Sayri Túpac and the Gradual End of the Vilcabamba Resistance

Sayri Túpac (c. 1535–1560) was the second ruler of the Neo-Inca State at Vilcabamba and the son of Manco Inca Yupanqui by his principal wife, Cura Ocllo. Sayri Túpac succeeded to the throne in 1544, after the assassination of his father, and he ruled the Neo-Inca State for thirteen years, until 1557, when he agreed to leave Vilcabamba, to be baptized as a Christian, and to accept an encomienda in the highland province of Yucay, north of Cusco. The agreement of 1557 was a personal one: Sayri Túpac abandoned the war but did not formally surrender the legitimacy of the Inca order, and the Spanish recognized his claim to the Inca title, although not to political power. The agreement marked the beginning of the end of the Vilcabamba resistance, although the Neo-Inca State continued to exist under Sayri Túpac’s brother Titu Cusi and then under Túpac Amaru I until 1572. The story of Sayri Túpac is significant for the light it throws on the way in which the Spanish were able to settle the conflict with the Neo-Inca State through a combination of military pressure, diplomacy, and bribery.

Background of Sayri Túpac’s rule

The assassination of Manco Inca

Sayri Túpac succeeded to the throne of the Neo-Inca State in 1544, after the assassination of his father Manco Inca Yupanqui by a group of Spanish-allied indigenous people. The assassination, which had been organized by the Spanish captain Pedro Martín de Sicilia, marked the end of the first phase of the Neo-Inca State, and it left the state in the hands of a child. The regency, which was exercised by a council of Inca nobles, included Cura Ocllo, the principal wife of Manco Inca and the mother of Sayri Túpac, and several senior Inca generals and administrators. The regency continued the resistance to the Spanish, and it maintained the Neo-Inca State as a focus for indigenous opposition to the colonial regime.

The regency was beset by internal divisions. Some of the Inca nobles favored a continuation of the war against the Spanish, while others favored a negotiated settlement. The Spanish, who were aware of the divisions within the Inca camp, attempted to exploit them by offering favorable terms to the moderates. The Spanish also attempted to mount a military campaign against the Neo-Inca State, but the campaigns of 1540 and 1544 were unsuccessful, and the Spanish were forced to accept the continued existence of the Neo-Inca State. The situation was, in effect, a stalemate, and the Spanish were unable to mount a coordinated campaign against Vilcabamba until the appointment of a more effective viceroy in the 1560s.

Sayri Túpac’s installation

Sayri Túpac was installed as Sapa Inca in 1545, at the age of about ten. The installation was performed in the Inca manner, with the mascapaicha — the royal fringe — being placed on his head, and with the senior Inca nobles swearing allegiance to him. The installation was attended by representatives of the indigenous allies of the Inca, including the Chachapoya of the cloud forest and the Cañari of southern Ecuador.

The Neo-Inca State under Sayri Túpac was a small polity, perhaps 30,000 to 40,000 people, in a remote and difficult country. The state was organized on the Inca model, with a Sapa Inca, a council of Inca nobles, and a system of labor extraction based on the mit’a. The state was, in effect, a continuation of the Inca state in exile, and it maintained many of the institutions of the pre-conquest order, including the cult of the Inti — the sun — and the mummification of the royal dead. The state launched raids into the highland provinces, and the Spanish were unable to suppress it.

The agreement of 1557

The Spanish approach

The Spanish had attempted to settle the conflict with the Neo-Inca State through a combination of military pressure, diplomacy, and bribery. The Spanish had launched several military campaigns against Vilcabamba, but the campaigns had been unsuccessful, and the Spanish were forced to accept the continued existence of the Neo-Inca State. The Spanish also attempted to bribe the Inca nobles, offering them favorable terms in exchange for their support. The Spanish, in particular, attempted to approach Sayri Túpac directly, offering him an encomienda in the highland province of Yucay, north of Cusco, in exchange for his agreement to leave Vilcabamba and to be baptized as a Christian.

The Spanish approach to Sayri Túpac was, in part, a response to the changing political situation in the central Andes. The Spanish had consolidated their control over the central highlands, and the demographic collapse of the Andean population had reduced the indigenous population to a small fraction of its pre-conquest size. The Spanish were also concerned about the rise of the silver mines of Potosí, which had been discovered in 1545 and which had become the principal source of silver in the world. The Spanish needed a stable colonial regime in order to exploit the silver mines, and the continued existence of the Neo-Inca State was a major obstacle to the consolidation of the colonial regime.

The terms of the agreement

The agreement of 1557 was negotiated over several years, with the Spanish represented by the Viceroy García de Castro and by the captain Pedro González de Taoso, and the Inca represented by Sayri Túpac and by his regents. The terms of the agreement were that Sayri Túpac would leave Vilcabamba, would be baptized as a Christian, and would accept an encomienda in the highland province of Yucay, north of Cusco. In exchange, the Spanish would recognize his claim to the Inca title, although not to political power, and he would be married to a Spanish woman, María Beatriz Coya, who was a member of a powerful Cusco family. The agreement was a personal one: Sayri Túpac abandoned the war but did not formally surrender the legitimacy of the Inca order, and the Spanish recognized his claim to the Inca title.

The agreement was controversial on both sides. The Spanish faction in Cusco, which had been fighting the Inca for many years, was opposed to the agreement, and it accused García de Castro of being too lenient. The Inca faction in Vilcabamba, which had been fighting the Spanish for many years, was also opposed to the agreement, and it accused Sayri Túpac of betraying the Inca cause. The agreement was, in effect, a compromise, and it illustrates the way in which the Spanish and the Inca were both capable of pragmatism and of concession.

The departure from Vilcabamba

Sayri Túpac left Vilcabamba in early 1558, accompanied by a small retinue of Inca nobles and by a Spanish escort. The departure was a formal event, and the Spanish accounts report that Sayri Túpac was received with great ceremony in Cusco, where he was baptized as a Christian and where he was given the encomienda in the Yucay valley. The Spanish also recognized his marriage to María Beatriz Coya, and the couple settled in the Yucay valley, where they built a palace and a chapel. The Spanish accounts report that Sayri Túpac lived in considerable state, and that he was treated as a person of high rank by the colonial regime.

The departure of Sayri Túpac from Vilcabamba was a major blow to the Neo-Inca State. The state, which had been the focus of indigenous resistance to the Spanish, was now without a Sapa Inca, and the succession was thrown into dispute. The regency in Vilcabamba attempted to maintain the state, and it recognized Sayri Túpac’s brother Titu Cusi as the new Sapa Inca. Titu Cusi, who had been raised in Vilcabamba and who had not been baptized, rejected the agreement of his brother and resumed the war against the Spanish. The Neo-Inca State, in effect, continued to exist, and the Spanish were forced to mount further campaigns against it.

The end of the agreement

Sayri Túpac’s death

Sayri Túpac died in 1560, in circumstances that are unclear. The Spanish accounts report that he died of natural causes, possibly of a fever, but the indigenous accounts suggest that he may have been poisoned by the Spanish faction in Cusco, which had opposed the agreement of 1557. The truth is uncertain, but the death of Sayri Túpac, in any case, marked the end of the agreement, and the question of the succession to the throne of the Neo-Inca State was thrown into dispute.

The death of Sayri Túpac was followed by a brief succession dispute in the Yucay valley. María Beatriz Coya, his widow, claimed the encomienda in the Yucay valley for herself and for her children, and the Spanish crown, in the form of the viceroy, confirmed her claim. The descendants of Sayri Túpac became a small landholding class within the colonial system, and they retained their claim to the Inca title, although not to political power. The descendants of Sayri Túpac are still living in the Cusco region, and they are recognized as members of the Inca nobility by the modern Peruvian state.

The continuation of the resistance

The death of Sayri Túpac did not mark the end of the Neo-Inca State. The state continued to exist under Titu Cusi, who had been raised in Vilcabamba and who had not been baptized, and who rejected the agreement of his brother. The Spanish, distracted by the silver discoveries at Potosí and the consolidation of the colonial regime, did not press a campaign into Vilcabamba during the 1560s, and the Neo-Inca State continued to exist.

Titu Cusi died in 1571, and his death was followed by a brief succession dispute. The new ruler was a younger brother of Titu Cusi, who took the dynastic name Túpac Amaru I. The new Sapa Inca was about twenty years old and lacked the political experience of his older brothers. The accession of Túpac Amaru I coincided with a change in the policy of the Spanish crown. The fifth viceroy of Peru, Francisco de Toledo, had been appointed in 1569, and he resolved to put an end to the Neo-Inca State once and for all. The viceroy assembled a force of about 250 Spanish soldiers and a large number of indigenous auxiliaries, and in April 1572 he sent it into the Vilcabamba region under the command of Martín García de Loyola. The campaign took several months, and the Spanish occupied the towns of Vilcabamba and captured the Inca court in late June 1572. Túpac Amaru, who had been betrayed by some of his own retainers, was taken prisoner and was brought to Cusco in chains.

The legacy of the agreement of 1557

The end of the active resistance

The agreement of 1557 marked the beginning of the end of the active resistance of the Neo-Inca State. The departure of Sayri Túpac from Vilcabamba removed a major figure of indigenous resistance, and the Spanish were able to exploit the divisions within the Inca camp to consolidate their control over the central Andes. The agreement also established a pattern that would be repeated in other Spanish colonial contexts: the colonial regime was able to settle conflicts with indigenous leaders by offering them favorable terms in exchange for their cooperation, and the indigenous leaders, in turn, were able to use the colonial regime to maintain their own positions.

The agreement of 1557 was significant, in the longer history of the Andes, for the way in which it divided the Inca nobility. The agreement was supported by the moderates, who favored a negotiated settlement with the Spanish, and it was opposed by the hardliners, who favored a continuation of the war. The division within the Inca nobility was, in effect, a continuation of the division that had been created by the civil war of succession between Huáscar and Atahualpa, and it illustrates the way in which the Spanish were able to exploit indigenous divisions to consolidate their own power.

The descendants of Sayri Túpac

The descendants of Sayri Túpac became a small landholding class within the colonial system, and they retained their claim to the Inca title, although not to political power. The descendants of Sayri Túpac are still living in the Cusco region, and they are recognized as members of the Inca nobility by the modern Peruvian state. The most famous of the descendants of Sayri Túpac is Túpac Amaru II, a descendant of the Inca royal family who led a major rebellion against the Spanish in 1780–1781. Túpac Amaru II claimed descent from Túpac Amaru I, the last Sapa Inca of the Neo-Inca State, and his rebellion was, in effect, a continuation of the resistance that had begun with Manco Inca in 1535.

The descendants of Sayri Túpac are significant for the way in which they illustrate the survival of the Inca royal line into the modern period. The Inca royal line, although it lost political power in 1572, retained a symbolic importance that the Spanish were unable to suppress, and the descendants of the Inca royal family continued to play a role in the political and cultural life of the Andes. The story of Sayri Túpac is, in effect, the story of the survival of the Inca royal line, and the descendants of the Inca are still living in the Cusco region today.