Francisco Pizarro's forces captured Atahualpa at Cajamarca in 1532 during an Inca civil war. Spanish armies and Indigenous allies occupied Cusco, while resistance continued from the Neo-Inca state at Vilcabamba until 1572. Disease, forced labour and colonial settlement transformed the Andes.

Quechua songs and dramas preserved memories of conquest, especially traditions surrounding Atahualpa's death. Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala created influential written accounts joining Andean memory with European forms.