Tupac Amaru I Executed — End of Inca Resistance

Viceroy Francisco de Toledo invades Vilcabamba with a large force, capturing the last Sapa Inca, Tupac Amaru I. Despite pleas from church authorities and Lima's city council for mercy, Toledo orders Tupac Amaru publicly beheaded in Cusco's main plaza before a crowd of thousands of indigenous people. Many Inca nobles weep. His execution ends the independent Inca state but fails to end indigenous political consciousness — Tupac Amaru becomes a martyr, and his name is taken by the 18th-century rebel José Gabriel Condorcanqui.