The Journey

First time to the “New World”

After living in Panama for a few years Pizarro chance to explore south America started in 1522 with a man named Pascual de Andagoya. Pascual de Andagoya was the first man to explore western south America, he learned about a gold rich territory in place called Viru from the natives. He set out to explore there but soon became very sick and had to turn around. When he got back to Panama he started to spread the news about the gold rich territory, and this caught the attention of Pizarro.  

It 1524 when Pizzaro heard the news about the gold, and immediately started to go after it. He became partners with a priest named Hernando de Luque, and a soldier named Diego de Almagro. They agreed to share what they find equally between all of them including any land they might discover. They made a plane and everybody had a job;  Pizarro would lead the expedition, Almagro would get military crew and the food, and Luque would be in charge of finances.

First Major Expedition

On September 13th 1524 an expedition to Peru left from Panama with Pizarro in charge. The governor of Panama, Pedro Arias Dávila really wanted this expedition to be a success and was pushing it as much as he could, but once the ship got to Colombia they had some bad luck. They ended up with a lot of bad weather, lack of food, and fights with natives in the land. All these events forced for the ship to turn around and Pizarro's first expedition was a failure.

Second Major Expedition

In 1526, two years after the first expedition to Peru, Pizarro was planning another trip that they were confident was going to work. The problem was that the governor wasn't as willing to do this as he was the first time. Fortunately for them at the same time Pedro de los Ríos took Pedro Arias Dávila place and became the new governor. He supported the three’s wishes and got them sent off to Peru in August 1526.

When Pizarro got to the Colombian coast he took half of the crew to explore the new land, and the other half went with Almagro; Pizarro’s second in command, back to Panama for reinforcements and supplies. The land there was very swampy, so Pizarro didn't find much in the new territory and he and his men got tired of searching soon. A little later Almagro came back with the reinforcements and supplies, so everyone got on the ships and continued to sail south. Soon they came to Atacames in the Ecuadorian coast, and found some natives there called the Incas. These people seemed like a threat to them so Pizarro and his crew returned back to Panama.