Doña
Don (; ; pt, Dom, links=no ; all from Latin ', roughly 'Lord'), abbreviated as D., is an honorific prefix primarily used in Spain and Hispanic America, and with different connotations also in Italy, Portugal and its former colonies, and Croatia ...
Tomasa Ttito Condemayta Hurtado de Mendoza (1729 – 18 May 1781) was a leading force in the
indigenous uprising against the Spanish colonial rulers under
Tupac Amaru II
Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...
in the 18th century in Peru. She was
cacica
Cacica ( pl, Kaczyka, german: Kaczika) is a commune located in Suceava County, in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania. The commune is located in the central part of the county, from the town of Gura Humorului, from the city ...
of her people in the 1770s, the most powerful such ruler in her region. During the uprising, she served as both a strategist and a military officer. She was executed for her role in the rebellion alongside Tupac Amaru II, his wife
Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua, and their son Hipólito Condorcanqui Bastidas.
Personal life
Tomasa Tito Condemayta was born in 1729 to an Inca noble family in an area of Peru that is now the
Acomayo province
Acomayo Province is one of thirteen provinces in the Cusco Region in the southern highlands of Peru.
Geography
Some of the highest mountains of the province are listed below:
Political division
The province is divided into seven districts ( ...
in the
Cusco region
Cusco, also spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu suyu ), is a department and region in Peru and is the fourth largest department in the country, after Madre de Dios, Ucayali, and Loreto. It borders the departments of Ucayali on the north; Madre de D ...
.
Her parents were Sebastián Tito Condemayta,
kuraka
A ''kuraka'' (Quechua for the principal governor of a province or a communal authority in the Tawantinsuyu), or curaca (hispanicized spelling), was an official of the Inca Empire who held the role of magistrate, about four levels down from the Sa ...
of the Tito Condemayta
ayllu
The ''ayllu'', a family clan, is the traditional form of a community in the Andes, especially among Quechuas and Aymaras. They are an indigenous local government model across the Andes region of South America, particularly in Bolivia and Peru.
...
and godfather of Tupac Amaru II, and Alfonsa Hurtado de Mendoza.
Sources give contradictory information as to her domestic life. In a 2005 work, scholar David Garrett stated that she was married to Tomas Escalante and bore him a daughter, who wed the cacique of Papres, Evaristo Delgado.
In a 2008 article, Garrett stated that she was married to Faustino Delgado.
Unusually for the area, the Tito Condemayta ayllu embraced a lengthy hereditary rule, and Tito Condemayta became cacica of her people after her father, standing as the most powerful in the area.
Rebellion
When Tupac Amaru II and his wife
Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua called for a rebellion against Spanish rule in Peru in 1780, Condemayta left her husband and children to join the rebels in
Tinta. Her embrace of the rebellion was not universal within her family, as her son-in-law, Evaristo Delgado, remained loyal to the Spanish throne.
Condemayta played an important role in the rebellion. Together with Amaru, she mobilized indigenous women for the uprising. She was a military strategist as well as an officer leading her own women's
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
.
A wealthy woman, she also helped fund the rebellion, supplying silver and essential supplies.
In the
battle of Sangarara, a women's army under Condemayta's command defeated a Spanish army. She also led the successful defense of the bridge Pillpintuchaka on the
Apurimac against approaching Spaniards.
[Brewster, C. (2005). Women and the spanish-american wars of independence: An overview. ''Feminist Review,'' (79), 20-35.] Thousands of women fought using slingshots and arrows against armored Spanish soldiers. Under her command, her troops held the Pilpinto pass for over a month.
In 1781, fortunes turned to the much better-armed Spaniards, and on April 7, Condemayta was captured, along with Tupac Amaru II and Bastidas Puyucahua and their sons Hipólito and Fernando.
On May 18, 1781, Condemayta was executed after severe torture together with Tupac Amaru II and Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua and their son Hipólito Condorcanqui Bastidas in the main square of Cusco. She was the only native noble executed alongside the rebel leader.
After being asphyxiated slowly with a hand-cranked metal
garrote
A garrote or garrote vil (a Spanish word; alternative spellings include garotte and similar variants''Oxford English Dictionary'', 11th Ed: garrotte is normal British English spelling, with single r alternate. Article title is US English spellin ...
especially constructed for the occasion, she was hanged to ensure she was truly dead.
Her impaled head was set up as a deterrent in Acos.
References and notes
Further reading
* Jerome R. Adams: ''Notable Latin American Women. Twenty-Nine Leaders, Rebels, Poets, Battlers and Spies.'' McFarland & Co., Jefferson (North Carolina) 1995. "The Revolt of the Incas", p. 71.
* Juvenal Pacheco Farfán: ''Tomasa T'ito Condemayta, heroína de Acos: hito histórico y paradigm de liberación de la mujer.'' JL Editores, Cusco 2008.
* Juan José Vega: ''Micaela Bastidas y las heroinas tupamaristas''. Ediciones Universidad Nacional de Educación, Lima 1971. 23 pages.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Condemayta, Tomasa Tito
Women in 18th-century warfare
History of Peru
Indigenous activists of the Americas
1729 births
1781 deaths
18th-century Peruvian people
Women in war in South America
Executed revolutionaries
Peruvian revolutionaries
Executed Peruvian women
People executed by New Spain
18th-century executions by Spain
Native American women in warfare