Everything about The Battle Of Pun totally explained
The
Battle of Puná, a peripheral engagement of
Francisco Pizarro's
conquest of Peru, was fought in April
1531 on the island of
Puná (in the Gulf of
Guayaquil). Pizarro's
conquistadors, boasting superior weaponry and tactical skill, decisively defeated the island's
indigenous inhabitants. The battle marked the beginning of Pizarro's third and final expedition before the fall of the
Inca Empire.
The
Spanish army, following a long and difficult journey from
Panama throughout which many had fallen to virulence, predation, and other hazards, had docked at the
Inca city of
Tumbes in April. Received with quiet hostility by Incas who had perhaps been alerted to the acts of pillage and plunder committed on the fringes of the Empire by the invaders, the Spaniards, deeming it unsafe to remain in Tumbes, relocated their camp to the nearby island of Puna in preparation for an assault on the Inca city.
Initially, the Spanish occupation of the island proceeded without bloodshed. The natives of Puna were a warrior people who, reluctantly bowing before the might of the
Inca Empire, had intermittently accepted the status of
tributary state, though periods of friction and even open warfare had frequently erupted with the Incas out on the mainland.
The path to war was first triggered by Pizarro's native interpreters, who warned him, perhaps falsely, that several Punian chiefs had gathered to plan an insurrection. Pizarro had the chiefs captured, interrogated, and, apparently satisfied with their guilt, delivered to their traditional enemies at Tumbes where they were duly massacred by the Incas.
According to Spanish sources, the warrior class of Puná, maddened with rage, immediately rushed to arms and stormed the Spanish camp, charging in the thousands. It seemed that the diminutive Spanish force would surely be overwhelmed and scattered. But what the Spaniards lacked in numbers they eclipsed in armaments and discipline. As the natives approached, many were met head on with deadly rows of lowered
pikes, the use of which the Spanish had long mastered in the great wars of
Italy and
Flanders. Other Punians, charging in confused masses, were cut down and slaughtered in vast numbers by the concerted volleys of orderly
musketeers. At length,
Hernando Pizarro, sensing the enemy falter, mustered his
cavaliers to his standard and spurred his horse into a charge. The Spanish cavalry sliced through native ranks with devastating effect. Within minutes, the Punians were in full rout.
The natives regrouped in the island's forests and thenceforth waged a
guerrilla war to some success, destroying Spanish provisions and waylaying several scouts. Two Spanish ships with reinforcements, however, under the notorious
Hernando de Soto, soon arrived by sea (with at least a hundred volunteers), and on these ships the Spaniards, bound for more fruitful conquests on the
Peruvian mainland, embarked without incident and sailed back towards Tumbes, arriving there on May 16th 1532.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Battle Of Pun'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://battle_of_pun_.totallyexplained.com">Battle of Puná Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
