Atahualpa

Atahualpa, also Atawallpa or Ataw Wallpa , whose regnal name was Caccha Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui Inca, was the last effective Inca emperor, reigning from April 1532 until his capture and execution in July of the following year, as part of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.

Biography

Atahualpa was the son of the emperor Huayna Cápac, who died around 1525 along with his successor, Ninan Cuyochi, in a smallpox epidemic. Atahualpa initially accepted his half-brother Huáscar as the new emperor, who in turn appointed him as governor of Quito in the north of the empire. The uneasy peace between them deteriorated over the next few years. Atahualpa sought to create an independent state in Quito. From 1529 to 1532, they contested the succession in the Inca Civil War. Huáscar managed to take Atahualpa prisoner. Atahualpa escaped and rallied his forces, winning several battles against Huáscar's forces before capturing Huáscar.
Around the same time as Atahualpa's victory, a group of Spanish conquistadors, led by Francisco Pizarro, arrived in the region. In November 1532, they captured Atahualpa during an ambush at Cajamarca. In captivity, Atahualpa gave a ransom in exchange for a promise of release and arranged for the execution of Huáscar. After receiving the ransom, the Spanish accused Atahualpa of treason, conspiracy against the Spanish Crown, and the murder of Huáscar. They put him on trial and sentenced him to death by burning at the stake. However, after his baptism in July 1533, he was garroted instead.
A line of successors continued to claim the title of emperor, either as Spanish vassals or as rebel leaders, but none were able to hold comparable power.

Origin

Name

Although this monarch's name is written with some major discrepancies in early sources, most spellings seem to reflect . As such, ⟨Atabalipa⟩, ⟨Tavalipa⟩ and others are spellings that represent the first impressionistic orthographies of his name.
Since the earliest Quechua dictionaries, atawallpa and wallpa were offered as the Quechua word for "chicken". For centuries several historians believed that this Sapa Inca's name came from the bird name. Some even translated the name as "happy rooster" or "bird of fortune". Considering such species was new in the Andes, contemporary scholars believe the etymological direction was the inverse: the bird species may have been named after the monarch, as already said by Blas Valera in the 16th century.
It has been proposed that this person name may have been a compound of two Puquina roots, ata-w "appointed, chosen" and wallpa "diligent or courageous". However, this analysis is not consensual.

Birth

There are uncertainties about Atahualpa's date and place of birth. He was likely born around the turn of the 16th century,. There is disagreement on his place of birth. Below are the versions of some chroniclers and historians:
The chronicler and soldier Pedro Cieza de León, from his investigations among the members of the Inca nobility of Cusco, affirmed that Atahualpa had been born in Cusco and that his mother was Tuto Palla or Túpac Palla, an "India Quilaco" or "native of Quilaco". This demonym could allude to an ethnic group from the province of Quito and would imply that she was a second-class wife belonging to the regional elite. Cieza de León denied that Atahualpa was born in Quito or Caranqui and that his mother was the lady of Quito, as some at the time claimed, since Quito was a province of Tahuantinsuyo when Atahualpa was born. Therefore their kings and lords were the Incas.
According to Juan de Betanzos, Atahualpa was born in Cusco and his mother was a ñusta from Cusco of the lineage of Inca Yupanqui.
In the 18th century the priest Juan de Velasco, using as a source a work by Marcos de Niza, whose existence has not been confirmed, compiled information about the Kingdom of Quito. According to de Velasco, the Kingdom of Quito was made up of the Shyris or Scyris ethnic group and disappeared when it was conquered by the Incas. This work includes a list of the kings of Quito, the last of whom, Cacha Duchicela, would have been the Kuraka defeated and killed by the Inca Huayna Cápac. Paccha, the daughter of Cacha Duchicela, would have married Huayna Cápac, and from that union Atahualpa would have been born as a legitimate son. Several historians, such as the Peruvian Raúl Porras Barrenechea and the Ecuadorian Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño, have rejected this version for lack of historical and archaeological foundation.
Most Peruvian historians maintain that, according to the most reliable chronicles, Atahualpa was born in Cusco and his mother was a princess of Inca lineage. These historians consider that Huáscar's side invented the version of Atahualpa's Quito origin to show him to the Spanish as a usurper and bastard. They also believe that many chroniclers interpreted the division of the empire between the two sons of Huayna Cápac according to their European or Western conception of political mores. According to Rostworowski this is wrong because the right to the Inca throne did not depend exclusively on primogeniture or paternal line but also practical considerations such as the ability to command.
Ecuadorian historians have conflicting opinions:

According to Hugo Burgos Guevara, the fact that Topa Yupanqui was born in Vilcashuamán and his son Huayna Capac in Tomebamba seems to indicate that Atahualpa was born in Quito as part of an expansionist policy of the empire and as a way to reinforce a political-religious conquest.
Other Ecuadorian historians, such as Enrique Ayala Mora, consider it more likely that Atahualpa was born in Caranqui, in the current province of Imbabura, in the Ibarra canton. They base this idea on the chronicles of Fernando de Montesinos and Pedro Cieza de León.
Tamara Estupiñan Viteri, a historian who has published numerous works regarding Atahualpa and his close circle at that time, maintains that he was born in Cusco.

Chronicler or historian	Origin of Atahualpa	Summary of his version	Reliability data
Juan de Betanzos	Cuzco	Atahualpa was born in Cusco while his father was on campaign in Contisuyo. His mother was the ñusta Palla Coca.	He was fluent in Quechua and married Cuxirimay Ocllo or Angelina Yupanqui, Atahualpa's cousin and fiancée.
Pedro Cieza de León	Cuzco	Atahualpa and Huáscar were born in Cusco. According to the most widespread version heard, his mother was a Quilaco Indian.	It is based on oral testimonies of noble Incas. He has been called the "prince of Spanish chroniclers".
Francisco López de Gómara	Quito	Atahualpa's mother was from Quito.	He was never in Peru and only reproduces information from other chroniclers.
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa	Cusco	Atahualpa's mother was Tocto Coca, of the Hatun Ayllu lineage.	He personally consulted the Cusco nobles, with whom Atahualpa had a good relationship.
Inca Garcilaso de la Vega	Quito	Atahualpa's mother was the crown princess of the Kingdom of Quito, and Atahualpa was born there.	The historical accuracy of his work is questioned.
Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala	?	Atahualpa was a bastard Auqui and his mother was of the Chachapoya culture ethnic group.	The information in his work is often confusing and contradictory.
Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti	Cuzco	Atahualpa's mother was ñusta Tocto Ocllo Coca. Atahualpa was born in Cusco before Huayna Cápac traveled north.	Indigenous chronicler connoisseur of Quechua.
Bernabé Cobo	Cuzco	Atahualpa was born in Cusco and his mother was the ñusta Tocto Coca.	He wrote in the 17th century compiling the information that he believed was most reliable.
Agustín de Zárate	?	Atahualpa's mother was from Quito. It does not imply that Atahualpa was conclusively born in Quito.	His information is brief.
Miguel Cabello de Balboa	Cuzco	When Huayna Cápac made his last trip from Cusco to Quito, he took Atahualpa with him because his mother had died. This would imply that Atahualpa was born in Cusco.	It is an independent source that agrees with that of the most reliable chroniclers.
Juan de Velasco	Quito	Atahualpa's mother was a Shyri princess of the Kingdom of Quito named Paccha and was one of the four legitimate wives of Huayna Cápac.	Historians Raúl Porras Barrenechea and Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño have refuted this version for lacking a historical basis. In addition, de Velasco is a very late author.

Childhood and youth

Atahualpa spent his childhood with his father in Cusco. At the beginning of his adolescence, he went through the Warachikuy, a rite of passage that marked the passage to adulthood.
When Atahualpa was thirteen years old, there was a rebellion in the north of the empire by two peoples from that region, the Caranquis and the Cayambis. Together with his father and his brother, Ninan Cuyuchi marched at the head of the Inca army towards the northern provinces. Four governors remained in Cusco, including Huáscar. Atahualpa stayed in Quito with his father for more than ten years, helping him put down rebellions and conquer new lands. For this he had the support of skilled Inca generals, such as Chalcuchímac and Quizquiz. During this period he learned government tasks and gained prestige for the courage he displayed in war actions.
The chroniclers described Atahualpa as someone of "lively reasoning and with great authority".

Pre-conquest

Throughout the Inca Empire's history, each Sapa Inca worked to expand the territory of the empire. When Pachacuti, the 9th Sapa Inca ruled, he expanded the Empire to northern Peru. At this point, Pachacuti sent his son Tupac Inca Yupanqui to invade and conquer the territory of present-day Ecuador. News of the expansion of the Inca reached the different tribes and nations of Ecuador. As a defense against the Inca, the Andean chiefdoms formed alliances with each other.
Around 1460, Tupac Inca Yupanqui, with an army of 200,000 warriors that were sent by his father, easily gained control of the Palta nation in southern Ecuador and northern Peru in a matter of months. However, the Inca army met fierce resistance from the defending Cañari, which left the Incas so impressed that after they were defeated, the Cañari were recruited into the Inca army. In northern Ecuador, the Inca army met fiercer resistance from an alliance between the Quitu and the Cañari. After defeating them in the battle of Atuntaqui, Tupac Yupanqui sent settlers to what is now the city of Quito and left as governor Chalco Mayta, belonging to the Inca nobility.
Around 1520, the tribes of Quitu, Caras and Puruhá rebelled against the Inca Huayna Cápac. He personally led his army and defeated the rebels in the battle of Laguna de Yahuarcocha where there was such a massacre that the lake turned to blood. According to Juan de Velasco, the alliance of the northern tribes collapsed and finally ended when Huayna Cápac married Paccha Duchicela, queen of the Shyris, making them recognize him as monarch, this marriage was the basis of the alliance that guaranteed the Inca power in the area.
After Huayna Capac died in 1527, Atahualpa was appointed governor of Quito by his brother Huáscar.