Túpac Amaru II
Encyclopedia
Túpac Amaru II was a leader of an indigenous uprising in 1780 against the Spanish in Peru
. Although unsuccessful, he later became a mythical figure in the Peruvian struggle for independence
and indigenous rights
movement and an inspiration to myriad causes in Peru
. He should not be confused with Túpac Katari
who led a similar uprising in the region now called Bolivia
at the same time.
who claimed to be a direct descendant of the last Inca ruler Túpac Amaru
. He had been honored by the Spanish authorities of Peru with the title of Marquis of Oropesa, a position that allowed him some voice and political leverage during Spanish rule. Between 1741 and 1780 Amaru II went into litigation with the Betancur family over the right of succession of the Marquisate of Oropesa and lost the case. In 1760, he married Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua
of Afro-Peruvian
and indigenous descent. Condorcanqui inherited the caciqueship, or hereditary chiefdom of Tungasuca and Pampamarca from his older brother, governing on behalf of the Spanish governor.
had been abolished in 1720, most Indians at the time living in the Andean region of what is now Peru, Ecuador
and Bolivia, who made up nine tenths of the population at the time, were still pushed into forced labor for what were legally labeled as public work projects. However, most natives worked under the supervision of a master either tilling soil, mining or working in textile mills. What little wage that was acquired by workers was heavily taxed and cemented Indian indebtedness to Spanish masters. The Roman Catholic Church
also had a hand in extorting these natives through collections for saints, masses for the dead, domestic and parochial work on certain days, forced gifts, etc. Those fortunate enough not to be subjugated to forced labor were subject to the Spanish provincial governors, or corregidores who also heavily taxed any free natives, similarly ensuring their financial instability.
Condorcanqui's interest in the Indian cause had been spurred by the re-reading of one the Royal Commentaries of the Incas
, a romantic and heroic account of the history and culture of the ancient Incas. The book was outlawed at the time by the Lima viceroy for fear of it inspiring renewed interest in the lost Inca culture and inciting rebellion. The marquis' native pride coupled with his hate for the oppressors of his people, caused him to sympathize and frequently petition for the improvement of Indian labor in the mills, farms and mines; even using his own wealth to help alleviate the taxes and burdens of the natives. After many of his requests for the alleviation of the native conditions fell on deaf ears, Condorcanqui decided to organize a rebellion. He began to stall on collecting reparto debts and tribute payments, for which the Tintan corregidor and governor Antonio de Arriaga threatened him with death. Feeling that his time was ripe, Condorcanqui changed his name to Túpac Amaru II and declared his lineage to the last Inca ruler Felipe Túpac Amaru.
was one of many indigenous Peruvian uprisings in the latter half of the 18th century, and its birth was marked by the capturing and killing of Tintan corregidor and governor Antonio de Arriaga on November 4, 1780. The event unfolded after both Túpac Amaru II and the governor Arriaga attended a banquet hosted by a priest. When governor Arriaga left the party in a drunken state, Túpac Amaru II and several of his allies captured him and forced him to write letters to a large number of Hispanics and curacas. When about 200 of them gathered within the next few days, Túpac Amaru II surrounded them with approximately 4,000 Indians. Claiming that he was acting under direct Spanish royal orders, Amaru II gave Arriaga's slave Antonio Oblitas the privilege of executing him. A platform in the middle of a local town plaza was erected, and the initial attempt at hanging the corregidor failed after the noose had snapped. He then ran for his life to try to reach a nearby church, but was not quick enough to escape being successfully hanged at the second attempt.
After the execution of the corregidor, Amaru II continued his insurrection. He organized an army of 6,000 Indians who had abandoned their work to join the revolt. As they marched towards Cuzco, the rebels occupied the provinces of Quispicanchis
, Tinta, Cotabambas
, Calca
, and Chumbivilcas
. After years of living under oppression, the rebels looted the Hispanic houses and killed their Spanish oppressors.
On November 18, 1780, Cuzco dispatched over 1,300 Hispanic and Indian loyalist troops. The two opposing forces clashed in the town of Sangarara
. It was an absolute victory for Amaru II and his native Indian rebels; all of the 578 Hispanic soldiers were killed and the rebels took possession of their weapons and supplies. The victory however, also came with a price. The battle revealed that Amaru II was unable to fully control his rebel followers, as they viciously slaughtered without direct orders. Reports of such violence and the rebels' insistence on the death of Hispanics eliminated any chances for a support by the Creole class. The victory achieved at Sangarara would be followed by a string of defeats. The most critical defeat came in Amaru II’s failure to capture Cuzco, which was fortified by a combined troop of loyalist Indians and reinforcements from Lima
. After subsequent skirmishes around the surrounding region, Amaru II and his rebels became surrounded between Tinta and Sangarara. A betrayal by two of his officers, colonel Ventura Landaeta and captain Francisco Cruz, sealed Amaru II's defeat and capture.
Amaru II was sentenced to a cruel execution. He was forced to bear witness to the execution of his wife, his eldest son Hipólito, his uncle Francisco, his brother-in-law Antonio Bastidas, and some of his captains before his own death. He was sentenced to be tortured and beheaded.
Preceding his own beheading, Túpac Amaru II had his tongue cut out and his limbs tied to four horses. Túpac Amaru was too strong to be killed in this fashion. Due to this, the method chosen to kill him was to behead him (as part of a failed attempt to quarter him) on the main plaza in Cuzco, in the same place his great-great-great-grandfather Túpac Amaru I had been beheaded. When the revolt continued, the Spaniards executed the remainder of his family, except his 12-year-old son Fernando, who had been condemned to die with him, but was instead imprisoned in Spain for the rest of his life. It is not known if any members of the Inca royal family survived this final purge. Amaru's body parts were strewn across the towns loyal to him, his houses were demolished, their sites strewn with salt, his goods confiscated, his relatives declared infamous, and all documents relating to his descent burnt. At the same time, on May 18, 1781, Incan clothing and cultural traditions, and self-identification as "Inca" were outlawed, along with other measures to convert the population to Spanish culture and government until Peru's independence as a republic. However, even after the death of Amaru, Indian revolt still overtook much of southern Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, as Indian revolutionaries captured Spanish towns and beheaded many inhabitants. In one instance, an Indian army under rebel leader Túpac Katari
besieged the city of La Paz
for 109 days before troops sent from Buenos Aires stepped in to relieve the city.
Although Túpac Amaru II's rebellion was not a success, it marked the first large-scale rebellion in the Spanish colonies and inspired the revolt of many native Indians and mestizos in the surrounding area. The rebellion gave the Natives a new state of mind, and set the stage for their support of Bolivar forty years later. They were now willing to join forces with anyone who opposed the hated Spanish. For all his sacrifice he was proclamated King of America. By contrast, the Peruvian creoles would prove to be South America's most conservative in the independence movement because some of them feared independence would leave them at the mercy of the Indian population. Some others co-owned businesses and land with the Spaniards and were doing really well, therefore they did not want to lose those interests in the event of a revolution.
Querrán romperlo y no podrán romperlo ("They will want to break him and won't be able to break him").
Querrán matarlo y no podrán matarlo ("They will want to kill him and won't be able to kill him").
Al tercer día de los sufrimientos, cuando se crea todo consumado, gritando: ¡LIBERTAD! sobre la tierra, ha de volver. ¡Y no podrán matarlo! ("On the third day of suffering, when it was believed everything was finished, screaming: FREEDOM! over the earth, he shall be back. And they won't be able to kill him!")
— Alejandro Romualdo
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. This historic process of military conquest was made by Spanish conquistadores and their native allies....
. Although unsuccessful, he later became a mythical figure in the Peruvian struggle for independence
Independence of Peru
The Peruvian War of Independence was a series of military conflicts beginning in 1809 that culminated in the proclamation of the independence of Peru by José de San Martín on July 28, 1821. During the previous decade Peru had been a stronghold for royalists, who fought those in favor of...
and indigenous rights
Indigenous rights
Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the preservation of their land, language, religion and other elements of cultural...
movement and an inspiration to myriad causes in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. He should not be confused with Túpac Katari
Tupac Katari
Túpac Katari or Catari , born Julián Apasa Nina, was a leader in the rebellions of indigenous people of Bolivia against the Spanish Empire in the early 1780s....
who led a similar uprising in the region now called Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
at the same time.
Biography
Túpac Amaru II was born José Gabriel Condorcanqui in Surimana, Tungasuca, in the province of Cuzco, and received a Jesuit education at the San Francisco de Borja School, although he maintained a strong identification with the indigenous population. He was a mestizoMestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
who claimed to be a direct descendant of the last Inca ruler Túpac Amaru
Túpac Amaru
Túpac Amaru, also called Thupa Amaro , was the last indigenous leader of the Inca state in Peru.-Accession:...
. He had been honored by the Spanish authorities of Peru with the title of Marquis of Oropesa, a position that allowed him some voice and political leverage during Spanish rule. Between 1741 and 1780 Amaru II went into litigation with the Betancur family over the right of succession of the Marquisate of Oropesa and lost the case. In 1760, he married Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua
Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua
Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua , was an important figure and a martyr for Peruvian independence. She is remembered for the enunciation of her clear political position towards independence with her declaration “For the liberty of my people, I have renounced everything...
of Afro-Peruvian
Afro-Peruvian
Afro Peruvians are citizens of Peru mostly descended from African slaves who were brought to the Western hemisphere with the arrival of the conquistadors towards the end of the slave trade.-Early history:...
and indigenous descent. Condorcanqui inherited the caciqueship, or hereditary chiefdom of Tungasuca and Pampamarca from his older brother, governing on behalf of the Spanish governor.
The Corregidores and the Exploitation of the Natives
Although the Spanish trusteeship labor system, or encomiendaEncomienda
The encomienda was a system that was employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas to regulate Native American labor....
had been abolished in 1720, most Indians at the time living in the Andean region of what is now Peru, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
and Bolivia, who made up nine tenths of the population at the time, were still pushed into forced labor for what were legally labeled as public work projects. However, most natives worked under the supervision of a master either tilling soil, mining or working in textile mills. What little wage that was acquired by workers was heavily taxed and cemented Indian indebtedness to Spanish masters. The Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
also had a hand in extorting these natives through collections for saints, masses for the dead, domestic and parochial work on certain days, forced gifts, etc. Those fortunate enough not to be subjugated to forced labor were subject to the Spanish provincial governors, or corregidores who also heavily taxed any free natives, similarly ensuring their financial instability.
Condorcanqui's interest in the Indian cause had been spurred by the re-reading of one the Royal Commentaries of the Incas
Comentarios Reales de los Incas
The Comentarios Reales de los Incas is a book written by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, the first mestizo writer of colonial Andean South America...
, a romantic and heroic account of the history and culture of the ancient Incas. The book was outlawed at the time by the Lima viceroy for fear of it inspiring renewed interest in the lost Inca culture and inciting rebellion. The marquis' native pride coupled with his hate for the oppressors of his people, caused him to sympathize and frequently petition for the improvement of Indian labor in the mills, farms and mines; even using his own wealth to help alleviate the taxes and burdens of the natives. After many of his requests for the alleviation of the native conditions fell on deaf ears, Condorcanqui decided to organize a rebellion. He began to stall on collecting reparto debts and tribute payments, for which the Tintan corregidor and governor Antonio de Arriaga threatened him with death. Feeling that his time was ripe, Condorcanqui changed his name to Túpac Amaru II and declared his lineage to the last Inca ruler Felipe Túpac Amaru.
Rebellion
Túpac Amaru II's rebellionRebellion of Túpac Amaru II
The Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II was an uprising of native and mestizo peasants against the Bourbon reforms in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru...
was one of many indigenous Peruvian uprisings in the latter half of the 18th century, and its birth was marked by the capturing and killing of Tintan corregidor and governor Antonio de Arriaga on November 4, 1780. The event unfolded after both Túpac Amaru II and the governor Arriaga attended a banquet hosted by a priest. When governor Arriaga left the party in a drunken state, Túpac Amaru II and several of his allies captured him and forced him to write letters to a large number of Hispanics and curacas. When about 200 of them gathered within the next few days, Túpac Amaru II surrounded them with approximately 4,000 Indians. Claiming that he was acting under direct Spanish royal orders, Amaru II gave Arriaga's slave Antonio Oblitas the privilege of executing him. A platform in the middle of a local town plaza was erected, and the initial attempt at hanging the corregidor failed after the noose had snapped. He then ran for his life to try to reach a nearby church, but was not quick enough to escape being successfully hanged at the second attempt.
After the execution of the corregidor, Amaru II continued his insurrection. He organized an army of 6,000 Indians who had abandoned their work to join the revolt. As they marched towards Cuzco, the rebels occupied the provinces of Quispicanchis
Quispicanchi Province
Quispicanchi Province is one of thirteen provinces in the Cusco Region in the southern highlands of Peru.-Boundaries:* North: Paucartambo Province and Madre de Dios Region* East: Puno Region* South: Canchis Province...
, Tinta, Cotabambas
Cotabambas Province
The Cotabambas Province is a province located in the Apurímac Region of Peru.-Boundaries:*North: Cusco Region*East: Cusco Region*South: Cusco Region*West: Abancay Province, Grau Province, Antabamba Province.-Political division:...
, Calca
Calca Province
Calca Province is one of thirteen provinces in the Cusco Region in the southern highlands of Peru.-Political division:The province is divided into eight districts , each of which is headed by a mayor...
, and Chumbivilcas
Chumbivilcas Province
The province of Chumbivilcas is situated in the Andes in South Peru. The Inca called it "Chumpiwillka" .- Rivers :The most important rivers of the area are Rio Velille and Rio Santo Tomás, both springs of Apurímac River.-Population :...
. After years of living under oppression, the rebels looted the Hispanic houses and killed their Spanish oppressors.
On November 18, 1780, Cuzco dispatched over 1,300 Hispanic and Indian loyalist troops. The two opposing forces clashed in the town of Sangarara
Battle of Sangarará
The Battle of Sangarará was fought on November 18, 1780 in Sangarará, Viceroyalty of Peru, between rebel forces under Túpac Amaru II and Spanish colonial forces under Tiburcio Landa. Túpac Amaru II's forces won decisively.-Background:...
. It was an absolute victory for Amaru II and his native Indian rebels; all of the 578 Hispanic soldiers were killed and the rebels took possession of their weapons and supplies. The victory however, also came with a price. The battle revealed that Amaru II was unable to fully control his rebel followers, as they viciously slaughtered without direct orders. Reports of such violence and the rebels' insistence on the death of Hispanics eliminated any chances for a support by the Creole class. The victory achieved at Sangarara would be followed by a string of defeats. The most critical defeat came in Amaru II’s failure to capture Cuzco, which was fortified by a combined troop of loyalist Indians and reinforcements from Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
. After subsequent skirmishes around the surrounding region, Amaru II and his rebels became surrounded between Tinta and Sangarara. A betrayal by two of his officers, colonel Ventura Landaeta and captain Francisco Cruz, sealed Amaru II's defeat and capture.
Preceding his own beheading, Túpac Amaru II had his tongue cut out and his limbs tied to four horses. Túpac Amaru was too strong to be killed in this fashion. Due to this, the method chosen to kill him was to behead him (as part of a failed attempt to quarter him) on the main plaza in Cuzco, in the same place his great-great-great-grandfather Túpac Amaru I had been beheaded. When the revolt continued, the Spaniards executed the remainder of his family, except his 12-year-old son Fernando, who had been condemned to die with him, but was instead imprisoned in Spain for the rest of his life. It is not known if any members of the Inca royal family survived this final purge. Amaru's body parts were strewn across the towns loyal to him, his houses were demolished, their sites strewn with salt, his goods confiscated, his relatives declared infamous, and all documents relating to his descent burnt. At the same time, on May 18, 1781, Incan clothing and cultural traditions, and self-identification as "Inca" were outlawed, along with other measures to convert the population to Spanish culture and government until Peru's independence as a republic. However, even after the death of Amaru, Indian revolt still overtook much of southern Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, as Indian revolutionaries captured Spanish towns and beheaded many inhabitants. In one instance, an Indian army under rebel leader Túpac Katari
Tupac Katari
Túpac Katari or Catari , born Julián Apasa Nina, was a leader in the rebellions of indigenous people of Bolivia against the Spanish Empire in the early 1780s....
besieged the city of La Paz
La Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
for 109 days before troops sent from Buenos Aires stepped in to relieve the city.
Although Túpac Amaru II's rebellion was not a success, it marked the first large-scale rebellion in the Spanish colonies and inspired the revolt of many native Indians and mestizos in the surrounding area. The rebellion gave the Natives a new state of mind, and set the stage for their support of Bolivar forty years later. They were now willing to join forces with anyone who opposed the hated Spanish. For all his sacrifice he was proclamated King of America. By contrast, the Peruvian creoles would prove to be South America's most conservative in the independence movement because some of them feared independence would leave them at the mercy of the Indian population. Some others co-owned businesses and land with the Spaniards and were doing really well, therefore they did not want to lose those interests in the event of a revolution.
Quotations
Querrán volarlo y no podrán volarlo ("They will want to blow him up and won't be able to blow him up").Querrán romperlo y no podrán romperlo ("They will want to break him and won't be able to break him").
Querrán matarlo y no podrán matarlo ("They will want to kill him and won't be able to kill him").
Al tercer día de los sufrimientos, cuando se crea todo consumado, gritando: ¡LIBERTAD! sobre la tierra, ha de volver. ¡Y no podrán matarlo! ("On the third day of suffering, when it was believed everything was finished, screaming: FREEDOM! over the earth, he shall be back. And they won't be able to kill him!")
— Alejandro Romualdo
Alejandro Romualdo
Alejandro Romualdo is a Peruvian poet of the 20th century. His best known work is the Song of Tupac Amaru, exalting the revolutionary spirit of that 18th century leader. This poem won a Peruvian National Prize for Poetry in 1997...
In Peru
- During the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces (1968–1980), Túpac Amaru was selected by militaryMilitary of PeruThe Peruvian Armed Forces are the military services of Peru, comprising independent Army, Navy and Air Force components. Their primary mission is to safeguard the country's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity against any threat...
leaders as the symbolic representation for the ideals behind the Peruvian Revolution. - The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary MovementTúpac Amaru Revolutionary MovementThe Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement was a Marxist revolutionary group active in Peru from the early 1980s to 1997 and one of the main actors in the internal conflict in Peru...
(MRTA) is a PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian Marxist-LeninistMarxism-LeninismMarxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
insurgent group, which became known worldwide for their involvement in the Japanese embassy hostage crisisJapanese embassy hostage crisisThe Japanese embassy hostage crisis began on 17 December 1996 in Lima, Peru, when 14 members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement took hostage hundreds of high-level diplomats, government and military officials and business executives who were attending a party at the official residence of...
.
In novels
In the book, Inca Gold, by Clive Cussler, one of the main villains named himself Tupac Amaru and claims to be a descendant of the real Túpac Amaru.Around the world
- The TupamarosTupamarosTupamaros, also known as the MLN-T , was an urban guerrilla organization in Uruguay in the 1960s and 1970s. The MLN-T is inextricably linked to its most important leader, Raúl Sendic, and his brand of social politics...
(also known as the National Liberation Movement), was the informal name of an urban guerilla that was active in the 1960s and early 1970s in UruguayUruguayUruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. The name was also direct influence of Túpac Amaru II and its ideals. - American rapper Tupac Amaru ShakurTupac ShakurTupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
(2Pac) was named after him. - Polish reggaeReggaeReggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
music band NDK in their song Mafija mentions Túpac Amaru II's death as an example of Catholicism's cruelty.