José Gabriel Condorcanqui (Túpac Amaru II) and allies captured the corregidor of Tinta, Antonio de Arriaga, launching the uprising’s first open challenge to Bourbon colonial authority in the central-southern Andes.
After several days held prisoner, Arriaga was executed in front of a large crowd—an act that transformed the protest against local abuses into a widening anti-colonial insurrection.
Túpac Amaru II issued a proclamation calling for the emancipation of enslaved Afro-Peruvians and Africans, signaling an effort to broaden the rebellion’s appeal beyond indigenous communities.
Rebel forces decisively defeated Spanish colonial troops at Sangarará, a key early victory that boosted recruitment and helped the uprising spread around the Cusco region.
At Pillpinto, a small rebel force led by Tomasa Tito Condemayta defeated a militia detachment, helping prevent Spanish authorities from quickly capturing rebel leadership during the uprising’s initial expansion.
Rebel forces advanced on Cusco and initiated a siege, aiming to take the major administrative and symbolic center of the southern Andes; the failure to secure Cusco proved a turning point against the rebellion’s first phase.
Spanish defenders and loyalist forces held Cusco, and the rebel army withdrew—reducing the rebellion’s momentum and allowing the colonial state to concentrate larger military resources against rebel strongholds.
A major engagement at Combapata ended in royalist victory, intensifying the pursuit of Túpac Amaru II and contributing directly to the collapse of the rebellion’s first-phase military campaign.
Túpac Amaru II was captured and taken to Cusco after being betrayed by members of his own forces, enabling colonial authorities to stage a public trial and exemplary punishment intended to deter further rebellion.
With Túpac Amaru II dead, the rebellion continued under relatives and allies; Diego Cristóbal Túpac Amaru occupied the strategic town of Puno, shifting the center of conflict toward the Collao/Lake Titicaca region and sustaining insurgent operations into Upper Peru.
After interrogation and torture, colonial officials sentenced Túpac Amaru II (and key associates) to death, formalizing the Spanish strategy of public execution as a tool of counterinsurgency.
Túpac Amaru II was executed in Cusco after being forced to witness the executions of close relatives and allies, including Micaela Bastidas and Tomasa Tito Condemayta. The spectacle was designed to terrorize supporters, but it also cemented the rebellion’s lasting political memory.
Colonial authorities issued repressive measures after the Cusco executions, including prohibitions aimed at suppressing Andean cultural and political mobilization (e.g., restrictions on Quechua, indigenous dress, and Inca-related commemoration), reflecting the state’s attempt to prevent renewed revolt.
Negotiations at Sicuani culminated in Diego Cristóbal Túpac Amaru’s agreement to surrender under terms of general pardon, marking a major de-escalation in the central Andean theater (even as distrust and later reprisals persisted).
Túpac Amaru II rebellion in the central Andes (1780–1781)
