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00:00They had imposed their culture on an immense territory, tamed the most hostile mountains of the Andes,
00:07settled in the densest forests of the Amazon,
00:10and had subjugated dozens of South American people, bringing them into their vast empire.
00:16They were the Incas, a civilization endowed with untold wealth,
00:21where gold was so abundant that the Incan Empire inspired the myth of El Dorado and the mysterious cities of
00:28gold.
00:32And yet, within 80 years of Christopher Columbus discovering America, the Incas would totally disappear.
00:40Five centuries later, only the ceremonial temples, palaces, and buried cities still bear witness to their once prestigious empire,
00:48an empire whose fall has been the subject of numerous theories.
00:53How could such an advanced civilization be destroyed in such a short time?
00:58And who is really responsible for their demise?
01:02We're going to reconstruct the 80 years that led to the total disappearance of an entire civilization,
01:10and find the truth behind one of history's most controversial mysteries, the fall of the Incas.
01:251492, Christopher Columbus sails into the Caribbean Sea.
01:30He became the first European to discover what would later be called America.
01:38Yet, while the Spanish explorer thought he had discovered a new world, the continent was in fact already occupied by
01:46numerous civilizations.
01:53Each with its own language, architecture, and religious beliefs.
01:58These distinct groups had already settled the land across the continent.
02:10But undoubtedly, the one that left the greatest mark on the territory was further south, the Incas.
02:21At the end of the 15th century, just as Christopher Columbus and his men were setting foot in America,
02:27the Inca Empire was already at its height.
02:30It covered more than 1,800,000 square kilometers.
02:35To the south, its borders encompassed the northern third of present-day Chile and part of Argentina.
02:42In the center, a third of Bolivia and almost all of Peru.
02:46And to the north, the empire stretched as far as what are now Ecuador and Colombia.
02:54The Incas are thought to have ruled territories across Latin America, which contained a population of between 10 to 14
03:01million.
03:03At the head of the empire was Tupac Yipengui, the 10th sovereign of the Inca lineage.
03:09In Quechua, their primary language, he is known as the Sapa Inca, or the only lord.
03:19Inaugurated by his father, Pachak Yipengui, the expansion of the empire accelerated spectacularly under his reign.
03:26A great warrior and formidable strategist, Tupac Yipengui subdued the surrounding peoples of the region one by one.
03:35When they conquered a new people, they imposed their way of life, their religion, their architecture, the whole of their
03:42culture.
03:43It conjured up an image of a uniform empire, exercising total control over its many subjects.
03:55According to legend, the Incas were descendants of Inti, the sun god, and so were called sons of the sun.
04:05Inti gave them a golden stick that would sink deep into the earth the day they found fertile land on
04:11which to settle.
04:13And that happened in the Cusco Valley, where they built the foundations of their civilization.
04:20The Inca royal family positioned itself as the crucial intermediary between humans and the divine nature the Incas venerated.
04:37As a witness to their domination of the region, the Inca built cities.
04:42And demonstrate the full extent to which this civilization had mastered the art of construction, desert, forests, or mountains.
04:53The Incas managed to tame the most hostile environments.
04:57They built countless terraces that allowed them to cultivate the land on the steepest slopes of the Andes.
05:03The lasting symbol of their ingenuity is Machu Picchu, a city perched at an altitude of more than 2,400
05:10meters.
05:14Throughout the region, the Incas also built a network of roads more than 40,000 kilometers long, linking the farthest
05:22reachers of the empire to their capital, Cusco.
05:27These roads also enabled messengers to circulate information quickly, so if trouble was brewing, it could be nipped in the
05:34butt.
05:38However, after 300 years of expansion, the Inca Empire reached its high point at the end of the 15th century,
05:46after which the speed of its collapse is mystifying.
05:50Just 40 years after Christopher Columbus's arrival in America, and only nine years after the first Europeans arrived in Inca
05:58territory,
05:58its capital, Cusco, fell to the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro.
06:03By 1533, the Inca Empire had begun to fall apart.
06:08But how did the greatest empire in all of America, one equipped with a successful conquering army that had subdued
06:15so many peoples and territories, collapse so quickly?
06:21To answer these questions, our experts tackled the main historical sources, primarily writings of the European chroniclers who recounted the
06:30conquistadors' conquest of America.
06:40This idea is a sort of inheritance from the thinking of the prior few centuries, when this victory was attributed
06:48to God's will.
06:50And it can also be seen as the legacy of a time when racist ideologies about European superiority could explain
06:59why so few could have overpowered an entire native empire.
07:05D'abord, ces chroniques ont été rédigées plusieurs années et même souvent plusieurs décennies après la conquête.
07:12Alors oui, certains chroniqueurs ont vécu la conquête, mais d'autres sont nés bien après.
07:18Et ils ont interviewé des descendants d'Inca et de conquistadors dans un monde déjà bien transformé par l'influence
07:26espagnole,
07:27ce qui a forcément influencé leur récit.
07:32Ensuite, ces sources racontent l'histoire du point de vue des vainqueurs.
07:36Elles ne peuvent pas ĂŞtre objectives.
07:41It's the early 16th century.
07:44Huayna Capac has ascended to the throne to become the 11th Sapa Inca.
07:51And like his predecessors, the emperor is determined to continue expanding his territory.
08:04But Huayna Capac was faced with numerous revolts from peoples conquered by the Incas.
08:12His armies were sent to the four corners of the kingdom to prevent the resistance from securing any foothold on
08:19power.
08:20The empire has expanded rapidly in recent decades, maybe too fast.
08:25And now the new Sapa Inca is struggling to control such a sprawling territory.
08:30Proof of this is provided by Pedro de Cieza de Leon, a 16th century Spanish writer best known for the
08:38chronicle of Peru.
08:38In his book, he recounts an event that took place on the island of Pune, located in the Pacific Ocean
08:45and governed at the time by a local ruler by the name of Tumbala.
08:52When the Inca army approached his region, Tumbala, the local chief, welcomed them with gifts and immediately surrendered to avoid
09:01a brutal war.
09:03But once the army had gone off to deal with other problems, he changed his attitude and threw out the
09:09remaining Incas.
09:12The Inca chiefs and their captains boarded rafts.
09:15While they were at sea, the inhabitants of Pune unwittingly cut the ropes that bound the wooden logs of their
09:22rafts together.
09:23The poor Incas fell into the water, and the islanders killed them with great cruelty, using weapons they had concealed
09:31on their person.
09:35But it's pretty clear he never intended to submit to them entirely.
09:41And the more the empire expands, the more difficult it becomes for the Incas to be everywhere at once.
09:48The example of the island of Pune shows that, at the time, the Inca empire was far from being a
09:55fully settled and uniform kingdom.
09:58And it was against this already unstable backdrop that a tragic event was to further test the unity of the
10:04empire.
10:05A mysterious epidemic struck the population.
10:30Some accounts at the time believe it to be a disease brought to America by Europeans, smallpox.
10:40Chez les Incas, il y a eu de grandes épidémies dévastatrices, documentées après la conquête espagnole à partir des années
10:481570.
10:49Ces peuples n'ont jamais été exposés à de telles maladies.
10:52Ils n'avaient donc aucune immunité naturelle pour s'en défendre.
10:55Mais les chroniqueurs racontent qu'elles seraient arrivées avant les conquistadors.
11:00Certains historiens suggèrent que les contacts entre les Européens et les peuples d'Amérique centrale
11:06auraient pu provoquer une épidémie dévastatrice jusque dans le sud du continent.
11:12But some specialists, such as Robert McCaw, the American smallpox historian, are sceptical.
11:20Historian Robert McCaw studied 17 chronicles, and only six of them mention smallpox.
11:29The others merely speak of an epidemic and are vague about the symptoms.
11:36Another argument that makes McCaw doubt smallpox is that the first Quechua Dictionary published in 1560
11:44has no word for the disease.
11:47But the word does appear later, well after the arrival of the conquistadors
11:52and documented smallpox epidemics.
11:56Finally, McCaw insists that there is no archaeological evidence.
12:01Smallpox is a disease that leaves traces, and no mummy from the Inca period bears any sign of it.
12:11Even today, experts cannot say with any certainty which disease struck the region.
12:18But what is certain is that the epidemic spread quickly and widely among the Inca population
12:24and eventually killed the emperor.
12:28Huayna Capac died in 1527 while in the midst of a war of conquest to the north of his empire.
12:35His mummified body was immediately repatriated to Cusco.
12:39But the emperor's sudden death was to have terrible consequences for the Inca ruling elite.
12:46Huayna Capac had left no clear instructions for his succession.
12:51In the capital Cusco, the Inca nobility appointed Huascar, one of Huayna Capac's sons, to take power.
12:58But in Quito, his half-brother proclaimed himself emperor.
13:03His name?
13:05Atahualpa.
13:11Atahualpa was a warrior and had fought alongside his father in many military campaigns.
13:16The Inca empire suddenly found itself with two competing rulers.
13:21Some parts of the nobility support Huascar, others Atahualpa.
13:26A bloody civil war breaks out between the two brothers and their respective armies.
13:32L'armée d'Atahualpa est plus petite que celle de Huascar.
13:35Mais elle est composée de vétérans de l'armée Inca chargés des conquêtes au nord.
13:41Donc, leur expérience au combat est un avantage décisif contre l'armée de Huascar,
13:47qui, elle, comprend surtout des fermiers et des Ă©leveurs qui ne se sont jamais battus de leur vie.
13:53According to Spanish chronicler Juan de Batanzos, Huascar was no match for his half-brother's military skill.
14:02Huascar was but a young man who, since childhood, had more experience with drinking than in the things of war.
14:11Atahualpa secured a string of victories and was merciless with those who had supported his half-brother.
14:17He undertook both war and punishment with a cruelty that left its mark on the survivors.
14:23Atahualpa had three of the enemy commanders who had been captured brought before him.
14:28When they appeared, he ordered that their hearts be cut out while they were alive.
14:32He said he wanted to see the color of the heart of an evil man.
14:37Atahualpa then shouted that if their men had a good heart, and if they were ready to support him,
14:42then they should come and eat the bad hearts of their chiefs.
14:46They all came and ate the hearts of their leaders, raw, in front of Atahualpa.
14:54This intimidation, its terror, convinced local leaders to submit and lay down their arms.
15:00But this cruelty also feeds their resentment.
15:03The situation is about to get worse.
15:08The year is 1531.
15:10Huascar and Atahualpa continue to launch renewed attacks against each other in a bloody war of attrition.
15:17At the same time, a man has arrived in the region to take advantage of the conflict between these warring
15:24brothers.
15:24His name? Francisco Pizarro.
15:30Francisco Pizarro was a treasure-hungry Spanish explorer.
15:34In 1524, after hearing of the existence of an Inca territory teeming with riches,
15:39he launched his first expedition from Panama to discover it.
15:46During his first expedition, Francisco Pizarro lost most of his men to famine, fighting, and disease.
15:53In the end, only a dozen or so had survived to land in what is now Ecuador and Peru.
16:02He made several attempts to conquer the land and the people that he found there, to create a colony in
16:07the New World for Spain.
16:10Although his third conquest had permission from the king of Spain, it came with a number of conditions that Pizarro
16:15failed to meet.
16:16But this did little to stop him from launching his new expedition.
16:24January 1531, six years after his first expedition, Pizarro and less than 200 men try their luck again and sail
16:33towards the Inca Empire.
16:35Now ready to fight for the riches they were convinced they would find in the region.
16:40Conquistadors are there to conquer and get rich quick, and they will pillage and massacre to accomplish it.
16:49They don't hesitate to use torture to obtain information that might help their quest for gold and power,
16:57or to burn local lords to sow terror in their wake.
17:02Between the conquistadors plundering the villages on the northern coast of the territory,
17:06and the ongoing civil war between Atahualpa and Huascar,
17:11the Inca Empire was in total confusion.
17:14But one event was soon to change all that.
17:17While stationed near the town of Cuyamarca with part of his army,
17:21Atahualpa learned that his captains had won their battles in Cusco and succeeded in capturing Huascar.
17:27The capital of the empire had fallen into his hands.
17:31He had his half-brother assassinated and finally took sole control of the kingdom.
17:37He became the 13th Sapa Inca.
17:41But his hard-fought victory was short-lived.
17:45Atahualpa now turned to face a new enemy.
17:48One whose intentions he was still unaware of.
17:51Francisco Pizarro.
17:57Atahualpa now turned to face a new enemy.
18:01One whose intentions he was still unaware of.
18:04Francisco Pizarro.
18:10Atahualpa est intrigué par ces hommes que certains sujets décrivent comme des dieux venus de la mer.
18:16Des êtres qui ressemblent à des créatures hybrides,
18:19mi-hommes, mi-animaux, quand ils sont sur leurs chevaux.
18:24Mais ils sont méfis aussi.
18:25Il est au courant de leur violence, de leur cruauté,
18:28et des pillages qu'ils enchaînent dans les villes qu'ils traversent.
18:34November 16th, 1532.
18:37Francisco Pizarro proposed a meeting with Atahualpa.
18:40Given their respective locations in different parts of the region,
18:43they agreed to meet in a town in the northern highlands of present-day Peru,
18:48Cayamarca.
18:51Ça fait plusieurs semaines que Pizarro et Atahualpa communiquent par l'intermédiaire de messagers.
18:57Pizarro se présente comme un allié si Atahualpa ne l'attaque pas non plus.
19:02Les deux hommes prévoient de se rencontrer sur la place de la ville et ils ne seront pas armés.
19:09Atahualpa sait que les conquistadors pillent ces villes et ces sujets sur la cĂ´te.
19:14Mais il est aussi intrigué et surtout, il est confiant, il se croit supérieur.
19:20Il ne se méfie probablement pas assez.
19:23Il entre dans Caramarca avec un cortège de quelques milliers d'hommes seulement
19:28et la majeure partie d'entre eux ne sont pas armés.
19:31Ce qui n'est pas arrivé et n'est pas préparé pour,
19:35c'est que Francisco Pizarro's proposé alliance était un trappé.
19:43All autour de la plaza,
19:45hidden dans les grandes halls des bâtiments et dans les échanges walkways,
19:49Spanish horsemen et soldats sont armés et ready
19:52pour verser les portes Ă Pizarro's signal.
19:54Just as Atahualpa and his subjects arrive,
19:57Pizarro shouts,
19:59Santiago !
20:00In honor of their patron saint,
20:02at this sign,
20:03the conquistadors emerge from their hiding places
20:06and begin their attack.
20:15The horsemen lance them through
20:17and the foot soldiers cut with their swords
20:20without the Inca's men putting up any resistance.
20:25The conquistadors also had superior weapons
20:28while the Inca had no swords or firearms.
20:30They fought with stone weapons and clubs
20:32and most of them weren't even arms.
20:36Mais les conquistadors avaient plusieurs avantages.
20:39Déjà , ils ont attaqué par surprise.
20:42C'était une stratégie osée et même risquée,
20:45mais les Incas ne se méfiaient pas assez d'eux
20:48et ils ont été surpris par l'attaque.
20:51Ensuite, quand les Espagnols ont lancé les hostilités,
20:54seul le début du cortège était arrivé avec Atahualpa.
20:57Tous les hommes supposés être présents pour les protéger
21:00n'Ă©taient pas encore lĂ .
21:02Ils n'ont mĂŞme pas eu le temps d'entrer dans la ville.
21:08In the midst of this bloody battle,
21:10Francisco Pizarro captured Atahualpa.
21:16Yet, while the Battle of Cayamarca
21:18was a key event in the Spanish colonial conquest of the country,
21:22it was far from the end of the Inca Empire.
21:26On that day in Cayamarca,
21:28the conquest of Peru was still in its infancy.
21:32The conquistadors have not yet defeated the Inca.
21:36Atahualpa is imprisoned, yes,
21:38but his army still controls the capital,
21:40Cusco, and the surrounding region.
21:42He has no intention of submitting to the Spaniards.
21:49In exchange for his freedom,
21:51the Inca Emperor offered Pizarro a staggering ransom.
21:56He understood that the Spaniards lusted after gold,
21:59which had no real value for the Incas.
22:02So he proposed to fill the huge room
22:05where he was locked up with gold
22:07up to the height of his arm,
22:09raised in the air.
22:12Pizarro, of course,
22:13was seduced by the prospect of such a treasure.
22:16So for over six months,
22:18tons of gold Inca objects
22:20were transported from the empire's major cities.
22:26Aware of their numerical inferiority
22:28against the Incan armies,
22:30Pizarro's men don't risk leaving the town
22:32and wait patiently for the treasure to arrive.
22:37The objects received as ransom
22:39for the liberation of Atahualpa
22:40are melted down one after the other.
22:43In all, over six tons of gold
22:46were recovered by Pizarro's men.
22:52It's an incredible treasure,
22:54certainly the largest the Spaniards acquired in the Americas.
22:59The conquistadors delivered 20% to the king of Spain
23:03as stipulated in their contracts
23:05and divided the rest among themselves.
23:13Atahualpa kept his promise,
23:15but Francisco Pizarro had no intention
23:18of releasing the Inca emperor,
23:20who he assumed would only choose to take revenge.
23:23To rid himself of this Incan emperor,
23:25he accused him of secretly organizing a rebellion.
23:28After some debate and disagreement,
23:31Atahualpa was executed by Garot on August 29, 1533.
23:36But despite the emperor's death,
23:38the Spaniards were still severely outnumbered
23:41by the Inca armies.
23:42It was here that Francisco Pizarro
23:45once again demonstrated his strategic prowess.
23:48He took advantage of the divisions
23:50that had arisen during the civil war
23:52between Atahualpa and his brother Huascar
23:55to forge alliances with other Inca.
24:00Whether out of resentment towards Atahualpa,
24:03fear of the conquistadors,
24:05or to protect personal interests
24:08and benefit from European arms,
24:11some Incas and Inca subjects
24:13allied themselves with the conquistadors.
24:17There would have been non-Europeans
24:20siding with the conquistadors
24:22as they entered Cayamarca.
24:27Francisco Pizarro decided to ally himself
24:30with another son of Huayna Capac,
24:32who had supported Huascar.
24:34His name, Manco Inca.
24:38He officially succeeded Atahualpa
24:41and became the new emperor.
24:47Francisco Pizarro decided to ally himself
24:50with Manco Inca.
24:56He officially succeeded Atahualpa
24:58and became the new emperor.
25:02Avec le successeur d'Atahualpa,
25:04les alliances prennent une nouvelle ampleur.
25:09Pizarro propose de l'aider à renverser l'armée
25:12qui règne sur la région de Cusco
25:14et qui ne reconnaît pas la souveraineté
25:16du nouvel empereur Inca.
25:18As part of a huge Inca army
25:20of several thousand men and porters,
25:23the few hundred conquistadors
25:25set out for the capital Cusco,
25:27still held by forces loyal to Atahualpa.
25:37As they advance into the heart of enemy territory,
25:41they encountered pockets of fierce resistance,
25:44which they succeeded in defeating one by one.
25:50They continued to Cusco
25:52and entered the capital on November 15th, 1533,
25:56less than three months after Atahualpa's execution,
25:59alongside the new emperor, Manco Inca.
26:02The conquistadors arrive in Cusco as Incan allies.
26:09The Spaniards used this uneasy alliance to gain power.
26:16Manco Inca preserved his sovereignty in the Andes,
26:19but became a vassal of the Spanish king.
26:24Alliances were secured through marriage,
26:26which gave everyone a certain protection.
26:29Even Pizarro married an Inca princess.
26:37The importance of the alliances
26:39between the Spanish and certain Incas
26:41has been the subject of numerous theories and controversies.
26:45In the early 2000s,
26:48Peruvian archaeologists Guillermo Koch
26:50and Elena Goicochea
26:52discovered two cemeteries on the outskirts of Lima.
26:56The bodies were buried, according to Inca tradition,
27:00in a flexed position facing northeast.
27:03And with numerous offerings beside them,
27:06a total of 500 skeletons were unearthed.
27:11Guillermo Koch and Elena Goicochea
27:14estimated the era of these two cemeteries.
27:18One dates from the end of the Inca Empire,
27:21the other from the beginning of the Spanish conquest.
27:26In the laboratory, archaeologists analyzed the wound marks
27:30found on skeletons in the cemetery
27:32associated with when the conquistadors took back the city.
27:38The skeletons in the cemetery displayed more injuries
27:41and received more fatal wounds than other cemeteries,
27:44evidence of an increase in violence
27:45after the arrival of the conquistadors.
27:48Some skulls have marks consisting with steel weapons,
27:51like the Spanish spears of the time.
27:53Circular wounds about 15 millimeters in diameter
27:56with tiny iron particles
27:58are clearly bullet wounds from the conquistadors' arquebuses.
28:03But during analysis,
28:05other injury marks appear on the skeletons.
28:09Traumas not caused by weapons
28:12traditionally used by the conquistadors.
28:17Guillermo Koch and Elena Goicochea
28:20identify other brutal skeletal injuries
28:23corresponding to traditional Inca weapons
28:26such as clubs and stones.
28:30Most of the victims from the siege period
28:33died of wounds from these weapons,
28:36not those of the conquistadors.
28:39This shows the importance of alliances
28:42between native peoples and the Spaniards.
28:48After the capture of the capital Cusco,
28:51the succession of civil wars and wars of conquest
28:54finally came to an end
28:56and the ancient Inca empire
28:58now experienced a new peace
29:00under the total control of the Spanish.
29:03Pizarro fonde la ville de Lima
29:04mais ses alliés restent à Cusco.
29:06Et plus les années passent,
29:08plus Manco Inca se fait humilier
29:10par ses Espagnols
29:11qui pillent ses trésors
29:12et s'approprient le fruit de ses terres
29:14sans le respecter.
29:15Quand ils réalisent qu'il n'est qu'un pantin pour eux,
29:18ils décident de se retourner
29:19contre ses soi-disant alliés
29:21et montent secrètement
29:22une armée de plusieurs milliers d'hommes.
29:25In 1536,
29:27Manco Inca attempted
29:29to regain control of his territory
29:31and laid siege
29:32to the cities of Cusco and Lima.
29:34But the Spanish quickly routed his troops.
29:37Manco Inca
29:38and his last loyal followers
29:40were forced to abandon the capital.
29:42They retreated
29:43to the heart of the Andes Mountains
29:45to a region called Vilcabamba,
29:48which was to become
29:49the final stronghold
29:51of the last Incan emperor.
29:56Manco Inca
29:57Manco Inca
29:58and his last loyal followers
29:59retreated to the heart
30:00of the Andes Mountains,
30:02which was to become
30:03the final stronghold
30:04of the last Incan emperor.
30:08In the dense mountain jungle,
30:11the Inca resistance
30:12destroyed bridges
30:14hid in the forests
30:15when the invaders
30:16approached their towns.
30:17and the conquistadors
30:18never reached
30:20the new Inca capital,
30:22Vilcabamba,
30:23because they never knew
30:24its precise location.
30:29With the Inca resistance gone,
30:31the Spanish colonialists
30:32reorganized the city of Cusco.
30:35The conquistadors
30:36were given the right
30:37to exploit the labor
30:38of the Inca population
30:40and were also given
30:41a new mission
30:42by the Catholic Church
30:43to evangelize them.
30:45Some male members
30:46of Inca nobility
30:47were given Spanish noble titles
30:49and converted to Christianity.
30:51Over subsequent generations,
30:53this Inca nobility
30:54went on to merge
30:55with the Spanish nobility.
30:57But it also systematically
30:58sidelined Inca women.
31:00In Inca society,
31:02women occupied elevated
31:04political, religious
31:05and even military positions,
31:07an agency that contradicted
31:09the role of European women
31:10at this time.
31:12So even if some women
31:14had been important allies
31:15for the Spaniards
31:16in the face of Inca resistance,
31:18they were completely left out
31:19of the new power structures.
31:21But within the conquistador elites,
31:23disagreements concerning
31:25the distribution of Inca wealth
31:27soon became conflicts
31:28which turned the region
31:30into a powder keg
31:31of competing interests.
31:32The conquistadors
31:34were in open conflict
31:35and this quickly spread
31:36to the door of Francisco Pizarro,
31:39who was assassinated
31:40by former accomplices
31:41in 1541.
31:43To restore calm
31:44and assert his authority,
31:46the king of Spain
31:47sent troops
31:47to suppress those conquistadors
31:49who continued to defy
31:51the crown
31:51and appointed
31:52the first viceroy of Peru,
31:54Belasco Nunez Vila.
31:56Over the decades,
31:57alliances were even forged
31:59between the resistant Inca
32:00of Vilcabamba
32:01and the Spanish.
32:03The Inca recovered
32:05ancestral royal domains
32:06and Spanish priests
32:08converted the Inca nobility
32:09of Vilcabamba.
32:11But even so,
32:13the Spanish crown
32:14was unable to bring
32:15Vilcabamba under its control
32:16and the Inca still refused
32:18to submit.
32:20But this fragile equilibrium
32:22collapsed in 1572.
32:26By then,
32:28Tupac Amaru
32:29had become Sapa Inca,
32:31succeeding his brother
32:32a year earlier.
32:34Francisco de Toledo,
32:35the new viceroy of Peru,
32:37had strong opinions
32:39on the future
32:39of this leader.
32:42Francisco de Toledo
32:43wanted to put an end
32:45to the Andean era
32:46by completely
32:48hispanicizing it.
32:49So he launched
32:51a new invasion
32:52of the Vilcabamba region
32:54to eradicate
32:55this kingdom
32:56that was resisting him.
32:57The conquistadors
32:59set off into the mountains
33:00in search
33:01of this famous capital
33:03and finally found
33:05Vilcabamba.
33:07But by the time
33:08they arrived,
33:09the Incas
33:10had deserted the town
33:11and set it on fire.
33:13They hoped
33:14that the conquistadors,
33:16without shelter
33:17or food,
33:18would turn back.
33:21But the Spaniards
33:22moved into the still
33:24smoldering town
33:25and settled there
33:26long enough
33:27to track down
33:28and capture
33:29the entire royal family,
33:31including the last
33:33Sapa Inca,
33:34Tupac Amaru.
33:38On September 24th,
33:401572,
33:42Tupac Amaru,
33:43the last Inca ruler,
33:45was beheaded
33:46in Cusco.
33:50After more than
33:5140 years
33:52of fierce fighting,
33:54the capture
33:54of Vilcabamba
33:55and the death
33:56of Tupac Amaru
33:57marked the definitive
33:59end of Inca
34:00civilization
34:00on the continent.
34:04The conquistadors
34:05paraded
34:06Tupac Amaru
34:08through the city
34:09and then
34:09beheaded him
34:10in public.
34:13Viceroy
34:14Francisco de Toledo
34:15was present
34:16at the execution.
34:20With the last
34:22pockets of
34:22Inca resistance
34:23gone,
34:24the Spanish
34:24colonialists
34:25quickly abandoned
34:27the mountains
34:27in favor
34:28of their new cities.
34:35Over the following
34:36decades,
34:37they continued
34:38to plunder
34:38more and more
34:39of their riches
34:40with one objective,
34:42to uncover
34:43all the Inca gold.
34:45This precious metal
34:47enriched the
34:47colonialists,
34:48who in turn
34:49enriched the
34:50Spanish monarchy
34:51and Catholic Church.
34:53Spain went on
34:54to experience
34:55what came to be
34:56known as
34:56the Golden Century,
34:58a period of
34:59cultural and
34:59economic power
35:00accompanied
35:01by immense
35:02Catholic fervor.
35:07The Spanish
35:08had finally
35:09gotten their hands
35:10on this wealthy
35:11region
35:12and were intent
35:14on exploiting it
35:15for maximum profit
35:17with no regard
35:18for the peoples
35:19who once made up
35:20the majestic
35:20and now vanished
35:22Inca Empire.
35:24As for the ruins
35:25of Vilcabamba,
35:26the last bastion
35:27of Inca resistance,
35:29they were gradually
35:30lost to the encroaching
35:31jungle
35:31and forgotten.
35:37At the beginning
35:38of the 20th century,
35:40Hiram Bingham,
35:41an American explorer,
35:42traveled to Peru
35:43in search of the Inca
35:45civilization.
35:46At the time,
35:47Vilcabamba,
35:48the last capital
35:49of the kingdom,
35:50was coveted
35:51by treasure seekers,
35:52still dreaming
35:54of finding gold
35:55four centuries
35:56after their
35:57conquistador predecessors.
35:58At the time,
36:00Vilcabamba's location
36:01was unknown.
36:02The chroniclers
36:03indicate a region,
36:04but it was extremely
36:05isolated
36:05and the jungle
36:06had taken over.
36:08Undeterred,
36:09Hiram Bingham
36:09put together
36:10a team of archaeologists
36:11and launched
36:11an expedition
36:12to find it.
36:15Hiram Bingham
36:16sets off
36:17from Cusco
36:18into the jungle
36:19in the footsteps
36:20of the last
36:21Incan resistance fighters.
36:23He met local farmers
36:24who told him
36:25of the existence
36:26of ruins
36:27unknown to Westerners.
36:28high up
36:29on a mountain ridge.
36:32The American explorer
36:34had just rediscovered
36:36Machu Picchu.
36:39The site
36:40is partly overgrown,
36:41but still breathtaking.
36:45Bingham
36:46is astounded
36:47by its size,
36:48by its monumentality,
36:50and by the beauty
36:51of its architecture,
36:52of these enormous walls
36:54with stones
36:55so finely cut
36:56and assembled.
36:58He had made
37:00one of South America's
37:01greatest
37:02archaeological discoveries.
37:08After this first
37:09major discovery,
37:11Hiram Bingham
37:12continued his
37:13exploration of the area.
37:14On his way,
37:16locals point out
37:17the existence
37:17of other ruins
37:18located a little
37:19further away
37:20in a valley
37:21in a valley called
37:22Espiritu Pampa,
37:24the spirit
37:25of the valley.
37:28The native people
37:29of Espiritu Pampa
37:30show him around,
37:31but the dense vegetation
37:32make it hard for him
37:33to realize the size
37:34and scale of the site.
37:36But here, too,
37:37he sees terraces,
37:38canals,
37:39plazas,
37:40roads,
37:40and a long,
37:41rectangular building.
37:45During his expedition,
37:47Hiram Bingham
37:47made two
37:48major discoveries.
37:50Machu Picchu
37:51perched atop
37:52a mountain
37:53and the ruins
37:54of Espiritu Pampa
37:55hidden in a forest.
37:57At the time,
37:59the adventurer
38:00hesitated.
38:01Could one of these
38:01sites be
38:02Villa Cabamba,
38:03the lost city
38:04that served
38:05as the last refuge
38:06of the Inca
38:07resistance fighters?
38:10At first,
38:11he wonders
38:12if the Espiritu Pampa
38:13could be Villa Cabamba.
38:16But on second thought,
38:18he decides
38:18that Machu Picchu
38:19was Villa Cabamba,
38:20the lost Incan city.
38:22He doesn't base
38:23his idea
38:23on solid evidence,
38:24but on his admiration
38:25of the site.
38:27For decades,
38:28his hypothesis
38:29goes unchallenged
38:30by historians.
38:34Hiram Bingham
38:35is still considered
38:36one of history's
38:37greatest
38:37explorers.
38:38He is even said
38:40to have inspired
38:40George Lucas
38:41to create the character
38:43of Indiana Jones.
38:45But there was no evidence
38:47to support his hypothesis
38:48that the site
38:49of Machu Picchu
38:50was indeed
38:51Villa Cabamba.
38:57It was not until
38:5850 years after
38:59its discovery
39:00that Gene Savoy,
39:02another American explorer
39:03inspired by
39:04Hiram Bingham
39:05and intrigued
39:06by the ruins,
39:07discovered by his predecessor,
39:09decided to conduct
39:11his own investigation
39:12in the region.
39:13Following in Hiram
39:14Bingham's footsteps,
39:16Gene Savoy
39:16heads deep
39:17into the jungle
39:17to find the ruins
39:18of the Spiritu Pampa.
39:20He employs locals
39:22to clear the site,
39:22and he realizes
39:23that it's much larger
39:25and more remarkable
39:26than anyone imagined.
39:29On his return,
39:31Gene Savoy
39:31immediately sent a report
39:33to Tulema.
39:34His expedition report
39:35leaves no room
39:36for doubt.
39:37In his opinion,
39:39Hiram Bingham
39:39was mistaken.
39:41Vilcabamba
39:41was located
39:42in the Espiritu Pampa Valley
39:44and not in Machu Picchu.
39:46In my opinion,
39:48the site can be considered
39:49to be Vilcabamba Grande,
39:51the final refuge
39:52of Manco Inca
39:53and his three sons.
39:54The evidence?
39:55The extensive area
39:57of ruins
39:57covering many square kilometers,
39:59a minimum of four
40:01and a maximum of ten,
40:02revealing Inca design
40:04and craftsmanship,
40:05the abundance
40:06of Inca pottery,
40:07the Spanish colonial artifacts
40:09such as a horseshoe,
40:10and colonial-type tile.
40:16It would take
40:17several more years
40:18of archaeological research
40:20after Gene Savoy's
40:21first expedition
40:22to prove
40:23that his theories
40:24about the final location
40:25of the lost city
40:26of the Incas
40:27was right.
40:28And it was historian
40:30John Hemming,
40:31author of a reference work
40:33entitled
40:33The Conquest of the Incas,
40:35who succeeded
40:36in concluding
40:37the investigation.
40:39John Hemming
40:40painstakingly studied
40:41the chronicles
40:42of the conquistadors
40:43and even found archives
40:45that had never before
40:46been studied
40:47by historians.
40:49He assembled data
40:51on Vilcabamba's altitude,
40:53on its architecture,
40:54mentions of the
40:55Spanish tiles present,
40:57data on the distance,
40:58to another known
40:59archaeological site.
41:01And unlike Machu Picchu,
41:04everything matched
41:06Espiritu Pampa.
41:08After the Spanish conquest,
41:11it was now confirmed
41:12that the last Inca resistance
41:14took refuge
41:15in the Espiritu Pampa region,
41:19which had reverted
41:21to its original name,
41:25Vilcabamba,
41:26the last Inca stronghold.
41:29The last Inca stronghold.
41:32Today,
41:33only the most determined
41:34tourists can venture
41:35through the thick forest
41:36that covers the area.
41:38And after several days' walk,
41:41reach the ruins,
41:42now almost five centuries old.
41:46Today,
41:47Inca constructions
41:48are among the most visited
41:49tourist destinations
41:50in South America,
41:52and archaeologists
41:53continue to uncover
41:55new buildings
41:55and monuments
41:56that would have been built
41:58during their reign.
41:59Inca
41:59inca
41:59inca
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