Huáscar (;
Quechua: ''Waskar Inka'') also Guazcar
(before 15271532) was
Sapa Inca
The Sapa Inca (from ; ) was the monarch of the Inca Empire (''Tawantinsuyu'' "the region of the four rovinces), as well as ruler of the earlier Kingdom of Cusco and the later Neo-Inca State at Vilcabamba, Peru, Vilcabamba. While the origins ...
of the
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...
from 1527 to 1532. He succeeded his father,
Huayna Capac and his brother
Ninan Cuyochi, both of whom died of
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
during the same year while campaigning near
Quito
Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...
.
[de Gamboa, P.S., 2015, History of the Incas, Lexington, ]
Biography
The origin of his name is uncertain. One story is that Huáscar was named after a huge gold chain that was made to mark the occasion of his birth. "Huasca" is
Quechua for "chain". Because his father did not think "chain" was an appropriate name for a prince, he added an ''r'' to the end of the name to make "Huáscar". Another story is that his name is from his birthplace, Huascarpata.
The actual events that brought about Huáscar's succession are unclear. Conflicting factions and the fact that the Spanish chroniclers' accounts stemmed from the winners of the ensuing civil war led to conflicting versions of what actually happened. Thus, although Huayna Capac named the infant Ninan Cuyochi as his first heir, sources differ as to whether the boy died first, was unacceptable because of an unfavorable divination or even if Huayna simply forgot that he had named him when asked to confirm the nomination. In any event, a second choice was requested and again sources vary. He may have named Huáscar's half-brother
Atahualpa who then refused or named Huáscar himself or perhaps even the nobles put forward Huáscar. Whatever the truth, the result of Huáscar's accession and the dispute over it before and after led to civil war between Huáscar (made emperor by a faction based in Cuzco) and Atahualpa (backed by leaders who were based in the north with Huayna).
The Spanish chronicler
Juan de Betanzos
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Phili ...
who provided information pertaining to the
Huáscar-Atahualpa civil war, outlines Huáscar's tyranny. It is, however, a very biased account, as Betanzos' wife, on whose testimony much of his chronicle is based, was previously married to Atahualpa. Betanzos outlines how Huáscar would seize his lords' wives if they took his fancy. More importantly, he seized both the Lands of the Previous Incas and the Lands of the Sun. In Inca society, the lands of previous dead Incas remained part of their household to support their divine-like cult. Similarly, lands were reserved for the worship of the Sun. Thus, Huáscar's seizure represented his disrespect and insensitivity for
Inca religion.
[Betanzos, J.; 1996, Narrative of the Incas, Austin, ]University of Texas Press
The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is the university press of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly and trade books in several areas, including Latin American studies, Caribbean, Caribbea ...
,
Huáscar then declared war on Atahualpa.
[ The battles reported by Betanzos talk of ]Quizquiz
''QuizQuiz'' (), also known as ''Quiz Quiz'', was a massively multiplayer online (MMO) quiz video game created by Nexon which used a super deformed type anime graphical style to portray the players and the few environments or non-player chara ...
(Atahualpa's commander) leading armies of 60,000 men against armies of 60,000 men supporting Huáscar.Cañari
The Cañari (in Kichwa: Kañari) are an indigenous ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the territory of the modern provinces of Azuay and Cañar in Ecuador. They are descended from the independent pre-Columbian tribal confederation of the ...
s saw him rip the hearts of their tribal chiefs and force their followers to eat them.[Prescott, W.H., 2011, The History of the Conquest of Peru, Digireads.com Publishing, ]
The war had Atahualpa in the clear ascendancy on Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo, Spain, to a poor fam ...
's arrival. However it was partly because of the ongoing civil war that Pizarro was able to triumph. Firstly, the civil war had depleted the Inca armies. Secondly, disunity can be demonstrated by Huáscar's celebrations and in the celebrations of the province of Cuzco (loyal to Huáscar) at Atahualpa's capture.
Furthermore, Atahualpa had Huáscar killed so that he was not in a position to offer Pizarro a larger ransom of gold than Atahualpa was offering for his own release.[Pizzaro, P.; 1571, Relation of the Discovery and Conquest of the Kingdoms of Peru, Vol. 1-2, New York, Cortes Society, RareBooksClub.com, ] Atahualpa stated: "How shall my brother get so much gold and silver for himself; I would give twice as much as he can, if they would kill him and leave me as lord."
See also
* Huascarán, highest peak in Peru and named for Huáscar
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huascar
Year of birth unknown
1532 deaths
16th-century Sapa Incas
Inca emperors
Dethroned monarchs
16th-century murdered monarchs