---
node: sa_conquest
type: period
slug: european_conquest_south_america
title: "European conquest"
lead: "The European conquest of South America (1524–1572) brought the Inca Empire and other peoples under Spanish and Portuguese rule. It began with Pizarro's expeditions and the fall of the Inca."
published: 2026-07-13
updated: 2026-07-13
image_file: european_conquest_south_america.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luis_Montero_-_The_Funerals_of_Inca_Atahualpa_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg"
image_author: "Luis Montero"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Overview

Francisco Pizarro's small force captured the Inca ruler Atahualpa at Cajamarca in 1532 and took Cusco the next year, exploiting a civil war and Indigenous allies. Meanwhile Portugal began to settle Brazil in earnest from the 1530s.

## Key developments

Spanish conquistadors overran the Andes despite fierce resistance, and Old World epidemics killed a large share of the Indigenous population. The last independent Inca state, at Vilcabamba, fell in 1572.

## End and transition

By the 1570s Spain and Portugal held most of the continent. Colonial societies and economies then took shape on Indigenous foundations.