Incas!

The **Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire ** was one of the most important campaigns in the [|Spanish colonization of the Americas]. This historic process of military [|conquest] was made by Spanish [|conquistadores] and their [|native allies]. After years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 169 Spanish soldiers under [|Francisco Pizarro] and their native allies ambushed the [|Sapa Inca] [|Atahualpa] ([|emperor] of the [|Inca Empire] ) and captured him in the 1532 [|Battle of Cajamarca]. It was the first step in a long campaign that took decades of fighting to subdue the mightiest empire in [|the Americas]. In subsequent years Spain extended its rule over the Empire.

Spanish colonization affected the Incan community in every way imaginable. The conquest of the Incas caused the Incan empire to collapse, and the Spanish subsequently took almost all of the Incans who were not killed by disease, starvation, or battle as slaves on the new encomienda plantations. The Incas went from a powerful nation to mere servants. Their land was taken, their food was eaten, their gold was stolen, they were killed or enslaved, their temples were abandoned or destroyed, and their language (quiche) was lost for a while. The spanish "colonization" was not good for their survival

