Túpac Amaru (c. 1554–1572)
Túpac Amaru (c. 1554–1572)
Túpac Amaru (b. c. 1554; d. 1572), Inca emperor during early colonial period (1571–1572). Túpac Amaru, the third son of Manco Inca, reigned briefly as emperor of the Inca rump state in the last Inca capital of Vilcabamba, in the montaña region of eastern Peru. He was crowned in 1571; the next year the Spanish took the city of Vilcabamba, and Túpac Amaru and his family were captured. Taken to Cuzco, he was condemned to death and executed in the main plaza before a huge crowd of Indians. He was the last of the Inca emperors, and his death extinguished the dynasty. He has remained, nevertheless, a potent symbol of resistance and rebellion in Peru even to the present day. His name has been used by various left-wing guerrilla groups.
See alsoIncas, The .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Burr Cartwright Brundage, The Lords of Cuzco: A History and Description of the Inca People in Their Final Days (1967).
John Hemming, Conquest of the Incas (1970).
Gordon F. McEwan