10. The Spanish Conquest of the Incas saw the loss of an estimated 8,400,000 native peoples in addition to irreparable damage to the indigenous culture
The Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire, starting in 1532 and ending in 1572, was one of the fundamental campaigns behind the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Upon the arrival of the Spanish in 1528, the Inca Empire was the largest of the pre-Columbian civilizations, extending across an area approximately 2,000,000 square kilometers in size and encompassing more than 16,000,000 inhabitants. Beginning with the capture of Sapa Inca Atahualpa, the Emperor of the Inca nation, by 180 soldiers under the command of Francisco Pizarro in 1532, the Spanish demanded a substantial ransom for the Inca ruler. After receiving their tribute, the Spanish killed Atahualpa on August 29, 1533.
Despite a protracted rebellion against the Spanish in retaliation, the disunited Inca were unable to provide an adequate military response to the conquistadors. Taking forty years, in part due to an internal Spanish civil war between Pizarro and Diego de Almagro, both of whom were killed in this struggle, the conflict is estimated as having resulted in the deaths of half the indigenous population. Whilst not all in battle, with many dying as a result of smallpox and other diseases brought to the continent by colonists, the Inca civilization was devastated by the defeat and formally replaced by the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1572.