Túpac Amaru II

Túpac Amaru II (1738–1781), born José Gabriel Condorcanqui near Cusco, was an indigenous kuraca and mule trader who claimed descent from the last Incas of Vilcabamba. He inherited his father's chieftainship. When the colonial authorities ignored his petitions against indigenous tribute and the mining mita, he seized and executed the corregidor Antonio de Arriaga in November 1780.

His rebellion spread from Peru into Upper Peru, and on 16 November he decreed the abolition of slavery, the first such measure in Spanish America. Betrayed after failing to take Cusco, he was beheaded and quartered in the main square on 18 May 1781.