La conquista del Perú (The conquest of Peru)

La conquista del Perú, printed in Spain in 1534, provides the earliest published account of European contact with, and subjugation of, the Inca Empire. The work was most likely written by Cristóbal de Mena, a captain in the fleet of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro.



In his brief narrative, the author recounts the capture and eventual execution of Atahualpa, the last ruler of the Incan Empire, whose fateful encounter with Pizarro’s forces took place on November 16, 1532. The title page’s woodcut illustration vividly depicts this pivotal event. An attending friar has offered a Catholic breviary to Atahualpa, who hurls the religious book to the ground in either confusion or defiance.