Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro, an ambitious Spanish explorer and conquistador, began his life journey with humble beginnings. Being an illegitimate and illiterate child, he grew up in the penurious town of Trujillo, Spain, where he herded his father’s pigs. Stories of the New World that spread throughout Spain captivated Pizarro; he wanted nothing other than to explore the New World himself with his eyes set on a wild adventure and lots of fortune. After accompanying other Spanish explorers on his first few voyages, including one with Balboa that discovered the Pacific Ocean, Pizarro set out with his own crew from Spain to Peru with a small outfit of one hundred eighty soldiers and twenty-seven horses. In the splendid city of Cajamarca,…show more content… Pizarro and his crew of unrelenting conquerors swiftly killed off waves of the Incas, who never had seen horses, cannons, or guns. Once, they killed five thousand Incans in a thirty-minute period, while in that same time one Spaniard came out wounded. The Inca offered a whole room of treasure for the Sapa Inca’s release, and Pizarro accepted the deal. The Sapa Inca followed through on his end, giving Pizarro a completely stuffed treasure room filled with 13,625 pounds of gold and 26,000 pounds of silver. All of Pizarro’s crew received enough wealth to stay rich for life, but the Spaniards did not release the Inca in the end: for fear that the Sapa Inca would create an uprising against them, they falsely accused him of crimes and executed him instead. Finally, Pizarro and his crew took over Cuzco, the Incan capital, successfully toppling the entire Incan empire. Several years later, Pizarro founded a new capital called Lima. Upon their return with boatloads of treasure to Spain, many other young men set out for the Americas, each with the vision of lifetime fortune but most with the consequence of death—many faced starvation, hostile natives, fever, or shipwreck. An enemy faction of conquistadors, who had claimed land in Peru,…show more content… He was not the firstborn son and therefore not the heir of his aristocratic father’s fortune. Yearning for wealth himself, Coronado made his way to New Spain, a Spanish colony, where Mexico lies today. There, Coronado secured a high government position and married the wealthy daughter of the colonial treasurer. Eventually, he became the governor of Nueva Galicia, an important Spanish province. Although he now owned one of the largest estates in New Spain due to his marriage, Coronado sought even more affluence after hearing plenty of stories; Fray Marcos (and several others) claimed to have found seven cities of emerald-studded walls, the “Seven Cities of Cibola.” In March 1540, Coronado set out for the north with 300 fellow Spaniards; over 1,000 Native Americans; and more than 1,500 domesticated horses, mules, and cattle in search of the Seven Cities. Coronado also wished to come across the “Strait of Anian,” the Northwest Passage that most people at the time thought would lead to Asia. Through Mexico and up into now-American territory he and his large party journeyed. In July 1540, they found a Zuni Native American tribe in New Mexico and took over their village, finding no treasure. Coronado decided to split up his group so that they could cover more land in different directions. One group went to the Colorado Plateau, while the other group traveled to Arizona, where