Francisco PizarroFrancisco PizarroThe quintessential "conquistador", Pizarro served in the Spanish troops' Italian campaigns and came to America in 1502. He accompanied Balboa in the discovery of the Pacific Ocean and in 1524, together with Diego de Almagro tried to conquer Perú. He failed, went back to Spain and was commissioned by the Emperor Carlos I. In 1531 he, 180 men and 3 ships returned to Perú where he captured, imprisoned and executed the Inca Atahualpa who had just ended a fraticidal war with Huáscar. He founded the City of Kings, Lima in 1535. He died in Lima in 1541