By the time Francisco Pizarro landed in Peru in 1532, European diseases had already spread to the region in other areas of Spanish contact in Central and South America, and was deadly to the Inca population. Pizarro tricked Atahualpa, the Incan emperor, into believing he came for peace. After a warm welcome by the Incas, Francisco and his troops ambushed them, killed thousands of Incas, and captured Atahualpa. The Incas gave them gold in exchange for Atahualpa, but Pizarro killed Atahualpa and took the gold. The went on to capture the capital of Cusco and rename it Lima. By 1537, Spain was in control of the Inca Empire. Bartolome de Las Casas was a protector to the Native Americans, and often wrote about the horrors the Spanish committed to the Natives. He was against enslavement of Native Americans and the system the encomienda, where the Spanish government gave out land grants to Spanish settlers, who forced Native Americans to work on their mines and fields.After the European conquest, the natives were subjects to Spain, and were treated as second class