Who they were
Atahualpa won the Inca civil war against his brother Huáscar just as the Spanish arrived. In 1532 he was seized by Francisco Pizarro at Cajamarca in a surprise attack.
What they did
Held captive, he filled a room with gold and silver as a ransom, but the Spanish executed him in 1533 anyway. His capture and death broke the empire’s leadership.
Legacy
Atahualpa became a symbol of the Spanish conquest and of Indigenous loss across the Andes. His downfall is one of the most retold episodes of the European conquest of the Americas.