The Tupac Amaru Rebellion

by Charles F. Walker

Overview

The largest rebellion in the history of Spain's American empire—a conflict greater in territory and costlier in lives than the contemporaneous American Revolution—began as a local revolt against colonial authorities in 1780. As an official collector of tribute for the imperial crown, José Gabriel Condorcanqui had seen firsthand what oppressive Spanish rule meant for Peru's Indian population. Adopting the Inca royal name Tupac Amaru, he set events in motion that would transform him into Latin America's most iconic revolutionary figure.

Tupac Amaru's political aims were modest at first. He claimed to act on the Spanish king's behalf, expelling corrupt Spaniards and abolishing onerous taxes. But the rebellion became increasingly bloody as it spread throughout Peru and into parts of modern-day Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. By late 1780, Tupac Amaru, his wife Micaela Bastidas, and their followers had defeated the Spanish in numerous battles and gained control over a vast territory. As the rebellion swept through Indian villages to gain recruits and overthrow the Spanish corregidors, rumors spread that the Incas had returned to reclaim their kingdom.

Charles Walker immerses readers in the rebellion's guerrilla campaigns, propaganda war, and brutal acts of retribution. He highlights the importance of Bastidas—the key strategist—and reassesses the role of the Catholic Church in the uprising's demise. The Tupac Amaru Rebellion examines why a revolt that began as a multiclass alliance against European-born usurpers degenerated into a vicious caste war—and left a legacy that continues to influence South American politics today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674659995
Publisher:	Harvard
Publication date:	03/14/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	376
Sales rank:	482,931
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Charles F. Walker is the MacArthur Foundation Endowed Chair in International Human Rights and Director of the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas at the University of California, Davis.

Table of Contents

List of Maps xi

Introduction: The Execution of Antonio de Arriaga 1

1 The Andes in the Atlantic World 18

2 From Pampamarca to Sangarará 40

3 A World without the Catholic Church? 65

4 The Rebellion Goes South 86

5 The Siege of Cuzco 109

6 In Pursuit of Tupac Amaru 130

7 Torment 152

8 The Other Side of the Lake 168

9 Southern Campaigns 180

10 The Pardon and the Cease-Fire 202

11 The Rebellion in Limbo 219

12 Ordered by the Catholic King 243

Conclusion: The Legacy of Tupac Amaru 267

Chronology of the Rebellion 281

Notes 283

Acknowledgments 339

Index 341

Editorial Reviews

[This is] the first extended survey of the causes and the course of the Tupac Amaru rebellion to appear in English since 1966… [It] is a lucid and accessible survey in which Walker skillfully blends narrative with explanation to construct a harrowing story of violence and atrocities on an enormous scale… [It] will give Anglophone readers a perceptive and reliable account of the terrible events that occurred far away from what they naturally regard as the principal center of action at that time, the British North American colonies, a mere 322,000 square miles in size, as compared with an Andean surface area approaching two million.

New York Review of Books - J. H. Elliott

The history of Spain’s conquest and three-century grip on indigenous South America is rife with drama, but nowhere is that clash of cultures more vivid than in the story of Tupac Amaru II and his fierce, stubborn war for independence. Walker recreates the life of this remarkable eighteenth-century rebel with a bold sense of narrative and a careful eye for detail. Here is a fascinating study of the prevailing tensions of Tupac Amaru’s time—between conqueror and conquered, white and brown, city and mountain, Old World and New World—that still vex South America today.

Marie Arana

The Tupac Amaru rebellion began in the Spanish viceroyalty of Peru in 1780 and turned into the largest popular uprising in Spain’s imperial history. To this day, its impact resonates in modern Latin American politics. The rebellion receives masterly treatment from Walker.

Financial Times - Tony Barber

[This] is a coherent and thorough exploration of the causes, dynamics, and outcome of the insurgency. It sheds new light on many important topics and provides overarching interpretive frames… This book at least comes to attend to a very overdue and tangible need: a thoughtful, well-researched, and analytically sophisticated narrative of the most important indigenous insurrection in Andean history.

Hispanic American Historical Review - Sergio Serulnikov

The Tupac Amaru Rebellion was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, yet narrating it clearly and judiciously has evaded generations of Andean historians. Charles Walker seems to have broken the curse, and I have no doubt that this excellent book will instantly become the standard account.

Kris Lane

A masterly and authoritative history of the rebellion. Walker’s empathetic portraits of Tupac Amaru and Micaela Bastidas are nuanced and convincing, and his narrative account of the revolt is both elegantly and engagingly written. His book shows how and why the rebellion and its aftermath continue to reverberate in Andean society today.

Paulo Drinot

04/14/2014
Drawing on two historical collections, University of California-Davis history professor Walker explores the 1780 indigenous Peruvian uprising against Bourbon Spanish colonialism launched by Tupac Amaru II. Dismayed by the Bourbon reforms on the indigenous poor who suffered from tax increases, forced purchase of goods at inflated prices, and forced labor conscription into silver mines, the uprising's leader took the name of his alleged ancestor and the last Inca king. An absolute victory against the royalists in Sangarara in November 1780 was soon followed by a number of military defeats; atrocities committed by rebel and royalist troops; Amaru's demoralizing excommunication from the Catholic Church; and his 1781 capture, torture, and gruesome execution along with his wife, eldest son, and members of the revolt's inner circle. The rebellion continued after Tupac's death under various leaders until it was repressed in 1783 with more executions, deportations to Spain, and a campaign against Andean culture. Walker argues convincingly that Tupac Amaru's wife, Micaela Bastidas, was his fierce, full partner and confidante, running the rebel camp, overseeing provisions, keeping discipline, and rooting out spies. Although the writing lacks focus and sharpness, it's an interesting and accessible treatment of Peru's infamously vicious conflict and of its leader, who became a potent symbol for indigenous rights throughout Latin America. Illus. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-02-02
A solid new history of the Peruvian Indian revolutionary lays out the roots of his rebellion and its bitter legacy. Historian Walker (Univ. of Cal., Davis; Shaky Colonialism: The 1746 Earthquake-Tsunami in Lima, Peru, and Its Long Aftermath, 2008, etc.) admits that a "torrent of studies" exists on the Tupac Amaru rebellion, although most in Spanish and outdated. His straightforward account looks beyond the death of the rebel leader, on May 18, 1781, barely seven months after the start of the uprising, to the subsequent and bloodier foment led by his cousin Diego Cristobal and others during the next year. Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui Noguera (1738–1781) descended from the royal line near Cuzco; his forebear and namesake, Tupac Amaru, was executed by the conquering Spanish in 1572. His royal ancestry proved a galvanizing force to his leadership among the Quechua people, who believed that another Incan chief was destined to reappear. Inheriting the role of kuraka, or indigenous tax collector, from his father, he was a landowner and trader, educated and a speaker of Quechua and Spanish alike; he was well-liked and accepted by all classes. Yet, he was deeply sympathetic to the Indians, crushed under the Spanish taxes. Married to Micaela Bastidas, who was a full partner to Tupac's enterprises and eventually a proficient logistical leader of the rebellion, Tupac became radicalized after being defeated in the courts. Walker stresses the important role of the church leaders. While Tupac did not present a revolutionary platform, he underscored the injustice of the Spanish administrators and never deviated from his views that he acted on behalf of King Charles III. Ultimately, there was a total crackdown on the indigenous population and near obliteration of its language and culture. A readable, not-too-scholarly story of a significant moment in South American history.

Kirkus Reviews

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