In 1532, the Inca or Tahuantisuyo empire, as it was then called, fell before the Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro. The state, in fact, had already been weakened by a civil war which had broken out in 1529 as two rival brothers, Huascar and Atahualpa , contended for power.

Pizarro captured Atahualpa in November 1532, and had him executed in July 1533 after accusing him of ordering the murder of his own brother Huascar . Comparatively feeble resistance by several Inca generals was swiftly crushed and Spanish rule established over the former empire of the Incas – a dominion that soon became the most powerful viceroyalty Spain was ever to possess overseas.