Biography of Gonzalo Pizarro

Location of birth:

Gonzalo Pizarro was born in 1510 in Trujillo (Cáceres – Spain)

Location of death:

Gonzalo Pizarro died on April 10,1548 in Cuzco, Peru.

Positions held:

– Governor of Quito from 1540 to 1542.

– Lieutenant governor general of Cuzco in 1544.

– Governor of Peru from 1544 to 1548.

– Encomendero en Charcas (Alto Perú – presentBolivia)

Most relevant facts starring Gonzalo Pizarro:

– He arrived in Peru in 1530 by the hand of his older brother Francisco Pizarro participating in all the most important events of the conquest of Peru.

– He was one of the Spaniards besieged in the Cuzco in 1536 by Manco Inca.

– He organized in 1540 the expedition in search of the Country of Cinnamon in which Francisco de Orellana would discover the Rio Grande (Amazonas river) and travel it to its mouth. Gonzalo had stayed in the Santa Ana River (Coca River) hoping that Orellana would come back with food and help.

– He actively participated in the civil wars between Spaniards against the Almagrists who won the Battle of the Salinas.

– He retired to his charge from Charcas in search of silver and gold mines.

– In 1542 his first viceroy, Blasco Núñez de Vela, arrived in Peru, bringing with him the New Laws of the Indies, which dealt a heavy blow to the “encomenderos” and “conquistadores”. Gonzalo was chosen by them to organize resistance to the enforcement of these laws. He went to Cuzco where he was proclaimed General Produrator of Peru.

– In 1544 Pizarro entered Lima triumphant, after the expulsion of the viceroy by the Royal Court of Lima, which supported the rebels, and appointed him governor of Peru.

– Viceroy Ñúñez de Vela returned to try to defeat Pizarro but was again defeated and executed on the battlefield. In this way Pizarro obtained absolute power in Peru.

– King Carlos I sent a new president to the Royal Audience of Lima, Pedro de la Gasca, a lawyer, moderate man and negotiator, who without using any kind of violence achieved adherents and many went from the Gonzalist side to the realist side until he was practically alone.

– On April 9,1548 Gonzalo Pizarro was arrested by La Gasca and executed with his captains in the vicinity of Cuzco.