Túpac Amaru II Rebellion Begins

November 4, 1780

A mestizo descendant of the Inca emperors, Tupac Amaru II, seized and hanged a colonial magistrate in the Peruvian altiplano. Within weeks he led tens of thousands of Quechua peasants in a revolt that nearly took Cuzco. The Spanish crushed it brutally; Tupac Amaru was drawn and quartered in Cuzco's main plaza.