Worlds collide
Open Stories (top left), play Empires of the Americas and watch the last two steps, on the Inca and on the year 1533. According to the story, what shattered the Aztec and Inca empires?
Open this view on the mapInca Empire · 1532-1533
Cajamarca 1532: Atahualpa and Pizarro
In November 1532 the Inca ruler Atahualpa, fresh from winning a civil war, met fewer than 200 Spaniards at Cajamarca and was taken prisoner. Students explore why the empire was so vulnerable, and how an Andean artist later drew the conquest.
- Length
- 50 minutes
- Ages
- 12–15
- On the map
- 3 steps, AD 1533 to AD 1532
- Live lesson
- 7 rounds, 3 on the map
- Worksheet
- Two A4 pages, with Classroom
- You need
- A projector; phones for live
Live lesson · new in Classroom
Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.
Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.
€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.
- 7 rounds
- 3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
- About 15 minutes
- Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
- A report
- Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
Introduction
5 minRead aloud
In November 1532 the Inca ruler Atahualpa, fresh from winning a civil war, met fewer than 200 Spaniards at Cajamarca and was taken prisoner. Students explore why the empire was so vulnerable, and how an Andean artist later drew the conquest.
By the end of the lesson, students can
- Explain how the Inca civil war between Atahualpa and Huáscar weakened the empire.
- Describe the events at Cajamarca in 1532 and the ransom that followed.
- Use an Andean source, the drawings of Guaman Poma, to see the conquest from an Indigenous point of view.
Explore the map
15 minProject the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.
Cajamarca
Open the map in 1532 and zoom in on Cajamarca in the northern Andes. Atahualpa was camped at hot springs nearby with his army when the Spaniards arrived. Why might he not fear fewer than 200 men?
Open this view on the mapThe road to Cusco
Zoom out and follow the Andes from Cajamarca south-east to Cusco, about 1,000 km in a straight line. The Spaniards reached Cusco in November 1533. Who would help them find the way?
Open this view on the mapClass discussion
15 minPick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.
- When Huayna Capac died around 1527, his sons Atahualpa and Huáscar fought for the throne. How did that civil war help the Spaniards?
- Atahualpa came to the square at Cajamarca with thousands of mostly unarmed attendants. Why do you think he did not expect an attack?
- Atahualpa offered to fill a room once with gold and twice with silver. What does this tell you about what each side valued?
- Even after the ransom was gathered, Atahualpa was executed in 1533. Why might the Spaniards have broken their word?
- Around 1615 the Andean writer Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala drew hundreds of pictures of the conquest and colonial life. What can drawings show that a written report cannot?
Game round
10 minPlay Rule History as Moctezuma II, who faced Spanish invaders 13 years before Atahualpa did. Afterwards, compare: both rulers met the Spaniards in person and both were taken prisoner. What could Atahualpa have learned from Moctezuma, if news had crossed the continent?
Open Rule HistoryWorksheet
5 minThis worksheet comes with Classroom
€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.