Kaxa Marca

Kaxa Marca lies in a fertile basin of the northern Peruvian Andes, surrounded by mountains and fed by streams descending from the highlands. Long before the Spanish arrival it was a regional centre; the Incas later made Cajamarca an important station on the road through their northern territories. Its spacious square became the setting for an encounter that changed the history of the Andes.

In November 1532 the Inca ruler Atahualpa came to Cajamarca after his victory in a civil war. Francisco Pizarro and his small Spanish force invited him to meet them in the square, then attacked his unarmed escort and seized him. Atahualpa offered to fill a room with gold and provide silver in exchange for his freedom. Treasure was collected from across the empire, but the Spaniards kept him captive and executed him in 1533.

The capture of Atahualpa gave the invaders a decisive advantage, although resistance and struggles over the empire continued. The Spanish established a colonial town in the basin, making the former Inca centre a seat of their own authority in the northern highlands, where churches and civic buildings came to stand beside reminders of the Inca settlement. Cajamarca remained a centre for the surrounding highland communities, whose lands and labour were reshaped under colonial rule.