Born c. 1502
Cuzco, Andean region, present-day Peru
Died July 26, 1533
Cuzco

Sapa Inca, or supreme ruler of
the Inca empire

Atahuallpa (pronounced ah-tah-WAHL-pah; also spelled Atahualpa, Atagualpa, or Atabalipa) was the thirteenth Inca ruler and the last to preside over the Inca empire before the Spanish conquest of South America in 1533. Prior to the death of Atahuallpa's father, Huayna Capac (pronounced WHY-nah CAH-pahk; ruled 1493–1525), in 1525, the Inca empire had been prosperous and strong, the home of the largest civilization in the Americas. Its territory extended 2,500 miles (4,023 kilometers) from north to south in the Andes Mountain region: from the southern part of present-day Ecuador down through present-day Peru and Bolivia and into the northern half of present-day Chile. Yet within ten years of Huayna Capac's death, the empire had collapsed. In a six-year span of...