Impossible Dreams, Improbable Deeds — Pizarro and the Conquest of the Incas

500 years ago, two worlds met: utterly alien, unknown, unsuspected to one another.  Three men decisively shaped that encounter and its legacy for succeeding generations. In this final lecture, Pizarro and conquest of the Incas are explored.

The decade after Cortés conquered Mexico, his cousin Pizarro invaded Peru.  He found, exploited, and then extended a native civil war which was to go on for decades.

Pizarro’s ruthless success and penchant for bloody excess led to desperate Inca resistance and internecine Spanish fighting. He kidnapped the Inca, Atahualpa, ransomed him for a roomful of gold, then once sated with gold and silver, executed him anyway. Pizarro was eventually assassinated by the son of his former business partner, whom he had betrayed and executed earlier.

Herbert Gooch is professor emeritus of political science at California Lutheran University. He formerly served as director of the Masters in Public Policy and Administration program and assistant provost for Graduate Studies at Cal Lutheran. A graduate of UC Berkeley in history, he holds an MBA in management and both master's and doctoral degrees in political science from UCLA. 

Registration is required. Each independent, 2-hour lecture is $10.

Fifty and Better was designed to offer university-level courses and lectures (no tests, no homework) taught by experts in the field, and to host social engagement activities for people age 50 and older. All two-hour lectures in the FABulous Summer Lecture Series are open to all ages.

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Register by Aug. 4 by 3 p.m.