Túpac Amaru II

19 March 1738 – 18 May 1781

Túpac Amaru II (1738-1781), born José Gabriel Condorcanqui, was an indigenous cacique who led the largest uprising against Spanish colonial rule in the Americas, the Great Rebellion of 1780-1781 in the Viceroyalty of Peru. Claiming descent from the last Inca emperor Túpac Amaru, he mobilized tens of thousands against colonial abuses before being captured and brutally executed in Cusco. He later became an enduring symbol of indigenous resistance and Peruvian independence.

Comparing
Compare

Lived at the same time

Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Túpac Amaru II.

Life events

Born José Gabriel Condorcanqui in Surimana, Viceroyalty of Peru
19 March 1738

He was born in the village of Surimana in the Cusco region, into a family of hereditary indigenous nobility claiming descent from the Inca emperor Túpac Amaru.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Educated at the Jesuit school of San Francisco de Borja in Cusco
c. 1749

He received a formal education at the school for sons of indigenous nobles, learning Spanish and Latin alongside his native Quechua.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Married Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua
25 May 1760

His wife Micaela Bastidas became a key leader and strategist of the later rebellion.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relationship ✓
Became kuraka (hereditary chief) of Surimana, Tungasuca, and Pampamarca
c. 1766

He inherited the chieftainship of three districts and worked as a muleteer and merchant while pressing legal claims for indigenous rights.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Launched the Great Rebellion by capturing corregidor Antonio de Arriaga
4 November 1780

He seized the Spanish corregidor of Tinta, beginning the largest anti-colonial uprising in Spanish American history.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Other ✓
Executed corregidor Arriaga and proclaimed the abolition of colonial abuses
10 November 1780

Arriaga was publicly executed at Tungasuca, and Túpac Amaru II issued proclamations against the mita, forced sales, and other colonial exactions.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Other ✓
Defeated Spanish forces at the Battle of Sangarará
18 November 1780

His forces destroyed a colonial militia column at Sangarará, an early victory that swelled the rebellion's ranks.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Failed siege of Cusco
December 1780 – January 1781

His forces besieged Cusco but could not take the city, a turning point after which royalist forces gained the upper hand.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Other ✓
Captured by royalist forces after betrayal
6 April 1781

Defeated near Checacupe, he was betrayed by an officer and handed over to the Spanish along with his family.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Other ✓
Executed in the Plaza de Armas of Cusco
18 May 1781

After witnessing the execution of his wife and eldest son, he was quartered and beheaded by Spanish colonial authorities.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓