The Conquest of the Incas

On 25 September 1513, a force of weary Spanish explorers cut through the forests of Panama and were confronted by an ocean: the Mar del Sur, or the Pacific Ocean. Six years later the Spaniards had established the town of Panama as a base from which to explore and exploit this unknown sea. It was the threshold of a vast expansion.


The Conquest of the Incas, John Hemming's masterly and highly acclaimed account of one of the most exciting conquests known to history, has never been surpassed. From the first small band of Spanish adventurers to enter the mighty Inca empire to the execution of the last Inca forty years later, it is the story of bloodshed, infamy, rebellion and extermination, told as convincingly as if it happened yesterday.


This 2012 e-book edition includes an extensive revision and update of the text, bibliography, notes and other end-material, to report the latest theories and discoveries.  It also has a new appendix about recent finds of Inca ruins in Vilcabamba.


A must-read book for anyone considering a trip to Peru or wanting to know more about the final days of the Inca empire.


‘The Conquest of the Incas is an extraordinary book.  In it, rigorous historical research and profound analysis combine with stylistic elegance to produce a work that conveys to us, in all its richness and diversity, the tragic and fabulous history of the Inca realm; it is as delightful to read as the best novels.’

Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian Nobel Laureate for Literature (2011)



‘It is distinguished by an extraordinary empathy, a feeling of one’s way into the minds of the 16th-century Spaniards and Indians… it seizes hold of the imagination. It tells a dirty story. It makes you wonder why. It should be read.’

John Leonard, New York Times



‘A mountain of a book… but there is nothing arduous about the reading of it: the hard work has all been done by John Hemming. It is a superb work of narrative history…’

Antonia Fraser, Financial Times