Inca Manco , son of Huayna Cápac, survived the fierce repression of Atahualpa's generals against the Cuzco nobility and was hidden in the jungles of Vilcabamba. With Huáscar and Atahualpa dead, he appeared at the Spanish camp in Jaquijahuana with a group of noblemen from Cuzco, being received with great courtesy by Francisco Pizarro. He sought the support of the legitimate Cuzco aristocracy and for this he did not hesitate to leave Calcuchimac, one of Atahualpa's generals, in the hands of Manco Inca. After rescuing Cuzco from the Quito occupation, Pizarro crowned Manco Inca as sovereign and later helped him fight the forces of Quizquiz, who intended to reconquer the imperial city. The campaign reached the north of Jauja, where the Quito troops had withdrawn, and Manco Inca fought there alongside Hernando de Soto, definitively defeating his rivals.
Manco Inca Rebellion
Returning to Cuzco, Manco Inca was surprised that the attitude of the Spaniards had completely changed and friendly treatment had been replaced by rape, looting, robbery, torture and humiliation. Manco Inca himself was chained three times, having to pay his ransom in gold and deliver his sister to Gonzalo Pizarro. Disillusioned with the Spaniards, he began to conspire and managed to flee from Cuzco, gathering 40,000 soldiers and surrounding the city at the end of April 1536. The Spanish cavalry played an important role in the defense, but could not contain the thrust of the troops. Cuzco, who attacked night and day. Little by little they tightened the siege, reaching the Spaniards to control only the main square and its surroundings. Meanwhile, Manco Inca dispatched an army under the command of Titu Yupanqui to attack Lima.
Spanish troops were immobilized in Cuzco for seven days, after which Hernando Pizarro decided to go on the offensive and attack the fortress of Sacsayhuaman. After two attempts and at the cost of numerous lives, he managed to dislodge the Inca hosts. Manco Inca initially took refuge in Calca and then, considering that he should reorganize his army, he repelled to Ollantaytambo. Despite having broken the siege of Cuzco, clashes between the two factions took place daily and Hernando Pizarro knew that the only way to end the rebellion was to capture its leader. To this end he put together a new expedition made up of 60 horsemen and 30 foot soldiers, followed by thousands of indigenous auxiliary Indians. Near Ollantaytambo he divided his army to carry out a two-pronged attack, but his surprise was great when Manco Inca, in a skillful maneuver, left both armies isolated. The battle was a true carnage in which the indigenous auxiliaries of the Spanish took the worst part . After that defeat Hernando Pizarro was successively harassed both in the city of Cuzco and in its surroundings, where the Hispanic hosts went in search of food, and thus there were clashes in Canchis, Jaquijahuana, Chincheros where the Spaniards were successively defeated. Cunningly, Manco Inca learned the handling of western weapons, thanks to the instructions of Spanish prisoners of war and in the following combats he was seen on horseback .
In March 1537 Diego de Almagro returned from his unsuccessful expedition to Chile and unsuccessfully tried to reach an agreement with the rebel Inca. In reality, Almagro's objective was to win the support of Manco Inca and expel the Pizarros from Cuzco. Being Manco Inca in Ollantaytambo he had news of the failure of the siege of Lima and how his captains were defeated in the central highlands; he then considered it prudent to retire to Vilcabamba, from where he undertook a guerrilla war, destroying the caravans that traveled between Cuzco and Lima. In order to contain these attacks, the Spanish found it necessary to found the city of San Juan de la Frontera de Huamanga.
Over the years, Manco Inca deployed a more flexible policy and gave shelter to Spanish almagristas who were fleeing the repression of the Pizarros. In 1544 he was assassinated in his refuge in Vilcabamba for the almagristas whom he had generously hosted.