Atahualpa

Atahualpa
Sapa Inca (14th) and Duchicela Shyris XVII (King of Quito)
Portrait drawn by employees of Pizarro, 1533
Reign	King of Quito ( 1525 - 1533 ) Sapa Inca (1532 – 1533)
Predecessor	Huáscar Capac
Successor	Túpac Huallpa
Born	c.1502 Caranqui (Kingdom of Quito)
Died	26 July 1533 Cajamarca
Burial	29 August 1533 (aged 31) Cajamarca later the body was secretly tranported to Ecuador for burial.
Consort	Coya Asarpay
Quechua	Atawallpa
Dynasty	Hanan Cuzco
Father	Huayna Cápac- Inca Emperor
Mother	Paccha Duchicela Shyris XVI - Queen of Quito

Atahualpa, also Atahuallpa, Atabalipa (in Hispanicized spellings) or Atawallpa (Aymara and Quechua) (c.1502–26 July 1533) was the last Sapa Inca (sovereign emperor) of the Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu) before the Spanish conquest. Atahualpa inherited the Kingdom of Quito from his father the Sapa Inca Huayna Capac in 1525. Before Huayna died, he made a verbal testament to the people in his empire that he intended to divide his empire into two parts. Atahualpa would become king in the Northern section of the Inca Empire and Atahualpa's older half brother Huáscar would receive the Southern section as Sapa Inca. Huayna died from an infectious disease (possibly smallpox after bathing). Atahualpa ruled as King over the Northern section named Quito peacefully for 7 years, until his brother Huáscar the Sapa Inca (13th) attempted to conquer the Kingdom of Quito by unsuccessfully annexing the Cañari region first. Atahualpa became Inca emperor after he defeated and imprisoned Huáscar and massacred any pretenders to the throne at the close of the civil war. Later, while imprisoned by the Spaniards, Atahualpa gave orders to kill Huáscar in Jauja, thinking Huáscar would use the Spaniards as allies to regain his throne.

During the Spanish conquest, the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro captured Atahualpa and used him to control the Inca Empire. Eventually, the Spanish executed Atahualpa, effectively ending the empire. Although a succession of several emperors who led the Inca resistance against the invading Spaniards claimed the title of Sapa Inca as rulers of the Neo-Inca State, the empire began to disintegrate after Atahualpa's death.

Throughout the Inca Empire's history, the main policy of each Sapa Inca was to expand the territory of the empire. When Pachacuti, the 9th Sapa Inca ruled, the Inca Empire had expanded to northern Peru. At this point, Pachacuti sent his son Tupac Inca Yupanqui to invade and conquer the territory of present-day Ecuador. News of the expansion of the Incas reached the different tribes and nations of Ecuador. As a defense against the Incas the Andean chiefdoms formed alliances with each other. Historians of that region refer to these alliances as the Quito Confederation with the Kingdom of Quito being the leader of this confederation.