Who they were
A poor Spaniard who had explored Panama and the Pacific coast, Pizarro led a small expedition into the Inca realm. In 1532 he captured the emperor Atahualpa at Cajamarca and seized Cusco the next year.
What they did
He exploited the Inca civil war, Indigenous allies, and European weapons to overcome a vast empire with a few hundred men. He founded Lima in 1535 as the capital of Spanish Peru.
Legacy
Pizarro was assassinated in 1541 amid feuds among the conquistadors. He is remembered as the conqueror of the Inca and, like Cortés, as an agent of a devastating conquest.