Item: i117194

Authentic Coin of:

Peru
Tupac Amaru
1973 Silver 10 Soles 30mm (11.37 grams)  Rare Silver Issue
Reference: Cf KM# 258
BANCO CENTRAL DE RESERVA DEL PERU 1973, Coat-of-arms.
SESQUICENTENARIO DE LA INDEPENDENCIA DEL PERU TUPAC AMARU  10 DIEZ SOLES DE ORO, Tupac Amaru facing 3/4 right.

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Túpac  Amaru (1545 – 24 September 1572) was the last monarch (Sapa Inca)  of the Neo-Inca State, the remnants of the Inca Empire in Vilcabamba, Peru.  He was executed by the Spanish following a months-long pursuit after the  fall of the last stronghold of the Neo-Inca State.

The name is also  spelled Tupac, Topa, Tupaq, Thupaq, Thupa, or other similar variants, and Amaro instead of Amaru. It comes from Quechua Thupaq, “Royal” or “Shining”, and Amaru, “Serpent” (or a  mythological serpent-like being).

Following the Spanish conquest of  Peru in the 1530s, a few members of the royal family established the small  independent Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba, which was located in the  relatively inaccessible Upper Amazon to the northeast of Cusco. The founder  of this state was Manco Inca Yupanqui (also known as Manco Cápac II), who  had initially allied himself with the Spanish, then led an unsuccessful war  against them before establishing himself in Vilcabamba in 1540. After a  Spanish attack in 1544 in which Manco Inca Yupanqui was killed, his son  Sayri Tupac assumed the title of Sapa Inca (emperor, literally  “only Inca”), before accepting Spanish authority in 1558, moving to Cuzco,  and dying (perhaps by poison) in 1561. He was succeeded in Vilcabamba by his  brother Titu Cusi, who himself died in 1571. Túpac Amaru, another brother of  the two preceding emperors, then succeeded to the title in Vilcabamba.

At this time the Spanish were still unaware of the death of the previous Sapa Inca (Titu Cusi) and had routinely sent two ambassadors to  continue ongoing negotiations being held with Titu Cusi. They were both  killed on the border by an Inca captain.

Using the justification that  the Incas had “broken the inviolate law observed by all nations of the world  regarding ambassadors” the new viceroy, Francisco de Toledo, Count of  Oropesa, decided to attack and conquer Vilcabamba. He declared war on 14  April 1572. The first engagement of the war commenced in the Vilcabamba  valley on 1 June. The Inca people attacked first with much spirit despite  being only lightly armed. Again and again, they attempted to lift the siege  held by the Spanish and their native allies but each time they were forced  to retreat. On 24 June the Spanish entered Vilcabamba to find it deserted  and the Sapa Inca gone. The city had been entirely destroyed, and  the last remnants of the Inca Empire, the Neo-Inca State now officially  ceased to exist.

Túpac Amaru had left the previous day with a party of  about 100 and headed west into the lowland forests. The group, which  included his generals and family members, had then split up into smaller  parties in an attempt to avoid capture.

Three groups of Spanish  soldiers pursued them. One group captured Titu Cusi’s son and wife. A second  returned with military prisoners along with gold, silver and other precious  jewels. The third group returned with Túpac Amaru’s two brothers, other  relatives and several of his generals. The Sapa Inca and his  commander remained at large.

Following this, a group of forty  hand-picked soldiers under Martín García Óñez de Loyola set out to pursue  them. They followed the Masahuay river for 170 miles, where they found an  Inca warehouse with quantities of gold and the Inca’s tableware. The Spanish  captured a group of Chunco and compelled them to tell them what they had  seen, and if they had seen the Sapa Inca. They reported that he had  gone down river, by boat, to a place called Momorí. The Spaniards then  constructed five rafts and pursued them.

At Momorí, they discovered  that Tupac Amaru had escaped by land. They followed with the help of the  Manarí, who advised which path the Inca had followed and reported that Túpac  was slowed by his wife, who was about to give birth. After a fifty-mile  march, they saw a campfire around nine o’clock at night. They found the Sapa Inca Túpac Amaru and his wife warming themselves. They assured  them that no harm would come to them and secured their surrender. Túpac  Amaru was arrested.

The captives were brought back to the ruins of  Vilcabamba and together they were all marched into Cuzco on 21 September.  The invaders also brought the mummified remains of Manco Cápac and Titu Cusi  and a gold statue of Punchao, a representation of the Inca’s lineage  containing the mortal remains of the hearts of the deceased Inca kings.  These sacred items were then destroyed.

The five captured Inca generals received a summary trial and were sentenced  to death by hanging. Several had already died of torture or disease.

The trial of the Sapa Inca himself began a couple of days later.  Túpac Amaru was convicted of the murder of the priests in Vilcabamba. Túpac  Amaru was sentenced to be beheaded. It was reported in various sources in  1598 that numerous Catholic clerics, convinced of Túpac Amaru’s innocence,  pleaded to no avail, on their knees, that the Inca be sent to Spain for a  trial instead of being executed.

Many have argued that Viceroy Toledo,  in executing a head of state recognized by the Spanish as an independent  king, exceeded his authority and committed a crime within the political  ideas of his own time. Other claims have been made to the contrary — that  Túpac Amaru was in rebellion (his predecessors having allegedly accepted  Spanish authority), that Toledo had tried peaceful means to settle  differences, that three of his ambassadors to the Inca were murdered, and  that Túpac Amaru subsequently raised an army to resist the colonial army.  The King of Spain, Philip II, disapproved of the execution.

An  eyewitness report from the day recalls him riding a mule with hands tied  behind his back and a rope around his neck. Other witnesses reported there  were great crowds and the Sapa Inca was surrounded by hundreds of  guards with lances. In front of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo in the  central square of Cuzco a black-draped scaffold had been erected. Reportedly  10,000 to 15,000 witnesses were present.

Túpac Amaru mounted the  scaffold accompanied by the Bishop of Cuzco. As he did, it was reported by  the same witnesses that a “multitude of Indians, who completely filled the  square, saw that lamentable spectacle ] that their lord and Inca was to die,  they deafened the skies, making them reverberate with their cries and  wailing.”

As reported by eyewitnesses Baltasar de Ocampa and Friar  Gabriel de Oviedo, Prior of the Dominicans at Cuzco, the Sapa Inca  raised his hand to silence the crowds, and his last words were: “Ccollanan  Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yawarniy hichascancuta.” (“Pacha Kamaq, witness  how my enemies shed my blood.”)

Peru,  officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South  America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by  Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the west  by the Pacific Ocean. Peru is an extremely biodiverse country with habitats  ranging from the arid plains of the Pacific coastal region in the west to  the peaks of the Andes mountains vertically extending from the north to the  southeast of the country to the tropical Amazon Basin rainforest in the east  with the Amazon river.

Peruvian territory was home to several ancient cultures, ranging from the  Norte Chico civilization in the 32nd century BC, the oldest civilization in  the Americas, to the Inca Empire, the largest and most sophisticated state  in pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the  16th century and established a Viceroyalty that encompassed most of its  South American colonies, with its capital in Lima. Peru formally proclaimed  independence in 1821, and following the military campaigns of José de San  Martín and Simón Bolívar, and the decisive battle of Ayacucho, Peru secured  independence in 1824. In the ensuing years, the country enjoyed relative  economic and political stability, which ended shortly before the War of the  Pacific with Chile. Throughout the 20th century, Peru endured armed  territorial disputes, coups, social unrest, and internal conflicts, as well  as periods of stability and economic upswing. Alberto Fujimori was elected  to the presidency in 1990; his government was credited with economically  stabilizing Peru and successfully ending the Shining Path insurgency, though  he was widely accused of human rights violations and suppression of  political dissent. Fujimori left the presidency in 2000 and was charged with  human rights violations and imprisoned until his pardon by President Pedro  Pablo Kuczynski in 2017.

Peru  is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. It is  classified as an emerging market^[9] with a high level of human  development and an upper middle income level with a poverty rate around 19  percent. It is one of the region’s most prosperous economies with an average  growth rate of 5.9% and it has one of the world’s fastest industrial growth  rates at an average of 9.6%. Its main economic activities include mining,  manufacturing, agriculture and fishing; along with other growing sectors  such as telecommunications and biotechnology. The country forms part of The  Pacific Pumas, a political and economic grouping of countries along Latin  America’s Pacific coast that share common trends of positive growth, stable  macroeconomic foundations, improved governance and an openness to global  integration. Peru ranks high in social freedom and it has the third lowest  homicide rate in South America; it is an active member of the Asia-Pacific  Economic Cooperation, the Pacific Alliance, the Trans-Pacific Partnership  and the World Trade Organization; and is considered as a middle power.

Peru has a multiethnic population of over 31 million, which includes  Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. The main spoken language is  Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua, Aymara or  other native languages. This mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in  a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as art, cuisine, literature,  and music.