Read The World - Peru - The Last Days of the Incas

 Book: The Last Days of the Incas

Author: Kim MacQuarrie

Pages: 522

Book takes place in the country: YES

Author is from the country: NO

I have visited: NO

This is my 17th read for the year

And this is a WRAP for my Read the World challenge.  FINALLY.  After over 2 years, I have finally completed it!

I got a little behind on blogging all these last books since we are still unpacking boxes that - I swear - are multiplying every day.  But now I am all caught up.

Here is what Amazon said about this book:

The epic story of the fall of the Inca Empire to Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in the aftermath of a bloody civil war, and the recent discovery of the lost guerrilla capital of the Incas, Vilcabamba, by three American explorers.

In 1532, the 54 year old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru.  Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had just fought a bloody civil war in which the emperor Atahualpa had defeated his brother Huascar.  Pizarro and his men soon clased with Atahualpa and a huge force of Inca warriors at the Battle of Cajamarca.  Despite being outnumbered by more than two hundred to one, the Spaniards prevailed - due largely to their horses, their steel armor and swords, and their tactic of surprise.  They captured and imprisoned Atahualpa.  Although the Inca emperor paid an enormous ransom in gold, the Spaniards executed him anyway.  The following year, the Spaniards seized the Inca capital of Cuzco, completing their conquest of the largest native emprie the New World has ever known.  Peru was now a Spanish colony, and the conquistadors were wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.

But the Incas did not submit wilingly.  A young Inca emperor, the brother of Atahualpa, soon led a massive rebellion against the Spaniards, inflicting heavy casualites and nearly wiping out the conquerors.  Eventually, Pizarro and his men forced the emperor to abandon the Andes and flee to the Amazon.  There, he established a hidden capital, called Vilcabamba- only recently rediscovered by a trio of colorful American explorers.  

This is a great overview of the Incas.  This is a subject and country I have - of course - heard about, but didn't know nearly enough.  This book is a thorough history and picture of what it was like to see thousands of warriors fighting.  It is very well researched and I am glad I found this one.

Stars: 4