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José Gabriel Condorcanqui Noguera (March 8-24, 1738 – May 18, 1781) — known as Túpac Amaru II  — was the leader of a large Andean uprising against the Spanish in Peru, whose quelling resulted in his death. He later became a mythical figure in the Peruvian struggle for independence and indigenous rights movement, as well as an inspiration to myriad causes in Spanish America and beyond.

Young Life
Túpac Amaru II was born José Gabriel Condorcanqui Noguera between the dates of March 8th and March 24th in Surimana, Tungasuca, in the province of Cusco, to Miguel Condorcanqui Usquionsa Tupac Amaru, kuraka of three towns in the Tinta district, and María Rosa Noguera. Shortly after his birth, he was baptized in his childhood home and then baptized again on May 1st by priest Santiago José Lopez in a church in Tungasuca. Túpac Amaru II grew up in the Vilcamayu Valley where he enjoyed a childhood deeply influenced by his natural surroundings and outgoing persona. Amaru II also frequently accompanied his father to temple and community festivals, such as markets and parades.

At age 16, Túpac Amaru II was sent to the San Francisco de Borja School, founded to educate the sons of kurakas. There he received a Jesuit education that "impressed upon him his social standing as future kuraka and someone of royal Inca blood." At age 22, he married Micaela Bastidas. Shortly after his marriage, Amaru I's father passed away, making him the next kuraka of Tungasuca and neighboring communities. As with his father, he was both the head of several Quechua communities and a regional merchant and muleteer, inheriting 350 mules from his father's estate. His regional trading gave him contacts in many other indigenous communities and access to information about economic conditions and other concerns. His personal contacts and knowledge of the region were later to aid him during the rebellion of 1780-81.

Rebellion
The Túpac Amaru rebellion was an Inca revival movement that sought to improve the rights of indigenous Peruvians suffering under the Spanish Bourbon Reforms. The rebellion was one of many indigenous Peruvian uprisings in the latter half of the 18th century. It began with the capture and killing of the Tinta Corregidor and Governor Antonio de Arriaga on November 4, 1780, after a banquet attended by both Túpac Amaru II and Governor Arriaga.

When Arriaga left the party drunk, Túpac Amaru II and several of his allies captured him and forced him to write letters to a large number of Spaniards and kurakas. When about 200 of them gathered within the next few days, Túpac Amaru II surrounded them with approximately 4,000 natives. Claiming that he was acting under direct orders from the Spanish Crown, Amaru II gave Arriaga's slave Antonio Oblitas the privilege of executing his master. A platform in the middle of a local town plaza was erected, and the initial attempt at hanging the corregidor failed when the noose snapped. Arriaga then ran for his life to try to reach a nearby church, but was not quick enough to escape, and was successfully hanged on the second attempt.

After the execution of de Arriaga, Amaru II continued his insurrection. Releasing his first proclamation, Tupac Amaru II announced, "that there have been repeated outcries directed to me by the indigenous peoples of this and surrounding provinces, outcries against the abuses committed by European-born crown officials... Justified outcries that have produced no remedy from the royal courts" to all the inhabitants of the Spanish provinces. He went on in the same proclamation to state, "I have acted ... only against the mentioned abuses and to preserve the peace and well-being of Indians, mestizos, mambos, as well as native-born whites and blacks. I must now prepare for the consequences of these actions." Tupac Amaru II then went on to quickly assemble an army of 6,000 natives 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. The rebels looted the Spaniards' houses and killed their occupants. The movement was supremely anti-royalist since, upon arriving at a town the rebels would upturn Spanish authority.

This revolt had all started as a protest towards the colonial’s government for the racist treatment towards the indigenous people of the Andean region. However, women also played a major role in the revolt in 1780-81. “Women, as much as men, were affected by these injustices.” In fact, Tupac Amaru II’s wife, Michaela Bastidas, commanded a battalion of insurgents and was responsible for the uprising in the San Felipe de Tungasuca region. She is also often credited to being more daring and a superior strategist, compared to Túpac Amaru II. It is told that she scolded her husband for his weakness and refusal to set up a surprise attack against the Spaniards in Cuzco to catch the inferior city off guard. Instead of listening to his wife, Túpac Amaru II lost precious time by encircling the country in hopes that he could gather more recruits for his army. So, by the time the insurgents had attacked the city, the Spaniards had already brought in reinforcements and were able to control and stop the uprising. This led to Túpac Amaru II, Micaela Bastidas, and several others to be captured while the rebels scattered.

During a stage of his rebellion, Túpac Amaru II was able to convince the Quechua speakers to join him. Therefore, under his command, the Quechua speakers fought alongside him with Aymara-speaking rebels from Puno on Lake Titicaca and on the Bolivian side of the lake. Unfortunately, the alliance did not last that long and this led the Aymara leader, Túpac Katari, to lead his army alone which ultimately led to his capture in October 1781. His partner and female commander, Bartola Sisa, took control after his capture and lead an astonishing amount of 2,000 soldiers for several months. Soon after that in early 1782, the Spanish military defeated the rebels in Peru and Bolivia. According to modern sources, out of the 73 leaders, 32 were women, who were all executed privately, suggesting that they were sexually exploited till their end. This also suggests that those native tribal Indians had better gender equality than those elite European white christians.

On November 18, 1780, Cuzco dispatched over 1,300 Spanish and Native loyalist troops. The two opposing forces clashed in the town of Sangarará. It was an absolute victory for Amaru II and his Native rebels; all 578 Spanish 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 Spaniards eliminated any chances for support by the Criollo class. The victory achieved at Sangarará would be followed by a string of defeats. The gravest defeat came in Amaru II’s failure to capture Cuzco, where his 40,000 – 60,000 indigenous followers were repelled by the fortified town consisting of a combined force of loyalist Native troops and reinforcements from Lima. "After being repelled from the capital of the ancient Inca empire and intellectual hub of colonial Peru" Amaru and his men marched through the countryside attempting to recruit any native to his cause, in doing so bolstering his forces. Amaru II’s army was surrounded between Tinta and Sangarara and he was betrayed by two of his officers, Colonel Ventura Landaeta and Captain Fransico Cruz, which led to his capture. When his captors attempted to procure the names of his rebel accomplices from him in exchange for promises, Amaru II scornfully replied "There are no accomplices here other than you and I. You as oppressor, I as liberator, deserve to die."

Death
On May 18, 1781, Túpac Amaru II was forced to bear witness to the execution of his wife Micaela Bastidas and his family before he himself was sentenced to death in Cuzco's central plaza. To torture and kill Túpac Amaru II, Spanish authorities cut out his tongue, tied his limbs to four horses, and then ordered the horses to run away from one another to pull his body apart. Since the horses failed to do so, the Spanish cut off Amaru II's head instead and spread his remains throughout Peru.

The following is an extract from the official judicial death issued by the Spanish authorities which condemns Túpac Amaru II to torture and death. "...to four horses who will then be driven at once toward the four corners of the plaza, pulling the arms and legs from his body. The torso will then be taken to the hill overlooking the city... where it will be burned in a bonfire... Tupac Amaru's head will be sent to Tinta to be displayed for three days in the place of public execution and then placed upon a pike at the principal entrance to the city. One of his arms will be sent to Tungasuca, where he was the cacique, and the other arm to the capital province of Carabaya, to be similarly displayed in those locations. His legs will be sent to Livitica and Santa Rosas in the provinces of Chumbivilcas and Lampa, respectively."

- Sarah C. Chambers