00:00Did you know? A single promise of gold changed the fate of an empire.
00:06In 1532, the Inca emperor Atahualpa was captured by Spanish conquistadors under Francisco Pizarro.
00:14To secure his freedom, he offered the greatest ransom in history, a chamber filled once with gold and twice with silver.
00:21For months, treasures poured in from across the empire, golden idols, silver chalices, ornaments carried from temples and palaces, until the room itself glittered like the sun.
00:35But greed outweighed honor.
00:38Despite the ransom being paid, the Spaniards broke their promise.
00:42Atahualpa was condemned, executed by his captors.
00:46And with him, the Inca empire began to fall.
00:49The ransom of Atahualpa remains one of history's greatest betrayals, when gold bought not freedom, but an empire's end.
00:58One spark ends. The journey continues.
Comments