American Demons

Captive God

In his breathtaking biography "Triumph and Tragedy of Erasmus of Rotterdam", Stefan Zweig emphasizes the contrast between the pathetic constitution of the epochal scholar and the "wild power natures of the Renaissance and the Reformation". "Nowhere is there a trace of penetrating boldness", salivates Johann Caspar Lavater, according to Zweig. The doyen of humanism was not fit to be a martyr. Zweig speaks of a well-known "weakness of character". He coined the term "conquistadors of the spirit". He overlooks the millennial crime of colonialism.

Daring to the point of madness

Francisco Pizarro González is murderously ruthless and daring to the point of madness. In the fall of 1531, he takes control of the god-king Atahualpa. No one had expected this. The Inca did not glorify the Spaniards. He had strategically retreated to his summer residence in Cajamarca in order to isolate "the conquerors". The last colonial outpost lay a thousand miles behind Pizarro.Atahualpa's superiority is overwhelming. The royal hooligans shave each other's skulls with their battle axes. They lie in wait outside Cajamarca, waiting for a sign from the captive god. Should the defeat that led to his imprisonment have broken Atahualpa?

Absolutely not! Rather, Atahualpa wants to use the foreign commander's martial prowess for his own purposes. Turning Atahualpa's footmen into horsemen is a daunting task. These men fear horses. That is the point. Atahualpa recognizes the superiority of the other; four thousand dead warriors in one military sweep have convinced him.

Now he wants to slaughter his rivals with Pizarro's help. But he can't tell his men that. There are too many left on the field to make it clear to the simple henchman that yesterday's butcher is now supposed to be "our best man".Atahualpa's flails and ragamuffins would otherwise no longer understand the world. Everyone wants to kill Pizarro. What else?

Total stupor

Weeks and months in the saddle wear down every buttock. Pizarro's men are exhausted. They sleep standing up, the heat almost kills them. They can hardly breathe in their armor. They hardly ever get out of their armor. They itch all over, their skin becomes more and more inflamed. The situation can only be endured in total stupor.

A people seeks closeness to its god. Families approach Cajamarca from everywhere. The pilgrims occupy the hills outside the city - awaiting a revelation.

Fires burn day and night on the hills outside the city. More and more loyalists flock together. Only Atahualpa's authority commands them to exercise restraint. Their willingness to rebel is palpable.

Atahualpa's enemies make their offers to Pizarro. Kill Atahualpa and we'll shovel lots of gold onto the ransom mound. The job of a "conquistador" includes founding settlements, Christianizing and enslaving the natives as well as stealing everything of value.

Bruno Carrera, who went through hell with the Mexico plunderer Cortés and now had Pizarro's back, recalls in the memoirs of a threshing floor: "Tension caused a fever among us Christians. We thought we were on a crusade and held ourselves up in memory of the martyrs."

Atahualpa brags to his conqueror, but at the same time he is submissive. He offers Pizarro everything, just as he would take anything from an underdog in Pizarro's place. He has another problem, as Diego de Almagro shows up with the rearguard.

Scouts count twenty-two horsemen and 187 footsore men with terrible rashes. Cajamarca has long since become a prison for the invaders too; it is a miracle that Atahualpa's athletes let Almagro's armed pack through.

Almagro, who was born out of wedlock and abandoned as an infant, came to the New World as a footman. That's when his lucky streak began.Pizarro is Almagro's superior. We need to take a quick look at Pizarro's legal status. You see him as a thief and murderer, a rapist of peoples and destroyer of cultures. I share this view. But Pizarro's epoch is as governor of Nueva Castilla. The job description reads: Pacify and populate Peru.