Túpac Amaru II Challenges Colonial Rule

In November 1780, José Gabriel Condorcanqui, an indigenous kuraka claiming descent from the Inca royal line, launched a major insurrection in the southern Andean highlands. Taking the name Túpac Amaru II, he seized and executed Antonio de Arriaga, the royal magistrate of Tinta, before issuing proclamations demanding an end to the abusive colonial mita labor drafts and the abolition of slavery. The uprising drew heavily on long-standing native grievances and widespread resistance to the Bourbon Reforms, which had heightened colonial sales taxes and redirected the vital revenues of the Potosí silver mines away from Lima and toward Buenos Aires.

The revolt quickly swept across the southern Peruvian plateau, drawing thousands of Quechua, Aymara, and mestizo participants alongside several sympathetic creoles. Crucial military leadership was provided by Micaela Bastidas, Túpac Amaru's wife, who directed fortifications and supply networks, as well as female commanders like Tomasa Tito Condemayta, who led an insurgent battalion. Rebel forces achieved an early triumph at the Battle of Sangarará in mid-November 1780, consolidating control over the countryside around Cusco. However, against Bastidas's urging to attack the colonial regional capital immediately, Túpac Amaru marched south toward Lake Titicaca to rally additional communities enduring mining drafts, giving royalist officials vital time to reinforce the city.