan Cabrera was his Maestre de Campo, and for the captains of the musketeers and the pikeman: Sancho Sánchez Dávila, Francisco Hernández Girón, Pedro de Heredia y Rodrigo Núñez de Bonilla. The cavalry was divided into two squadrons: the viceroy took command of the major part, and the other he gave command to his captains Sebastián de Benalcázar, Pedro de Bazán y Hernando de Cepeda (Cepeda was the cousin of Santa Teresa de Jesús[2]). Among them, intending to fight as a soldier, was the judge Juan Álvarez.
The Viceroy also delivered a moving speech, promising to be the first to break his spear against the enemy and finished with the dramatic words: "That God is the cause, God is the cause, God is the cause." The viceroy also wore an uncu, an indigenous cotton shirt, that covered his armor and his badges. Some said that this was to avoid enemy fire, and others said that it was to fight with more humility, as one of the soldiers.
The battle
The battle began with musket fire from the viceroy's side, which the rebels immediately responded to. As promised, the viceroy led his riders in an attack against Puelles; and so great was their momentum that the first spear knocked down a rider by the name of Alonso de Montalvo. The clash of both cavalries, almost equal in numbers, was violent. But Pizarro's musketeers came to tip the scales of the fight. When they arrived at one flank, they began to decimate their enemies with deadly accuracy. The combat between the infantries favored Pizarro's side, being superior in number. Benalcázar was wounded by several shots, while Juan de Guevara and Sánchez Dávila were both killed.
With their leaders dead, the viceroy's infantry crumbled. The victorious rebel cavalry destroyed the enemy without compassion, while the musketeers did not cease fire. The viceroy, who valiantly fought in the left flank, was finally reached by a blow from Hernando de Torres (a resident of Arequipa), receiving a mortal wound in the head. At first, they did not identify him due to the indigenous uncu over his armor. However, a little while later he was recognized by a soldier and the news reached Benito Suárez de Carbajal, whose brother Illán had been murdered in Lima by the viceroy. For this reason Carbajal joined the battle, to kill the viceroy with his own hands and avenge the death of his brother. But he was held back by Pedro de Puelles, telling him that it was a rather base thing to go and kill a man who had already fallen. So Benito Suárez sent a black slave to finish the job. The viceroy was beheaded with a single blow, and the head was nailed and raised on a pike for all to see. Not content with this, Benito Suárez had the beard and mustache cut off, and used them to adorn his own hat; others imitated him, such as Juan de la Torre (called "The man from Madrid" to distinguish him from another man by the same name, one of the Famous Thirteen).
The death of the viceroy demoralized the last of his infantry that were still resisting, who were captured and slaughtered. Only a few were able to escape. They were followed for a while by Pizarro's riders, until night fell and Gonzalo sounded the trumpets, gathering his troops and putting an end to the battle.
On the viceroy's side, about 300 died, while the rebels mourned the loss of very few: just seven men. Pizarro was not merciless with his prisoners: Hernández Girón and Benalcázar, wounded in the fight, obtained honorable pardon. Just a few of the most obstinate followers of the viceroy were hanged or exiled to Chile. It was fortunate for the viceroy's men that the cruel Francisco de Carvajal was not there, or else none of them may have escaped death.
The severed head of the viceroy was dragged across the ground to Quito, where it was placed on the pillory. Thanks to influential residents, the body and the head were collected for a decent burial in the cathedral of Quito, later to be transferred to the viceroy's land, Ávila, in Spain. Thus ended the life of the first Viceroy of Peru.
↑ The brothers of this saint fought in Iñaquito on the royal side: Lorenzo de Cepeda, Antonio de Ahumada (who fell in the battle), Jerónimo de Cepeda and Hernando de Ahumada (as Lieutenant General). Another brother, Agustín de Ahumada, would come to Peru later, accompanying the Peacemaker Pedro de la Gasca. The godfather of Santa Teresa de Jesús was D. Francisco Velásquez Núñez Vela, brother of the Viceroy. It is understood that there was a profound relationship between the two families.
Related Research Articles
Lope de Aguirre was a Basque Spanish conquistador who was active in South America. Nicknamed El Loco, he styled himself "Wrath of God, Prince of Freedom, King of Tierra Firme". Aguirre is best known for his final expedition down the Amazon river in search of the mythical golden Kingdom El Dorado. In 1561 Aguirre sent a letter which defied the Spanish monarch Philip II by declaring an independent state of Peru. Aguirre's expedition ended with his death, and in the years since then he has been treated by historians as a symbol of cruelty and treachery in the early history of colonial Spanish America, and has become an antihero in literature, cinema and other arts.
Sebastián de Belalcázar was a Spanish conquistador. De Belalcázar, also written as de Benalcázar, is known as the founder of important early colonial cities in the northwestern part of South America; Quito in 1534 and Cali, Pasto and Popayán in 1537. De Belalcázar led expeditions in present-day Ecuador and Colombia and died of natural causes after being sentenced to death in Cartagena, at the Caribbean coast in 1551.
Gonzalo Pizarro y Alonso was a Spanish conquistador and younger paternal half-brother of Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of the Inca Empire. Bastard son of Captain Gonzalo Pizarro y Rodríguez de Aguilar (senior) (1446–1522) who as colonel of infantry served in the Italian campaigns under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, and in Navarre, with some distinction, and María Alonso, from Trujillo. He was the half brother of Francisco and Hernándo Pizarro and the full brother of Juan Pizarro.
The Pizarro brothers were Spanish conquistadors who came to Peru in 1530. They all were born in Trujillo, Spain. They were four brothers:
Cristóbal Vaca de Castro was a Spanish colonial administrator in Peru.
Gaspar de Carvajal was a Spanish Dominican missionary to the New World, known for chronicling some of the explorations of the Amazon.
Pedro de la Gasca was a Spanish bishop, diplomat and the second (acting) viceroy of Peru, from April 10, 1547 to January 27, 1550.
La Canela, the Valley of Cinnamon, is a legendary location in South America. As with El Dorado, its legend grew out of expectations aroused by the voyage of Columbus. He had demonstrated to the satisfaction of his backers that gold and spices would be found as a result of his Atlantic crossing; since he himself found little of these commodities, the search on the American mainland continued.
The Battle of Jaquijahuana was fought between the forces of Gonzalo Pizarro and Pedro de la Gasca, on April 9, 1548, during the Conquest of the Inca Empire by the Spanish conquistadores.
Francisco Hernández Girón, born in Cáceres, Extremadura, died in Lima on December 7, 1554, was a Spanish conquistador.
Diego Centeno, Spanish conquistador, born in Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain 1514, died at Chuquisaca, Peru in 1549. He arrived to South America and the recently conquered Inca Empire in 1534 at the age of 20, followed by, among others, Pedro de Alvarado, conqueror of Guatemala. In the ensuring battles between the Pizarro brothers and the Almagristas led by Diego de Almagro and, after his defeat and execution in 1538, by his son, Centeno took the party of Pizarro and New Castile. After the downfall of both parties, Diego fought with the Spanish royal forces of Pedro de la Gasca after the defeat and death of Blasco Núñez Vela on the hands of Gonzalo Pizarro. He was defeated in the battle of Huarina by Francisco de Carvajal but managed to reunite with de la Gasca and defeat the forces of Gonzalo and de Carvajal at Sacsayhuaman.
After sending away royal appointed governor of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Blasco Núñez Vela and later defeating and killing him in the battle of Añaquito, Gonzalo Pizarro assembled an army of 1,200 men to press claims for the rule over Peru, once belonging to him and his brothers. The new viceroy, Pedro de la Gasca, landed in Peru in 1547, and a contingent of his troops, led by Diego Centeno, was severely defeated at Huarina by Francisco de Carvajal
Don Diego de Sandoval y la Mota was a Spanish explorer and conquistador.
Captain Juan de Ampudia was a Spanish explorer and conquistador.
Alonso de Cáceres y Retes was a Spanish conquistador and governor-captain of Santa Marta, who traveled extensively throughout the Americas from Mexico, south through Central America, and as far as Peru. He was one of the most active soldiers in the 16th-century Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega y Vargas was a Spanish conquistador and colonial official. He fathered a son, the mestizo chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, with the Inca princess Isabel Chimpu Occlo.
Baltasar Maldonado, also written as Baltazar Maldonado, was a Spanish conquistador who first served under Sebastian de Belalcázar in the conquest of Quito and Peru, the foundations of Cali and Popayán, and later in the army of Hernán Pérez de Quesada in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca.
References
Prescott, William Hickling (2004), The Conquest of Peru, Digital Antiquaria, ISBN1-58057-302-9.
Del Busto Duthurburu, José Antonio: La pacificación del Perú. Librería STUDIUM S.A., Lima, 1984.
Inca Garcilaso de la Vega: Historia general del Perú. Tomo I. Editorial Universo S.A. Lima, 1972.
Prescott, Guillermo: Historia de la conquista del Perú. Tomo III. Editorial Universo S.A. Lima, 1972.
Vargas Ugarte, Rubén: Historia General del Perú. Tomo I. El Descubrimiento y la Conquista (1524-1550). Tercera Edición. Editor: Carlos Milla Batres. Lima, Perú, 1981. ISBN84-499-4813-4
Vega, Juan José: Historia general del ejército peruano. Tomo III. El ejército durante la dominación española del Perú. Lima, Comisión Permanente de la Historia del Ejército del Perú, 1981.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
