“His Majesty’s Most Loyal Vassals”: The Indian Nobility and Tuúpac Amaru

On November 4, 1780, the cacique of Tungasuca, Don José Gabriel Túpac Amaru, seized Don Antonio de Arriaga, the Spanish governor of Tinta province (Peru), as he passed through the pueblo. For the next six days, Túpac Amaru held Arriaga prisoner, as a huge crowd assembled in the pueblo. Proclamations were read denouncing Arriaga’s abuses and claiming that “[t]hrough the King it has been ordered that there no longer be sales tax, customs, or the Potosí mita and that Don Antonio Arriaga lose his life because of his harmful behavior.”¹ Túpac Amaru forced Arriaga to send for weapons and money in order to arm the cacique and his followers. On November 10, Arriaga was hanged in front of the crowd; immediately after, the rebels headed north down the Vilcanota Valley toward the city of Cusco, sacking the great textile factory of Pomacanchis on their way. Caciques from nearby pueblos...