Francisco de Carvajal

Who was Francisco de Carvajal?

Francisco de Carvajal was a Spanish military officer, conquistador, and explorer remembered as "the demon of the Andes" due to his brutality and uncanny military skill in the Peruvian civil wars of the 16th century.

Carvajal's career as a soldier in Europe spanned forty years and a half-dozen wars. Fighting in Spain's Imperial armies—the famous tercios—he served under Charles V's principal commanders in the Italian Wars: Pedro Navarro, Fabrizio Colonna, and the illustrious Gran Capitán, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba. He took part in the memorable Spanish victory at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 and acquired a small fortune when the Imperial armies sacked Rome two years later.

In the 1540s, the octogenarian Carvajal travelled to the Spanish West Indies and from there accepted a military commission with the Pizarro brothers in Peru, eventually backing Gonzalo Pizarro's unsuccessful rebellion against the officials of the Spanish Crown. Carvajal proved a tireless soldier and successful strategist. He was ultimately captured in battle by royalist forces on April 9, 1548 and executed at the age of 84.