Francisco Pizarro

Francisco Pizarro (1471-1541) was a Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of Peru, betraying and eventually killing their emperor, Atahualpa. The ancient Peru city of Cuzco was completely destroyed and replaced with the city of Lima. While in Peru, Pizzaro also discovered the greatest silver mine in the Americas, the vast majority of which was traded with China, whose economy was based on silver. Like Cortes' conquests, Pizzaro's conquests were facilitated by the use of horses, superior weapons, and devastating European diseases like smallpox. The native population had no immunity to such disease, and simply giving them a bunch of blankets exposed to the deadly germ could end up killing many natives.