Francisco Pizarro González (1476 or 1478 - 1541), who was distantly related to Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, began his conquest of the Inca Empire in present-day Peru in 1532. Significantly outnumbered, he was able to seize the empire thanks to the clumsiness of his opponent, the Inca king Atahualpa. In 1541, the conquistador fell victim to a murder plot by rivals. The translator and writer Arthur Schurig (1870 - 1929) authored a series of novels and stories and was the editor of the anthology "The Conquest of Mexico by Ferdinand Cortés," which serves as a counterpart to his biographical novel about Pizarro.