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Secondary sourcePainting1851

Spanish Army Led by Pizarro Crosses the Andes

Miranda · 1851

An 1851 engraving from a Spanish edition of Prescott's history showing Pizarro's soldiers marching through the Andes in 1533.

Depicts Pizarro's army crossing the Andes during his 1533 campaign to conquer the Inca Empire.

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Black and white engraving of a mountain pass. Armored horsemen and spearmen in helmets, some carrying round shields, march along a rocky path toward a dark rugged mountain. A signature 'Miranda' appears at lower left.
Engraving signed 'Miranda,' Spanish Army Led by Pizarro Crosses the Andes, in Prescott's History of the Conquest of Peru, Spanish edition, 1851.

About this source

What it is

This engraving appeared in the 1851 Spanish edition of William H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Peru. It depicts Spanish soldiers under Francisco Pizarro crossing the Andes mountains in 1533, signed 'Miranda.'

Why it matters

Made over three centuries after the event, the image reflects how 19th-century book illustrators pictured the hardships of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. It helped shape popular ideas about Pizarro's campaign for readers of Prescott's widely read history.

Look closer

  • What details show the difficulty of the terrain the soldiers are crossing?
  • What might the illustrator have wanted readers to feel about this expedition?
  • What is missing from this image about the people whose land the soldiers were crossing?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Francisco Pizarro on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Valverde urging Atahualpa to convert

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Verdadera relación de la conquista del Perú

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Black-and-white ink line drawing with a bold Spanish caption across the top reading Conquista and Atahualpa, Ciudad de Caxamarca. A robed friar with a cross faces a kneeling Inca man, while a crowd of Spanish soldiers with spears and Andean figures fills the scene.Painting

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