Inca Civil War - Casualties

Casualties

While in the custody of Pizarro, Atahualpa was told by Pizarro that he was going to bring Huáscar to Cajamarca and Pizarro was going to judge which brother would be the better Sapa Inca. Atahualpa was scared that Pizarro would choose Huáscar over him so Atahualpa ordered Huáscar to be killed allegedly by drowning. Only a few months later on August 29, 1533, Atahualpa was himself garroted at the plaza of Cajamarca by Pizarro’s men.

There is no clear evidence of just how many Inca were killed during the Civil War. The estimated population of indigenous people at contact is anywhere from 60,000 to 1,100,000. Still others believe that the indigenous population in the Americas was upwards of 112,500,000 before the Europeans made their first contact.

Ratios of 20:1 or 25:1 have been published which are the depopulation ratios between the pre-conquest population totals and the lowest indigenous population estimate. This ratio means that out of every 20 or 25 people, one person died.

Of the major battles fought, at Cajamarca the Spanish ambushed the Andean warriors and killed 1,500 of them without suffering any losses. There are no other hard numbers of Inca or Spanish death tolls at any of the other battles. There were other causes of deaths other than the battles between the two brothers and their armies. Spanish and European disease also played a huge part in indigenous deaths across Latin America. Small Pox with the first recorded epidemic in December 1518 and it is thought that on Columbus’ second voyage an outbreak of influenza occurred where a large number of people died. Disease not only affected the indigenous people but also the Spanish as well. "Of the 1500 men who sailed from Cadiz on September 25, 1493, scarcely 200 were alive a decade later."