Tupac Amaru inherited the position of ruler of the Incas in 1570 when the former ruler, Titu Cusi, was poisoned and killed by Friar Diego Ortiz, a Catholic murderer. Tupac Amaru was brought up in the Incan convent of Vilcabamba, the religious university of the Incas. He was passionately opposed to the Christian church and the Spanish occupation of Incan territory. In Vilcabamba all symbols of Christianity were disposed of and the churches were totally annihilated. Amaru rose up against the Spaniards in Vilcabamba; they were all killed off and the borders of the city were closed to outsiders.

Communication between the Spaniards outside of Vilcabamba and those inside ceased, and there was no apparent reason why. Three envoys were sent to contact the Incas, but were all turned away at the city’s border. The third messenger was killed by an Incan captain, and word of this quickly reached the Viceroy, Francisco de Toledo in Cuzco. He declared war on the province of Vilcabamba on April 14, 1572, and the heavily armed Spaniards and natives quickly advanced on the Incas towards Vilcabamba. The fighting slowed, and the search began for Amaru himself. He was finally captured and arrested along with his pregnant wife in mid-September.

On September 21, the two were marched back to Cuzco with chains of gold around their necks. Tupac was then baptized and forced to convert to Christianity before he was framed and found guilty of the murder of Friar Diego Ortiz and sentenced to death. Before 10,000 to 15,000 onlookers, Tupac Amaru hugged his children one last time in the city square, and lowered his head to the executioner who took his hair in one hand and swiftly cut off his head in one chop. His remains were buried in the Church built upon the remains of Coricancha, the Incan monument to the sun.

Two centuries later, Tupac Amaru’s grandson Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, labeled Tupac Amaru II led another Incan uprising against the Spaniards. His rebellion was quickly caught and the Spaniards sentenced him to death. His body was drawn and quartered in Cuzco in 1781 in the same location his grandfather was beheaded two centuries prior. Other revolts followed, but were quickly ended by the more powerful Spaniards.