The Inca and Peruvian nobleman José Gabriel Túpac Amaru (1742-1781) was the leader of the largest Native American revolt in the Americas. He was a man of sufficient learning, had a passion for reform, and hated injustice.

Túpac Amaru was born in Tinta south of Cuzco, Peru. He was young when his father died, but two uncles became his guardians and gave him the best possible education. At the age of ten he went to Cuzco to study in the Jesuit College of San Francisco de Borja, built for Native American boys of noble birth. He read Latin readily and spoke Spanish correctly and Quechua with grace. He married Michaela Bastidas Puyuahua, a pure-blooded Spaniard from Abancay. From this marriage he had three sons--Hipólito, Mariano, and Fernando.

When Túpac Amaru's oldest brother, Clemente, died, he inherited the caciqueship of...