Conquistador and Explorer. Hernando Pizarro y de Vargas was a Spanish conquistador and one of the Pizarro brothers who ruled over Peru. Hernando was born in Trujillo, Spain, son of Captain Gonzalo Pizarro y Rodríguez de Aguilar (senior) – who as colonel of infantry served in the Italian campaigns under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, and in Navarre, with some distinction – and wife Isabel de Vargas. As one of the Pizarro brothers, he was related to Francisco, Juan, and Gonzalo Pizarro. Through his father, he was a second cousin of Hernán Cortés. Starting in 1532 and succeeding in 1533, Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire and claimed what we know today as Peru for Spain. In the 16th century the Incas were conquered by the Spaniards, Hernando Pizarro writes a letter to the royal audience of Santo Domino about the expedition. Hernando Pizarro wrote this letter on November 1533. Hernando Pizarro starts his letter by explaining how the government founded a town called San Miguel and then proceeded to search for the town of Cajamarca whose rulers have been fighting. Hernando Pizarro was a very intellectual man with a great appreciation for his surroundings, one of the many reasons for why his part in conquering the Inca Empire with his brother, Francisco Pizarro, was essential. In 1530 Hernando departed for the New World with his half-brother, Francisco Pizarro, and accompanied him during his conquests in Peru. In 1533, Hernando was sent back to Spain with the royal fifth for the Emperor. Charles confirmed Francisco Pizarro's previous grants, extending them seventy leagues further south, and then gave Francisco's partner, Diego de Almagro, a grant two hundred leagues further south. When he returned to Peru, he ruled with his other half-brothers (Juan and Gonzalo Pizarro) over the prized Inca capital of Cuzco. Governing with an iron fist, he helped with the eventual suppression of Inca uprisings led by Manco Inca. After Diego de Almagro returned from Chile from a fruitless gold-seeking expedition, he found that Hernando and his brothers were in control of Cuzco. However, as he had not obtained any credit for having been Francisco Pizarro's main partner in discovering Peru, he decided to claim Cuzco as part of his share. Almagro seized the city in 1537, capturing Hernando and Juan. Hernando was eventually released after negotiations between Almagro and Francisco, and in 1538 he and Gonzalo returned with an army to confront Almagro. In the ensuing Battle of Las Salinas, the Pizarros won a decisive victory, capturing Almagro and the city. The execution of Almagro later that year and the general disorder caused by the Spanish infighting caused substantial fallout in the Spanish court. Hernando was again called upon to leverage his royal contacts: in 1539 he returned to Spain to lobby in favor of the Pizarros. Their perceived treachery was too great, however, and despite Hernando's bribery, he was imprisoned for the next twenty years, from June 1541 until May 1561, in the Castle of La Mota. He then lived in his Trujillo palace until his death in 1578.