Sayri Túpac was an Inca ruler in Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

. He was a son of siblings Manco Inca Yupanqui

Manco Inca Yupanqui

Manco Inca Yupanqui was one of the Incas of Vilcabamba. He was also known as "Manco II" and "Manco Cápac II" . Born in 1516, he was one of the sons of Huayna Cápac and came from a lower class of the nobility.Túpac Huallpa, a puppet ruler crowned by conquistador Francisco Pizarro, died in 1533...

 and Cura Ocllo

Cura Ocllo

Cura Ocllo was the wife and sister of Manco Inca Yupanqui, puppet and later remnant ruler of the Inca Empire from 1533 until his death in 1544...

. After the murder of his mother in 1539 and his father in 1544, both by the Spaniard conquerors, he became the ruler of the independent Inca state of Vilcabamba

Vilcabamba

Vilcabamba may refer to:* Vilcabamba, Peru* Vilcabamba, Ecuador, town in the province of Loja, Ecuador* "Vilcabamba" , a 2010 Science Fiction story by Harry Turtledove...

. He ruled until 1560.

Sayri Tupac's father Manco, the last ruling Inca emperor, had attempted to reach an accommodation with the Spanish conquistador

Conquistador

Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...

s. He was crowned emperor in 1534 by Francisco Pizarro

Francisco Pizarro

Francisco Pizarro González, Marquess was a Spanish conquistador, conqueror of the Incan Empire, and founder of Lima, the modern-day capital of the Republic of Peru.-Early life:...

. However, his cooperation was severely tested by mistreatment at the hands of Francisco's brothers Gonzalo

Gonzalo Pizarro

Gonzalo Pizarro y Alonso was a Spanish conquistador and younger paternal half-brother of Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of the Inca Empire...

, Juan

Juan Pizarro

Juan Ramon Pizarro Cordova is a former major league baseball pitcher.-Milwaukee Braves:Juan Pizarro signed with the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent in 1956. After going 27-6 with a 2.06 earned run average in the minors, he made his major league debut on May 4, 1957 against the Pittsburgh...

 and Hernando

Hernándo Pizarro

Hernando Pizarro y de Vargas was a Spanish conquistador and one of the Pizarro brothers who ruled over Peru...

, whom Francisco had temporarily left in charge in Cuzco

Cusco

Cusco , often spelled Cuzco , is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cuzco Province. In 2007, the city had a population of 358,935 which was triple the figure of 20 years ago...

. Manco escaped from the city and raised a large army of Inca warriors.

During the civil war between Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro

Diego de Almagro

Diego de Almagro, , also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo , was a Spanish conquistador and a companion and later rival of Francisco Pizarro. He participated in the Spanish conquest of Peru and is credited as the first European discoverer of Chile.Almagro lost his left eye battling with coastal...

, Manco fought with the latter, besieging Cuzco for ten months but failed to take the city. After the defeat of Almagro, Manco retreated to Vilcabamba, inviting some of Almagro's supporters to take refuge with him. They did so, but then killed him, in front of Sayri Túpac and another of Manco's sons.

Sayri Túpac was five years old at the time. He became Inca in Vilcabamba, reigning for ten years with the aid of regents. This was a time of peace with the Spanish. Viceroy Pedro de la Gasca

Pedro de la Gasca

Pedro de la Gasca was a Spanish bishop, diplomat and the second viceroy of Peru, from April 10, 1547 to January 27, 1550....

 offered to provide Sayri Túpac with lands and houses in Cuzco if he would emerge from the isolated Vilcabamba. Sayri Túpac accepted, but during the preparations his relative Paullu Inca

Paullu Inca

Paullu Inca was the Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire after the previous Sapa Inca, Manco Inca Yupanqui, rebelled against the Spanish and relocated the empire to Vilcabamba....

 suddenly died. This was taken as a bad omen (or a sign of Spanish treachery), and Sayri Tupac remained in Vilcabamba.



In 1556 a new Spanish viceroy, Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, 3rd Marquis of Cañete

Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, 3rd Marquis of Cañete

Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza y Cabrera, 3rd Marquis of Cañete was a Spanish military officer and, from June 29, 1556 to his death on March 30, 1561, the fifth Viceroy of Peru.-Origins and military career:...

, arrived in the colony. Although the Inca in Vilcabamba was no longer ruler of an Indigenous empire, he was still ruler of an independent native state. Like Viceroy Gasca before him, Hurtado believed it would be safer for the Spanish if Sayri Tupac could be enticed to live in the area of Spanish settlement, where the conquistadors could control him.

The negotiations took time, but Sayri Túpac did agree to leave Vilcabamba. He traveled in a rich litter with 300 attendants. On January 5, 1560 he was received amicably by Viceroy Hurtado in Lima. Sayri Túpac renounced his claim to the Inca Empire and accepted baptism, as Diego. In return he received a full pardon, the title of Prince of Yucay, and great estates with rich revenues. He became resident in Yucay, a day's journey northeast of Cuzco. Significantly, he left behind the royal red fringe, symbol of his authority. In Cuzco, he married his sister Cusi Huarcay after receiving a special dispensation from Pope Julius III

Pope Julius III

Pope Julius III , born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was Pope from 7 February 1550 to 1555....

. They had a daughter. Sayri Túpac never returned to Vilcabamba.

He died suddenly in 1561. His half-brother Titu Cusi Yupanqui took control of Vilcabamba and the Inca resistance to the Spanish. Titu Cusi suspected that Sayri Túpac had been poisoned by the Spanish.