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As a historical geographer absorbed by what took place in Latin America during colonial times, most of my work, to date, has concentrated on Central America, Guatemala in particular. There the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado played a leading role in the subjugation of Indigenous Maya peoples. Alvarado also headed an ill-fated venture to muscle in on the conquest of Peru, attempting to wrest control from rival strongmen Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. A new research project will see me focus attention on this little-known episode, in which Alvarado came in contact with the Incas, who in the fifteenth century constructed the awesome citadel of Saqsaywaman above their capital, Cuzco. Not even its mighty hand-hewn walls, however, could hold off the Spanish advance.