journeys of exploration in 1524 and 1526.
He returned to Spain in 1528 and won the
commission of Emperor Charles V to
found a new colony in South America. Ac-
companied by several members of his fam-
ily, he set out again in 1530 with a force of
180 men, including 4 members of his own
family, and landed at Tumbes, on the Pa-
cific coast of South America. Pizarro
marched from the coast to the Incan capi-
tal of Cajamarca. Weakened by civil war
and a struggle between competing factions
for the monarchy, the Incans were unable
to mount an effective resistance against
the invaders. After agreeing to negotiate
with the Incan emperor, Atahuallpa,
Pizarro took the ruler captive. Atahuallpa
bargained for his freedom by promising
the Spaniards an entire room full of gold,
but on delivery of the ransom, Pizarro had
Atahuallpa executed. A Spanish force un-
der Diego Almagro captured the ancient
capital of Cuzco, effectively overthrowing
the Incan Empire, and in 1535 Pizarro
founded the colonial capital of Lima.
Rivalry broke out among the founders
of the colony established by Pizarro. Al-
magro, feeling cheated by the division of
spoils ordered by Pizarro, seized Cuzco
and war broke out. In 1538, Almagro was
captured after losing the Battle of Salinas,
and Pizarro ordered his execution. Pizarro’s
greed and unjust actions alienated many
of the colonists, and the followers of Di-
ego Almagro took their vengeance by as-
sassinating Pizarro in 1541.
SEEALSO: Cortes, Hernán; exploration
plague..............................................
The generic term plague covers a host of
epidemic diseases, with the most familiar
being a rapidly spreading, often-fatal in-
fection caused byYersinia pestis.TheYers-
inia pestisbacillus causes a variety of
symptoms, with the most common being
a painful swelling of the lymph nodes that
causes an abnormal growth known as a
bubo in the groin or under the armpits
(from “bubo” comes the term “bubonic
plague”). In the Middle Ages, the bacillus
was spread by a flea hosted by rats, the
common companions of peasants as well
as city-dwellers. The plague spread rapidly,
sometimes killing as much as 80 percent
of the local population, leaving entire re-
gions depopulated, and causing a break-
down of civil order. The plague outbreak
of 1347–1349, also known as the Black
Death, was the worst in history and re-
duced the population of Europe by about
one-third. Mortality was especially high
among the aged, but a second wave in the
1360s, known as the “children’s plague,”
had a higher mortality rate among the
young. The population of the continent
fell dramatically in the fourteenth century,
which was also a time of widespread fam-
ine and, in France, the devastating effects
of the Hundred Years’ War.
The plague played an important role
in ending traditional medieval society. By
eliminating so much of the labor force,
the epidemic drove up wage rates. This
gave serfs an opportunity to defy the ma-
norial system, in which they were tied to
the estates of the landowners, and become
free-roaming peasants. Many peasants
moved to the cities to take up artisanal
trades in the cities.
The plague turned the social order up-
side down and inspired important works
of art and literature. Plague played a cen-
tral role in the Decameronof Giovanni
Boccaccio, a collection of stories told by a
group of young men and women who flee
a plague-ridden town for the safety of the
countryside. The plague also prompted
new writings and historical tracts concern-plague