Mural of a Spanish conquistador

A mural painted on tile depicts one of the Spanish conquistadors. A plaque commemorating the conquest is next to the mural.

When the conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrived in Ecuador in 1531 he found a country just recovering from a civil war. The Inca rulers had been fighting amongst themselves for leadership and were in no condition to repel the Spanish invaders. The conquistadors were fresh from the conquest of Mexico and expected to find great riches in the Inca empire. They were not disappointed. After tricking the Inca leader into an ambush, Pizarro was able to overrun the still-divided Inca forces and open the empire to the rapacious appetites of the conquistadors. By 1534, the Inca empire had fallen and the Spanish conquistadors had set up numerous trading posts and ports to begin exporting the riches of South America's greatest Empire. You can still find today hundreds of fortifications and walls built by the war-like Inca rulers, though they only ruled for less than two hundred years.