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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Francis Pizarro Biography PIZARRO, Sp. pron. pē-thär'rō, Francisco (c.1470–1541). The conqueror of Peru. He was the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro, a prominent soldier in the army of the great captain Gonsalvo de Córdoba, and was born at Trujillo, in Estremadura, Spain. In 1509 he sailed for America with Ojeda, whose fortunes he followed for several years. In 1519 he settled down on a small land holding in the new city of Panama. Three years later he formed a partnership with Diego de Almagro (q.v.) and Father Luque to explore the country discovered by Andagoya to the south of the isthmus. A first expedition in 1524 accomplished nothing, and a second in 1526, undertaken with the assistance of Gaspar de Espinosa, threatened to ruin the partners. Enough of the country was seen, however, to prove that it contained much wealth, and so Pizarro landed on the island of Gallo, not very far from the equator, while Almagro returned for assistance. The sufferings of the men had been so great, however, that the Governor at Panama sent a vessel to bring them all back. Pizarro refused to embark, and drew on the sand with his sword the famous dividing line, beyond which he declared lay labor, hunger, thirst, sickness, and every kind of danger, but also the chance for glory and heroic achievement. Thirteen men crossed to stand by him, while the rest went back to Panama. Pizarro maintained himself for several months until the arrival of Almagro, and then they continued to explore the mainland as far as the Gulf of Guayaquil. Convinced that his resources were insufficient to embark upon the conquest of this highly civilized region, Pizarro collected irrefutable evidences of its wealth, and then went back to Panama, whence he proceeded to Spain in 1528. Charles V granted him authority to conquer and govern this territory with the title of Adelantado. Pizarro enlisted a considerable force, including his four brothers. (See Pizarro, Gonzalo.) In 1530 he was back at Panama, and in January, 1531, he started for the real conquest of Peru. The rest of the career of Francisco Pizarro belongs to history of Peru. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVIII. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 690. |