Atahualpa Atahualpa , Atahuallpa , Atabalipa ( in hispanicized spellings ) or Atawallpa ( Quechua ) ( 20 March 1497 – 29 August 1533 ) was the last Sapa Inca ( sovereign emperor ) of the Tawantinsuyu ( the Inca Empire ) before the Spanish conquest . Atahualpa became emperor when he defeated and executed his older half - brother Huáscar in a civil war sparked by the death of their father , Inca Huayna Capac , from an infectious disease ( possibly smallpox ) . During the Spanish conquest , the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro captured Atahualpa and used him to control the Inca Empire . Eventually , the Spanish executed Atahualpa , effectively ending the empire . Although a succession of several emperors , who led the Inca resistance against the invading Spaniards , claimed the title of " Sapa Inca " ( " unique " ) , the empire began to disintegrate after Atahualpa ' s death . Pre - conquest . Atahualpa was the son of the Inca Huayna Capac from Tomebamba ( Ecuador ) , and his mother was the Quito princess Paccha Duchicela , from Caranqui ( Ecuador ) . The union was a politically expedient one , as the southern Ecuador ian Andes had been conquered by Huayna Capac ' s father , Túpac Inca Yupanqui some years earlier and Huayna Capac had recently conquered the northern Ecuadorian Andes , where Paccha Duchicela ' s royal family had some influence . Most chroniclers suggest that Atahualpa was born in Quito , though other stories suggest various other birthplaces . His leading generals were Quizquiz , Chalkuchimac , and Rumiñahui . In April 1532 , Quizquiz and his companions led the armies of Atahualpa to victory in the battles of Mullihambato , Chimborazo and Quipaipan . The Battle of Quipaipan was the final one between the warring brothers . Quizquiz and Chalkuchimac defeated Huáscar ' s army , captured him , killed his family , and seized the capital , Cuzco . Atahualpa , with his army of about 80 , 000 troops , then headed south to Cuzco to claim his throne . He had stopped to rest in the Andean city of Cajamarca when he encountered the Spanish , led by Pizarro . Spanish conquest . In January 1531 , a Spanish expedition led by Francisco Pizarro , on a mission to conquer the Inca Empire , landed on Puná Island . Pizarro brought with him 169 men and 69 horses . The Spaniards headed south and occupied Tumbes , where they heard about the civil war that Huáscar and Atahualpa were waging against each other . About a year and a half later , in September 1532 , after reinforcements arrived from Spain , Pizarro founded the city of San Miguel de Piura , and then marched towards the heart of the Inca Empire , with a force of 106 foot - soldiers and 62 horsemen . Atahualpa , in Cajamarca with his army of 80 , 000 troops , heard that this party of strangers was advancing into the empire , and sent an Inca noble to investigate . The noble stayed for two days in the Spanish camp , making an assessment of the Spaniards ' weapons and horses . Atahualpa decided that the 168 Spaniards were not a threat to him and his 80 , 000 troops , so he sent word inviting them to visit Cajamarca and meet him , expecting to capture them . Pizarro and his men thus advanced unopposed through some very difficult terrain . They arrived at Cajamarca on November 15 , 1532 . Atahualpa and his army had camped on a hill just outside Cajamarca . He was staying in a building close to the Konoj hot spring s . His soldiers were living in tents they had set up around him . When Pizarro arrived in Cajamarca , the town itself was mostly empty except for a few hundred " aclla s " . The Spaniards billeted in certain long buildings on the main plaza , and Pizarro sent an embassy to the Inca , led by Hernando de Soto , consisting of 15 horsemen and an interpreter ; shortly thereafter he sent 20 more horsemen as reinforcements in case of an Inca attack . These were led by his brother , Hernando Pizarro . The Spaniards invited Atahualpa to visit Cajamarca to meet Pizarro , which he resolved to do the following day . Meanwhile , Pizarro was preparing an ambush to trap the Inca : while the Spanish cavalry and infantry were occupying three long buildings around the plaza , some musketeers and four pieces of artillery were located in a stone structure in the middle of the square . The plan was to persuade Atahualpa to submit to the authority of the Spaniards and , if this failed , there were two options : a surprise attack , if success seemed possible , or keeping up a friendly stance if the Inca forces appeared too powerful . The following day , Atahualpa left his camp at midday preceded by a large number of men in ceremonial attire ; as the procession advanced slowly , Pizarro sent his brother Hernando to invite the Inca to enter Cajamarca before nightfall . Atahualpa entered the town late in the afternoon in a litter carried by eighty lords ; with him were four other lords in litters and hammocks and 5 - 6 , 000 men carrying small battle axe s , slings and pouches of stones underneath their clothes . The Inca found no Spaniards in the plaza , as they were all inside the buildings ; the only one to come out was the Dominican friar Vicente de Valverde with an interpreter . Although there are different accounts as to what Valverde said , most agree that he invited the Inca to come inside to talk and dine with Pizarro . Atahualpa instead demanded the return of every single thing the Spaniards had taken since they landed . According to eyewitness accounts , Valverde then spoke about the Catholic religion but did not deliver the " requerimiento " , a speech requiring the listener to submit to the authority of the Spanish Crown and accept the Christian faith . At Atahualpa ' s request , Valverde gave him his breviary but after a brief examination , the Inca threw it to the ground ; Valverde hurried back toward Pizarro , calling on the Spaniards to attack . At that moment , Pizarro gave the signal ; the Spanish infantry and cavalry came out of their hiding places and charged the unsuspecting Inca retinue , killing a great number while the rest fled in panic . Pizarro led the charge on Atahualpa but managed to capture him only after killing all those carrying him and turning over his litter . Not a single Spanish soldier was killed . Prison and execution . On November 17 the Spaniards sacked the Inca army camp , in which they found great treasures of gold , silver , and emeralds . Noticing their lust for precious metals , Atahualpa offered to fill a large room about long and wide up to a height of once with gold and twice with silver within two months . It is commonly believed that Atahualpa offered this ransom to regain his freedom ; however , it seems likelier that he did so to avoid being killed , as none of the early chroniclers mention any commitment by the Spaniards to free Atahualpa once the metals were delivered . After several months in fear of an imminent attack from general Rumiñahui , the outnumbered Spanish saw Atahualpa as too much of a liability and decided to execute him . Pizarro staged a mock trial and found Atahualpa guilty of revolting against the Spanish , practicing idolatry , and murdering Huáscar , his brother . Atahualpa was sentenced to execution by burning . He was horrified , since the Inca believed that the soul would not be able to go on to the afterlife if the body were burned . Friar Vicente de Valverde , who had earlier offered his breviary to Atahualpa , intervened , telling Atahualpa that if he agreed to convert to Catholicism , he would convince Pizarro to commute the sentence . Atahualpa agreed to be baptized into the Catholic faith . He was given the name Juan Santos Atahualpa in honor of the feast day of the beheading of St . John the Baptist , which falls on August 29 . In accordance with his request , he was strangled with a garrote on August 29 , 1533 . Following his execution , his clothes and some of his skin were burned , and his remains were given a Christian burial . Atahualpa was succeeded by his brother , the puppet Inca Túpac Huallpa , and later by another brother Manco Inca . Legacy . After Pizarro ' s death , Inés Yupanqui , the favorite sister of Atahualpa , who had been given to Pizarro in marriage by her brother , married a Spanish cavalier named Ampuero and left for Spain . They took her daughter by Pizarro with them , and she was later legitimized by imperial decree . Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui married her uncle Hernándo Pizarro in Spain , on October 10 , 1537 — they had a son , Francisco Pizarro y Pizarro . This son , in turn , married twice and had offspring , the Marqueses de La Conquista . The Pizarro line survived Hernando ' s death , although it is currently extinct in the male line . Pizarro ' s third son , by a relative of Atahualpa renamed Angelina , who was never legitimized , died shortly after reaching Spain . Another relative , Catalina Capa - Yupanqui , who died in 1580 , married a Portuguese nobleman named António Ramos , son of António Colaço and wife Violante Fernandes Veloso . Their daughter was Francisca de Lima , who married Álvaro de Abreu de Lima , another Portuguese nobleman , and had issue in Portugal . Depictions in popular culture . Atahualpa Inca ' s conflict with Pizarro was dramatized by Peter Shaffer in his play " The Royal Hunt of the Sun " , which originally was staged by the National Theatre in 1964 at the Chichester Festival then in London at the Old Vic . The role of Atahualpa was played by Robert Stephens and by David Carradine ( who received a Tony Award nomination ) in the 1965 Broadway production . Christopher Plummer was Atahualpa in the 1969 movie version of the play .