Gonzo’s Quest:Theres a murderer on the reels

So you love your Gonzo’s Quest free spins right? But did you know that Gonzo’s Quest, is based on a brutal, ruthless conquistador, Gonzalo Pizarro, known for raping and pillaging native Inca people in his quest for El Dorado,The City of Gold.Who is this Gonzalo Pizarro & how has he been transformed into a hero figure in this NetEnt Slot?

We look at some of the points that defined the life of Gonzalo Pizarro and summarise his life and examine how his NetEnt character is now fun moonwalking Gonzo from the Gonzo’s Quest Slot.

Gonzalo Pizarro was born 1513 and was one of the most cruel & ruthless conquistadors during the conquest of the Inca people.

The Pizarro brothers

Gonzalo Pizarro had four brothers, Francisco who was the oldest & a leader in the prospects of finding the New World, Hernando, Juan and  Francisco Martín de Alcántara.

The older Francisco had been very successful in conquering New Lands and was very well known in Panama.

It was Francisco’s desire to find the rumoured wealth which was often talked about in South America that led him and his brothers in search of El Dorado, The City of Gold.

The Pizarro brothers conquer the Inca

The Pizarro brothers conquered the Inca tribe and captured their Emperor Atahualpa  in 1533 after a bloody ambush that left many of the Inca Emperors people  brutally killed.

Emperor Atahualpa was held for ransom and many porters arrived with gold and silver to pay for the Emperors freedom.

Francisco only trusted his brothers and this was the time that Gonzalo became really significant in the conquests.

Emperor Atahualpa was eventually assassinated by Gonzalo and his brothers fearing that there would be retaliation for his capture.

The brothers then marched on Cuzco and completed the conquest of the Inca People.

(Francisco Pizarro captures the Inca Emperor Atahualpa, inspite of ransom being paid, the Pizarro brothers assasinated him anyway.) 

Gonzalo Pizarro and Emperor Manco

After assasinating Atahualpa there was a need to have a new Inca to keep the natives at peace so the Spanish chose Manco, brother of the assassinated Emperor to be the new Inca.

Manco would perform the normal rituals and prayers that were  expected of an Emperor but  received no respect from the Spanish and was regarded their puppet.

Their hate and disrespect for Manco was based on the fact that they believed he knew where the City of Gold was located.

Gonzalo Pizarro was the most ruthless towards Manco.

In 1535, when him and his brother Juan were left in charge of Cuzco they & some Spanish soldiers decided tostart taking high ranking Inca women as concubines.

Gonzalo took  Cura Ocllo, the wife of Manco as his personal concubine.

Manco eventually escaped in 1536 and led a rebellion against the Spanish.

It was unsuccessful and many Inca died.

Gonzalo was called in to finish off what was left of the Inca Rebellion and being the ruthless murderer he was, ordered the right hands of over 200 prisoners of war to be cut off.

(A modern day Inca woman) 

Gonzallo Pizarro and the Land of Cinnamon

It is not a very well known story that a great deal of lives were lost during the great exploration in search for the Valley of Cinnamon. This fateful expedition was led by Gonzalo Pizarro.

On a mission in search for the precious spice, Gonzalo Pizarro led his men through the cultivated lands that existed in the vast flat country (which we now refer to as the Amazon Basin) which lay east of the mountains. In the first couple of weeks of his expedition, Gonzalo retraced the steps of his predecessor, General Pineda, and travelled through a forest of wild “cinnamon” trees. It is here that Gonzalo and his men captured some native Indians and demanded that they reveal the route to the “great valley” where more of these cinnamon trees grew rich and thick. The native Indians responded that they knew nothing of this. An enraged Gonzalo, thinking that he was being deceived, had the natives tortured in an attempt to get to the truth. Many Indians died under his torturous hands, while others were thrown to feed Gonzalo’s hunting dogs.

Gonzalo and his troop soon came across another Indian headman who promised them that the great valley was somewhere further in the distance. This helpful informant was soon forced to accompany the group and lead the way. This informant managed to escape the wrath of Gonzalo Pizarro. Though the Indian headman provided helpful and reassuring information about the existence of the great Valley of Cinnamon, Gonzalo and his men failed to find this paradise. Historians have speculated that this failure may have partly been due to the Indian headman finding out about the fate of the previous villages that Gonzalo had pillaged and destroyed, and wanting his neighbours to escape from the same fate.

 (Cinnamon was a much desired spice as it was used as a meat preservative. There were no fridges at that time so cinnamon & other spices became high value commodities.)

The New Laws

In June of 1541, Gonzalo Pizarro was the only Pizarro brother left, Juan was killed in batlle, Hernando was imprisoned for the murder of a former partner of Francisco( Diego de Almagro) and Francisco Pizarro and Francisco Martín de Alcántara were murdered in Lima.

The King of Spain after hearing of all the brutalitly towards the natives introduced New Laws in 1542 which gave some protection to the natives and ended the “Encomienda” which was responsible for sharing of land and native slaves to those who were involved in the conquests.

Gonzalo Pizarro becomes Master of Peru

The King of Spain sent a viceroy Blasco Núñez Vela and a Spanish legion to ensure that the New Laws were adhered to.

This angered Gonzallo and him and other conquistadors banded together killing Vela in the Battle of Añaquito on January 18, 1546.

Gonzalo Pizarro then became the Master of Peru.

Gonzallo Pizarros rule in Peru was especially brutal against his own people during his rule of Peru.

During his reign he killed over 300 Spanish who he thought were opposed to his rule and was convinced that his rebellion against the New Laws was justified as they would have meant him and his soldiers losing all their land and Inca slaves they had acquired after battles.

However some Spanish soldiers who felt that Gonzallo had been unjust and cruel to his own people joined up with a Spanish soldier Pedro de la Gasca and his army and fought a hard battle with Gonzallo in April 9, 1548 at the Battle of Jaquijahuana.

Gonzalo was captured during the battle and was executed the next day.

(This is an artists illustration of El Dorado, The Lost City of Gold. The city was a mere myth and was never found.) 

Summary of the Life of Gonzalo Pizarro

The Pizarro brothers were some of the bloodiest and most brutal conquistadors who attacked the native Inca people in a bid to take all their wealth.

They raped many Inca women and high priestesses and pillaged their villages, killing everyone who came into their path opposing their mission.

Gonzalo Pizarro was recorded as being the most ruthless of the brothers and the one who was the least intelligent having gone against the decree of the New Laws imposed by the Spanish King which inadvertently led to a 3 year war and  made Gonzalo Master of Peru from 1546-1548.

Many historians have said that the rise of Gonzalo Pizarro shows how the Spanish in the 1500’s would reward those who were seen as great soldiers and thrived during battles and as such Gonzalo was a mere product of those times.

However it cannot be ignored the bloody legacy that Gonzallo has left behind.

So the riveting question is why.

Why did Net Entertainment, one of the best casino gaming providers allow a game to be made after such a terrible person?

Was it just poor research from their Researchers?

Was the game sanctioned by top management blindly before knowing all the facts?

Should you still play Gonzo’s Quest?

You be the judge!

Gonzo’s Quest slot free play

Sources:

Dalby, Andrew. Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. Vol(1)No. 2 (Spring 2001), pp. 40-49.University of California Press.http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/gfc.2001.1.2.40

Hemming, John. The Conquest of the Inca London: Pan Books, 2004 (original 1970).

Silverberg, Robert. The Golden Dream: Seekers of El Dorado. Athens: the Ohio University Press, 1985.

Burkholder, Mark and Lyman L. Johnson. Colonial Latin America. Fourth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

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