Inca Yupanqui died in 1493 and after a complicated succession struggle Huayna Capac became emperor and annexed Quito. Huayna Capac did not go through the traditional ceremonies to name a successor. These included blowing into a white llama's fresh lungs to study the inflamed veins. Upon his death the empire divided into a northern part, which Atahuallpa controlled and where the main Inca armies were campaigning, and the rest of the empire under Atahuallpa's half-brother Huáscar. Atahuallpa's forces defeated and captured Huáscar while Atahuallpa remained in the area of Quito.

Before returning to Tenochtitlán and burying the Aztec empire Cortez defeated native resistance at Otumba. This painting no doubt is meant to express the victory of civilization over barbarism.

Atahuallpa, the last Inca, went to meet Pizarro with a stone-age regiment. Pizarro did short work of it and captured the emperor, who here clings to his throne while his army is being cut to shreds in the background. Atahuallpa was later executed.

Spanish ceremonials at the foundation of cities all over the Americas followed more or less the same pattern, exemplified here in Buenos Aires (Santa Maria del Buen Aire), founded by Pedro de Mendoza in 1536.