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Secondary sourceBook1885

The Land of the Incas and the City of the Sun

W. H. Davenport Adams · 1885

An 1885 popular biography telling the story of Francisco Pizarro and the conquest of Peru for general readers.

A biography telling the story of Pizarro's conquest of Peru and comparing him to other conquerors.

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About this source

What it is

Written by W. H. Davenport Adams and published in 1885, this book tells the story of Francisco Pizarro and the conquest of Peru for a general audience.

Why it matters

The preface compares Pizarro unfavorably to Hernando Cortés, calling him an inferior commander and statesman, which shows how historians of the time judged and ranked the conquistadors against one another.

Look closer

  • Why might an author compare Pizarro to another conqueror rather than judge him alone?
  • What does the quoted poem at the start suggest about how Pizarro was remembered in literature?
  • How does the author's admitted opinion of Pizarro affect how we should read the rest of the book?

This book 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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