The Great Inca Rebellion: causes and impacts

¶ … Inca Rebellion

It is said that history is always written by the victor. One has to wonder about the way Western history portrays so many of the events of the past 500 years, and the way that events take on such a European slant. This is so apparent when one begins to study the Spanish Conquest of the New World -- the extermination of the Maya, Aztec and Incan Empires. The question becomes, as stated at the beginning of the National Geographic Special, the Great Inca Rebellion, makes so much sense -- how could Spanish force of 200 or so men and horses conquer a land of hundreds of thousands. This Incan Empire was one of the most advanced of the New World, and yet there were few Spanish casualties. This program brings to light a particular mystery -- why were there hundreds of horrifically disfigured bodies buried in a non-traditional Inca way; without offerings, without the appropriate wrapping, and brutally warped with the first documented gunshot wounds, injuries from steel weapons, and mass slaughter -- as well as thousands of deaths from disease (probably smallpox).

What follows is a fascinating story of a combination of luck, technological advantages, and cultural misunderstandings. The Conquistadors, far from being the romantic knights of conquest, were illiterate peasants. The scribes seemed to alter the facts; and tried to exaggerate the glory of Spanish hardships and heroism, but do not tell about all the help they received from a number of native tribes who were simply fed up with Incan rule. It was only luck that the Spanish captured the Incan King, and even after demanding a huge ransom of melted gold, the "noble" Spanish execute the King and move on the capital city, massacring almost everyone in sight.

Four years later a vast Incan army rises up in revolt and attempt to overthrow the Spanish. It is probably this rebellion that resulted in the mass burials that were uncovered. It seems that despite the overwhelming odds, the Spanish hacked its way through the troops by using steel and horses to kill the Incan general. New forensics, though, give a different view of the battle. It seems that most of the wounds on the dead Incas (of 70 deaths, only 3 were killed by bullets), were from Incan maces and other weapons. There was probably no "great" siege, but a few Spanish protected by Indian mercenaries.

What this really says is that it is likely that the Spanish were rather cowardly and only able to succeed in Peru (likely in Mexico, too), because of an alliance with other India tribes, a fact conveniently left out of the Spanish history. In fact, what was really amazing is that it is because of Pizarro's concubine (the daughter of the anti-Incan Chieftain) who sent word to her parents that she needed an army to protect Lima. The Incan Army saw that it was now hopeless, and were massacred by other Indians.