Smallpox reaches the Inca Empire
1527* · Event
Years before any Spaniard sets foot in Peru, their diseases arrive ahead of them along the trade roads — and kill the emperor Huayna Capac and his designated heir within days of each other. The succession war between his sons Atahualpa and Huáscar begins here: the conquest is half-won by a virus before Pizarro lands.
On these timelines: The Conquest of Peru, Pre-Columbian Americas, Latin America, Pandemics & Plagues, Master
More from The Conquest of Peru
- Spanish conquest of the Incas (1532)
- Capture of Atahualpa at Cajamarca (1532)
- Atahualpa's ransom fills the room with gold (1533)
- Manco Inca besieges Cusco (1536)
- Pizarro takes Cusco (1533)
- Assassination of Francisco Pizarro (1541)
- Inca resistance at Vilcabamba (1537)
- Pizarro founds Lima (1535)
Around 1527
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