Peru P135 500 Intis 1987 UNC—Túpac Amaru II Indigenous Rebel—Mt. Huascarán

Peru's 500-inti note is one of the most visually striking of the Inti series — pairing the face of the man who led the greatest indigenous uprising in the Americas with the snow-capped majesty of Huascarán, the highest peak in Peru.

Front

• Colors:
  • Warm amber/orange background; dark brown engraving on portrait; olive-green left panel with pre-Columbian geometric patterns; green coat of arms with sunburst; red serial number
• Portrait: José Gabriel Condorcanqui — Túpac Amaru II — right side, with long dark hair
• Center: Peruvian coat of arms
• Issuer name: BANCO CENTRAL DE RESERVA DEL PERÚ across top
• Denomination: "500" right border and lower right; "QUINIENTOS INTIS" at bottom
• Name inscription: JOSÉ GABRIEL CONDORCANQUI / TÚPAC AMARU II, lower right
• Signatures: Presidente, Director, Gerente General — see Other Characteristics below

Back

• Colors:
  • Olive/yellow-green throughout; dark brown/purple engraving on mountain scene; green pre-Columbian bird motif top left; green ceramic vessel lower right; olive "QUINIENTOS INTIS" banner at bottom
• Scene: Huascarán mountain (6,768 m / 22,205 ft) with Andean hiker in foreground
• Top left: Pre-Columbian condor/bird motif with geometric border
• Lower right: Pre-Columbian ceramic vessel
• Issuer name: BANCO CENTRAL DE RESERVA DEL PERÚ across top
• Denomination: "500" top left and lower right; "QUINIENTOS INTIS" bottom banner
• Printer imprint: CASA DE MONEDA Y TIMBRE, lower center

Other Characteristics

• Catalog numbers: P135; Numista N#203275
• Watermark: Túpac Amaru II
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 150 × 75 mm
• Issuing entity: Central Reserve Bank of Peru (Banco Central de Reserva del Perú)
• Printer: Casa de Moneda y Timbre, Spain
• Demonetized: 1 July 1991
• Currency: Inti (1985–1991)

Túpac Amaru II — The Last Inca Rebel

José Gabriel Condorcanqui (1738–1781), who took the name Túpac Amaru II in honor of the last Inca emperor, led the largest and most violent indigenous uprising against Spanish colonial rule in the history of the Americas. In 1780, he captured and executed the Spanish governor Arriaga, then raised an army of tens of thousands across the Andes. At its peak, his rebellion threatened to overturn 250 years of Spanish colonial order. The Spanish response was overwhelming: he was captured in 1781, forced to watch the execution of his wife and sons, then subjected to one of history's most brutal public executions — his tongue cut out, his limbs tied to four horses pulling in opposite directions. When his body refused to be torn apart, he was beheaded and his remains scattered across the Andes to prevent his grave from becoming a shrine. It didn't work. Túpac Amaru II became the eternal symbol of Andean resistance — his name later adopted by revolutionary movements from Peru to Uruguay to the United States.

Huascarán — The Roof of Peru

Huascarán (6,768 m / 22,205 ft) is the highest mountain in Peru and the fourth highest in the Western Hemisphere. Located in the Cordillera Blanca of the Andes, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the centerpiece of Huascarán National Park. The mountain has a dark history: in 1970, a massive earthquake triggered an ice and rock avalanche that buried the town of Yungay, killing an estimated 20,000 people in minutes — one of the deadliest natural disasters in South American history. The lone hiker in the foreground of this note captures the mountain's enduring draw for climbers and trekkers from around the world.

The Inti's Brief, Chaotic Life

The Inti replaced the sol at 1,000:1 in 1985 — already a sign of the inflation ravaging Peru. By 1990, annual inflation hit 7,649%. The Inti was replaced by the nuevo sol in 1991 at 1,000,000:1. This 500-inti note, worth fractions of a U.S. cent at demonetization, is now a vivid artifact of one of Latin America's most dramatic economic collapses.

About Peru

• Origin of name: Likely derived from Birú, the name of a local ruler or river encountered by Spanish explorers in the early 16th century; the name was gradually applied to the entire region
• Capital: Lima (city pop. ~10 million; metro pop. ~11 million)
  • Origin of name of Lima: From Limaq, a Quechua word meaning “talker” or “speaker,” referring to an oracle at the site
• Population: ~34 million (UN 2024) — comparable to California
• Area: 1,285,216 km² (496,225 mi²) — comparable to Alaska or France + Spain + Germany
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$16,000 (IMF 2024)
• Main exports: Copper, gold, zinc, fishmeal, coffee, asparagus, textiles
• Borders: Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile; Pacific Ocean to the west
• Official/spoken languages: Spanish (official); Quechua and Aymara (co-official); dozens of Amazonian languages
• Ethnicities: Mestizo (~60%); Amerindian (~26%); White Peruvian (~6%); Afro-Peruvian and other (~8%)
• Memberships: UN (founding member, 1945); OAS (1948); Andean Community (founding member, 1969, hosts secretariat in Lima); APEC (1998); Pacific Alliance (founding member, 2011)
• Sovereignty: Viceroyalty of Peru (1542–1821); Independence declared 28 July 1821; Republic of Peru (1821–date)

Peru Unfiltered

• Yungay disaster: In 1970, an earthquake-triggered avalanche from Huascarán buried an entire town of 20,000 people in minutes
• Túpac Amaru's name lives on: The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) in Peru and Tupac Shakur's mother (a Black Panther) both took his name as inspiration
• Hyperinflation record: Peru's 1990 inflation of 7,649% remains one of the worst in Latin American history
• Biodiversity: Peru contains ~10% of all species on Earth and is one of only 17 megadiverse countries
• Potato origin: The potato was domesticated in Peru ~8,000 years ago — the world owes its french fries to the Andes
• Shining Path: The Maoist insurgency (1980–2000) killed an estimated 70,000 people — the bloodiest internal conflict in South American history
• Nazca Lines: Enormous geoglyphs etched into the desert, some over 2,000 years old, still not fully explained
• Pisco war: Peru and Chile have an ongoing diplomatic dispute over which country invented pisco — both claim it fiercely

Own this note and hold the face of the man who shook an empire — executed in the most brutal way the Spanish could devise, yet so powerful in death that his name echoed from the Andes to Tupac Shakur's mother naming her son after him, on a note that itself became worthless within four years of issue.