Indigenous peoples in Ecuador
Encyclopedia
Indigenous peoples in Ecuador are the groups of people who were present in what became the South America
n nation of Ecuador
when Europeans arrived
. The term also includes their descendants from the time of the Spanish conquest
to the present. Their history, which encompasses the last 11,000 years, reaches into the present; 25 percent of Ecuador's population is of indigenous heritage, while another 65 percent is of mixed indigenous and European
heritage. Black people
, people of Spanish
descent, and others make up the remaining 10 percent.
about how the American continents became populated. The prevailing theory, the Land Bridge Theory, holds that the first inhabitants of Americas migrated from Asia
across the Beringia
. According to this theory, the first inhabitants of South America arrived from North America via the Panamanian isthmus.
Other theories hold that the first humans to reside in the Americas came across the Pacific Ocean
from Oceania
or across the Atlantic Ocean
from Europe
.
, Archaic, Formative
, Regional Development, and Integration. These time periods are determined by the cultural development of groups being studied, and are not directly linked to specific dates, e.g. through carbon dating.
The Lithic period encompasses the earliest stages of development, beginning with the culture that migrated into the American continents and continuing until the Late Pleistocene
or Early Holocene
. The people of this culture are known as Paleo-Indians, and the end of their era is marked by the extinction of the megafauna
they hunted.
The Archaic period is defined as "the stage of migratory hunting and gathering cultures continuing into the environmental conditions approximating those of the present." During this period, hunters began to subsist on a wider variety of smaller game and increased their gathering activities. They also began domesticating plants such as maize and squash, probably at "dooryard gardens." In the Andean highlands, this period lasted from 3500-7000 BP
.
The Formative Period is characterized by "the presence of agriculture, or any other subsistence economy of comparable effectiveness, and by the successful integration of such an economy into well-established, sedentary village life." In Ecuador, this period is also marked by the establishment of trade networks and the spread of different styles of pottery. It began in about 3500 and ended around 2200 BP.
Regional Development
is the period, dating roughly 2200–1300 BP, of the civilizations of the Sierra, described as "localized but interacting states with complex ideologies, symbol systems, and social forms." The people of this period practiced metallurgy, weaving, and ceramics.
The Integration Period (1450 BP—450 BP) "is characterized by great cultural uniformity, the development of urban centres, class-based social stratification, and intensive agriculture." The Integration Period ends and the historic era begins with the Incan conquest. That's it.
. They indicate a hunting and gathering
economy, and date from the Late Pleistocene
epoch, or about 11,000 years ago. These Paleo-Indians subsisted on the megafauna that inhabited the Americas at the time, which they hunted and processed with stone tools of their own manufacture.
Evidence of Paleoindian hunter-gatherer material culture in other parts of coastal Ecuador is isolated and scattered. Such artifacts have been found in the provinces
of Carchi, Imbabura
, Pichincha
, Cotopaxi
, Azuay, and Loja
.
Despite the existence of these early coastal settlements, the majority of human settlement occurred in the Sierra (Andean) region
, which was quickly populated. One such settlement, remains of which were found at the archaeological site El Inga, was centered at the eastern base of Mount Ilaló, where two basalt
flows are located. Due to agricultural disturbances of archaeological remains, it has been difficult to establish a consistent timeline for this site. The oldest artifacts there discovered, however, date to 9,750 BP.
In the South, archaeological discoveries include stone artifacts and animal remains found in the Cave of Chobshi, located in the cantón
of Sigsig, which date between 10,010 and 7,535 BP. Chobshi also provides evidence of the domestication of the dog
. Another site, Cubilán, rests on the border between Azuay and Loja provinces. Scrapers, projectile points, and awls discovered there date between 9,060 and 9,100 BP, while vegetable remains are up to a thousand years older.
In the Oriente, human settlements have existed since at least 2450 BP. Settlements that probably date from this period have been found in the provinces of Napo, Pastaza, Sucumbíos, and Orellana. However, most of the evidence recovered in the Oriente suggest a date of settlement later than in the Sierra or the Coast.
, and other Pleistocene megafauna
. Humans adapted to the new conditions by relying more heavily on farming. The adoption of agriculture as the primary mode of subsistence was gradual, taking up most of the Archaic period. It was accompanied by cultural changes in burial practices, art, and tools.
The first evidence of agriculture
dates anywhere from the Preboreal Holocene
(10,000 years ago) to the Atlantic Holocene (6,000 years ago).
Some of the first farmers in Ecuador were the Las Vegas culture
of the Santa Elena Peninsula, who, in addition to making use of the abundant piscine resources, also contributed to the domestication
of several beneficial plant species, including squash. They engaged in ritual burial and intensive gardening.
The Valdivia culture
, an outgrowth of the Las Vegas culture, was an important early civilization. While archaeological finds in Brazil and elsewhere have supplanted those at Valdivia as the earliest-known ceramics in the Americas, the culture retains its importance due to its formative role in Amerindian civilization in South America, which is analogous to the role of the Olmeca
in Mexico. Most of the ceramic shards from the Early Valdivia date to about 4,450 BP (although some may be from up to 6,250 BP), with artifacts from the later period of the civilization dating from about 3,750 BP. Ceramics were utilitarian, with the exception of small feminine figures referred to as "Venuses."
The Valdivia people farmed maize
, a small bean (now rare) of the Canavalia
family, cotton
, and achira, a water-plantain
. Indirect evidence suggests that mate
, coca
, and manioc were also cultivated. They also consumed substantial amounts of fish. Archaeological evidence from the Late Valdivia shows a decline in life expectancy to approximately 21 years. This decline is attributed to an increase in infectious disease, accumulation of waste, water pollution, and a deterioration in diet, all of which are associated with agriculture itself.
In the Sierra, people cultivated locally-crops developed, including potatoes, quinoa
, and tarwi
. They also farmed crops that originated in the coastal regions and in the North, including ají, peanut
s, beans, and maize. Animal husbandry
kept pace with agricultural development, with the domestication of the local animals llama
, alpaca
, and the guinea pig
, as well as the coastal Muscovy Duck
. The domestication of camelid
s during this period laid the basis for the pastoral tradition that continues to this day.
In the Oriente, evidence of maize cultivation discovered at Lake Ayauchi dates from 6250 BP. In Morona-Santiago province, evidence of Regional Development period culture was discovered at the Upano Valley sites of Faldas de Sangay, also known as the Sangay Complex or Huapula, as well as at other nearby sites. These people created ceramics, farmed, and hunted and gathered. They also built large earthen mounds, the smallest of which were used for agriculture or housing, and the largest of which had ceremonial functions. The hundreds of mounds spread over a twelve square kilometer area at Sangay demonstrate that the Oriente was capable of supporting large populations. The lack of evidence of kings or "principal" chiefs and also challenges the notion that cultural creations such as monuments require centralized authority.
plant for face paint, and curare
poisons for blowgun darts from various other plants. Complex religious systems developed, many of which incorporated (or perhaps originated from) the use of hallucinogenic plants such as Datura
and Banisteriopsis
. They also made coil ceramics.
, the Panzaleo, the Puruhá, the Cañari, and the Palta
. They lived on hillsides, terrace farming maize, quinoa
, beans, potato
es and squash, and developed systems of irrigation
. Their political organization was a dual system: one of chieftains, the other, a land-holding system called curacazgo, that regulated the planting and harvesting of multiple cycles of crops. While some historians have referred to this system as the "Kingdom of Quito," it did not approach the level of political organization of the state
.
s), indigo
, and fruits could be grown and where salt could be produced, gained economic importance. Sometimes, tribes farmed lands outside their immediate purview. These goods were then traded in a two-tiered market system.
Free commerce took place in markets called "tianguez," and was the means by which ordinary individuals fulfilled their need for tubers, maize, and cotton. Directed commerce, however, was undertaken by specialists called mindala under the auspices of a curaca. They also exchanged goods at the tianguez, but specialized in products that had ceremonial purposes, such as coca, salt, gold, and beads. Seashells were sometimes used as currency in places such as Pimampiro
in the far North. Salt was used in other parts of the Sierra, and in other places where salt was abundant, such as Salinas
.
In this manner, the Pasto and the Caras undertook their existence in the Chota Valley, the Puruhá in the Chanchán riverbasin, and the Panzaleos in the Patate and Guayallabamba valleys.
In the coastal lowlands, the Esmeralda, the Manta, the Huancavilca, and the Puná were the four major groups. They were seafarers, but also practiced agriculture and trade, both with each other and with peoples of the Sierra. The most important commodity they provided, however, were Spondylus
shells, which was a symbol of fertility. In areas such as Guayas
and Manabí, small beads called chiquira were used as currency.
Also following the lead of the Sierra peoples, the people of the Oriente began congregating around sites where cotton, coca, salt, and beads could be more easily produced for trade. Tianguez developed in the Amazon forest, and were visited by mindala from the Sierra.
, in which polygyny
was common, was the basic unit of society. The extended family group is referred to by the Kichwa word "ayllu," although this type of organization predates the arrival of Quechua speakers. Two political systems were built on the basis of the ayllu: the curacazgo and the cacicazgo. Each curacazgo is made up of one or more ayllu. The Ecuadorian ayllus, unlike in the Southern Andes, were small, made up of only about 200 people, although the larger ones could reach up to 1,200 members. Each ayllu had its own authority, although each curaca also answered to a chief (cacique
), who exercised power over the curacazgo. The caciques power depended on his ability to mobilize manual labor, and was sustained by his ability to distribute highly-valued goods to the members of his curaca.
, which marked the solstices and equinoxes, and veneration of the sun, moon, and maize.
control of the army, and Topa conquered the Quitu
and continued coastward. Upon arriving, he undertook a sea voyage to either the Galápagos or the Marquesas Islands
. Upon his return, he was unable to subdue the people of Puná Island
and the Guayas
coast. His son Huayna Capac
, however, was able to subsequently conquer these peoples, consolidating Ecuador into "Tawantinsuyu," the Incan Empire.
One of the Incan tactics included uprooting groups of Quechua-speakers, called mitma
s, loyal to the empire and resettling them in areas that offered resistance.
Many tribes resisted the imperial encroachment, in particular the Cañari in the South, near modern-day Cuenca
, and the Caras and the Quitu
in the North. However, the Incan language and social structures came to predominate, particularly in the Sierra.
Huascar was a prince born to a noble family of Cuzco and Atahualpa was a son from a noble family of the Quitus. The quitus were a tribe that formed an aliance with the Incas during the conquest of Huayna Capac. Most important in this civil war was the participation of Huyna Capac generals on the side of Athaulpa's faction, probably due to the late sovereign wish.
, have insisted that the indigenous make up no more than two million people. Historian Enrique Ayala Mora, too, estimates that the indigenous population is no more than sixteen percent. Other organizations, such as CONAIE, while giving varying estimates in different years, tend to approximate closer to four million. The discrepancy arises from the ways in which they are counted: "[d]oes one consider them such on the basis of physical characteristics or whether they live in the Andean Indian world?"
Approximately 96.4% of Ecuador's Indigenous population are Highland Quichuas living in the valleys of the Sierra region. Primarily consisting of the descendents of Incans, they are Quichua speakers and include the Caranqui, the Otavaleños, the Cayambi, the Pichincha, the Panzaleo, the Chimbuelo, the Salasacan, the Tungurahua, the Tugua, the Waranka, the Puruhá, the Cañari, and the Saraguro. Linguistic evidence suggests that the Salascan and the Saraguro may be the descendents of Bolivian ethnic groups transplanted to Ecuador in a mitma, or forced migration.
Coastal groups, including the Awá
, Chachi, and the Tsáchila
, make up 0.24% percent of the indigenous population, while the remaining 3.35 percent live in the Oriente and consist of the Oriente Quichua (the Canelo and the Quijos
), the Shuar
, the Huaorani
, the Siona
-Secoya
, the Cofán
, and the Achuar
.
in 1997 and Jamil Mahuad
in 2000.
In 1998, Ecuador signed and ratified the current international law concerning indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989
. It was adopted in 1989 as the International Labour Organization
Convention 169.
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
n nation of Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
when Europeans arrived
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
. The term also includes their descendants from the time of the Spanish conquest
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. This historic process of military conquest was made by Spanish conquistadores and their native allies....
to the present. Their history, which encompasses the last 11,000 years, reaches into the present; 25 percent of Ecuador's population is of indigenous heritage, while another 65 percent is of mixed indigenous and European
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
heritage. Black people
Afro-Ecuadorian people
An Afro-Ecuadorian is a member of a group in Ecuador who are descendants of black African slaves brought by the Spanish during their conquest of Ecuador from the Incas. They make up from 3% to 5% of Ecuador's population....
, people of Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
descent, and others make up the remaining 10 percent.
Migration
There are different theoriesModels of migration to the New World
There have been several models for the human settlement of the Americas proposed by various academic communities. The question of how, when and why humans first entered the Americas is of intense interest to archaeologists and anthropologists, and has been a subject of heated debate for centuries...
about how the American continents became populated. The prevailing theory, the Land Bridge Theory, holds that the first inhabitants of Americas migrated from Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
across the Beringia
Bering land bridge
The Bering land bridge was a land bridge roughly 1,000 miles wide at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the Pleistocene ice ages. Like most of Siberia and all of Manchuria, Beringia was not glaciated because snowfall was extremely light...
. According to this theory, the first inhabitants of South America arrived from North America via the Panamanian isthmus.
Other theories hold that the first humans to reside in the Americas came across the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
from Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
or across the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Archaeological periods
While archaeologists have proposed different temporal models at different times, the schematic currently in use divides prehistoric Ecuador into five major time periods: LithicStone tool
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric, particularly Stone Age cultures that have become extinct...
, Archaic, Formative
Formative stage
The Formative Stage or "Neo-Indian period" is an archaeological term describing a particular developmental level. This stage from 1000 BCE to 500 CE is the third of five stages defined by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips' 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology.Cultures of the...
, Regional Development, and Integration. These time periods are determined by the cultural development of groups being studied, and are not directly linked to specific dates, e.g. through carbon dating.
The Lithic period encompasses the earliest stages of development, beginning with the culture that migrated into the American continents and continuing until the Late Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
or Early Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
. The people of this culture are known as Paleo-Indians, and the end of their era is marked by the extinction of the megafauna
Megafauna
In terrestrial zoology, megafauna are "giant", "very large" or "large" animals. The most common thresholds used are or...
they hunted.
The Archaic period is defined as "the stage of migratory hunting and gathering cultures continuing into the environmental conditions approximating those of the present." During this period, hunters began to subsist on a wider variety of smaller game and increased their gathering activities. They also began domesticating plants such as maize and squash, probably at "dooryard gardens." In the Andean highlands, this period lasted from 3500-7000 BP
Before Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
.
The Formative Period is characterized by "the presence of agriculture, or any other subsistence economy of comparable effectiveness, and by the successful integration of such an economy into well-established, sedentary village life." In Ecuador, this period is also marked by the establishment of trade networks and the spread of different styles of pottery. It began in about 3500 and ended around 2200 BP.
Regional Development
Regional development
Regional development is the provision of aid and other assistance to regions which are less economically developed. Regional development may be domestic or international in nature...
is the period, dating roughly 2200–1300 BP, of the civilizations of the Sierra, described as "localized but interacting states with complex ideologies, symbol systems, and social forms." The people of this period practiced metallurgy, weaving, and ceramics.
The Integration Period (1450 BP—450 BP) "is characterized by great cultural uniformity, the development of urban centres, class-based social stratification, and intensive agriculture." The Integration Period ends and the historic era begins with the Incan conquest. That's it.
Paleo-Indians
The oldest artifacts discovered in Ecuador are stone implements discovered at 32 "pre-ceramic" (Paleolithic) archaeological sites in the Santa Elena PeninsulaSanta Elena Peninsula
The Santa Elena Peninsula is a peninsula in Santa Elena Province, Ecuador. The Santa Elena Peninsula contains the westernmost point on mainland Ecuador and is bordered by the Gulf of Guayaquil to the south and the Santa Elena Bay to the north....
. They indicate a hunting and gathering
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
economy, and date from the Late Pleistocene
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is a stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of the Eemian interglacial phase before the final glacial episode of the Pleistocene 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago. The end of the stage is defined exactly at 10,000 Carbon-14 years BP...
epoch, or about 11,000 years ago. These Paleo-Indians subsisted on the megafauna that inhabited the Americas at the time, which they hunted and processed with stone tools of their own manufacture.
Evidence of Paleoindian hunter-gatherer material culture in other parts of coastal Ecuador is isolated and scattered. Such artifacts have been found in the provinces
Provinces of Ecuador
Ecuador is divided into 24 provinces . The provinces of Ecuador and their capitals are:1 Population as per the census carried out on 2001-11-25In addition, there are three areas within Ecuador that are non-delimited...
of Carchi, Imbabura
Imbabura
Word Imbabura can refer to these places in Ecuador:*Imbabura Province*Imbabura Volcano...
, Pichincha
Pichincha Province
Pichincha is a province of Ecuador located in the northern sierra region; its capital and largest city is Quito. It is bordered by Imbabura & Esmeraldas to the north, Cotopaxi & Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to the south, Napo & Sucumbíos to the east, and Esmeraldas & Santo Domingo de los...
, Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi is a stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located about south of Quito, Ecuador, South America. It is the second highest summit in the country, reaching a height of...
, Azuay, and Loja
Loja
Loja may refer to:*Loja, Granada, Spain*Loja Province, Ecuador*Loja Canton, Ecuador*Loja, Ecuador, capital of Loja province*Loja, Latvia, capital of Sēja municipality*Loja, Estonia, village in Pühalepa Parish, Hiiu County, Estonia...
.
Despite the existence of these early coastal settlements, the majority of human settlement occurred in the Sierra (Andean) region
Regions of Ecuador
-Coast:The coastal region consists of the provinces to the West of the Andean range - , Esmeraldas, Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, El Oro, Santa Elena. It is the country's most fertile and productive land, and is the seat of the large banana exportation plantations of the companies Dole and Chiquita. ...
, which was quickly populated. One such settlement, remains of which were found at the archaeological site El Inga, was centered at the eastern base of Mount Ilaló, where two basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
flows are located. Due to agricultural disturbances of archaeological remains, it has been difficult to establish a consistent timeline for this site. The oldest artifacts there discovered, however, date to 9,750 BP.
In the South, archaeological discoveries include stone artifacts and animal remains found in the Cave of Chobshi, located in the cantón
Cantons of Ecuador
The Cantons of Ecuador are the second-level subdivisions of Ecuador, below the provinces. There are 226 cantons in the country, of which three are not in any province. The cantons are further sub-divided into parishes, which are classified as either urban or rural...
of Sigsig, which date between 10,010 and 7,535 BP. Chobshi also provides evidence of the domestication of the dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
. Another site, Cubilán, rests on the border between Azuay and Loja provinces. Scrapers, projectile points, and awls discovered there date between 9,060 and 9,100 BP, while vegetable remains are up to a thousand years older.
In the Oriente, human settlements have existed since at least 2450 BP. Settlements that probably date from this period have been found in the provinces of Napo, Pastaza, Sucumbíos, and Orellana. However, most of the evidence recovered in the Oriente suggest a date of settlement later than in the Sierra or the Coast.
Origins of agriculture
Over hunting and the end of the Ice Age, brought changes to the flora and fauna, which lead to the extinction of the large game hunted by Paleo-Indians, such as giant sloth, mammothMammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
, and other Pleistocene megafauna
Pleistocene megafauna
Pleistocene megafauna is the set of species of large animals — mammals, birds and reptiles — that lived on Earth during the Pleistocene epoch and became extinct in a Quaternary extinction event. These species appear to have died off as humans expanded out of Africa and southern Asia,...
. Humans adapted to the new conditions by relying more heavily on farming. The adoption of agriculture as the primary mode of subsistence was gradual, taking up most of the Archaic period. It was accompanied by cultural changes in burial practices, art, and tools.
The first evidence of agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
dates anywhere from the Preboreal Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
(10,000 years ago) to the Atlantic Holocene (6,000 years ago).
Some of the first farmers in Ecuador were the Las Vegas culture
Las Vegas culture (archaeology)
The Las Vegas culture was a complex of late-Pleistocene and Holocene settlements along the coast of present day Ecuador, which emerged between 8000 BCE and 4600 BCE...
of the Santa Elena Peninsula, who, in addition to making use of the abundant piscine resources, also contributed to the domestication
Domestication
Domestication or taming is the process whereby a population of animals or plants, through a process of selection, becomes accustomed to human provision and control. In the Convention on Biological Diversity a domesticated species is defined as a 'species in which the evolutionary process has been...
of several beneficial plant species, including squash. They engaged in ritual burial and intensive gardening.
The Valdivia culture
Valdivia Culture
The Valdivia Culture is one of the oldest settled cultures recorded in the Americas. It emerged from the earlier Las Vegas culture and thrived on the Santa Elena peninsula near the modern-day town of Valdivia, Ecuador between 3500 BC and 1800 BC....
, an outgrowth of the Las Vegas culture, was an important early civilization. While archaeological finds in Brazil and elsewhere have supplanted those at Valdivia as the earliest-known ceramics in the Americas, the culture retains its importance due to its formative role in Amerindian civilization in South America, which is analogous to the role of the Olmeca
Olmeca
Olmeca is a genus of bamboo known from southern Mexico and comprising 2 species. Both have large fleshy fruits - a characteristic unique among New World bamboos, and rhizomes with long necks and very open clumps....
in Mexico. Most of the ceramic shards from the Early Valdivia date to about 4,450 BP (although some may be from up to 6,250 BP), with artifacts from the later period of the civilization dating from about 3,750 BP. Ceramics were utilitarian, with the exception of small feminine figures referred to as "Venuses."
The Valdivia people farmed maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, a small bean (now rare) of the Canavalia
Canavalia
Canavalia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family and comprises approximately 70-75 species of tropical vines. Members of the genus are commonly known as jack-beans. The species of Canavalia endemic to the Hawaiian Islands were named āwikiwiki by the Native Hawaiians...
family, cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, and achira, a water-plantain
Alismataceae
The water-plantains are a family of flowering plants, comprising 11 genera and between 85-95 species. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the greatest number of species in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
. Indirect evidence suggests that mate
Yerba mate
Maté, yerba maté or erva maté , Ilex paraguariensis, is a species of holly native to subtropical South America in northeastern Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay...
, coca
Coca
Coca, Erythroxylum coca, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant plays a significant role in many traditional Andean cultures...
, and manioc were also cultivated. They also consumed substantial amounts of fish. Archaeological evidence from the Late Valdivia shows a decline in life expectancy to approximately 21 years. This decline is attributed to an increase in infectious disease, accumulation of waste, water pollution, and a deterioration in diet, all of which are associated with agriculture itself.
In the Sierra, people cultivated locally-crops developed, including potatoes, quinoa
Quinoa
Quinoa , a species of goosefoot , is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the grass family...
, and tarwi
Lupinus mutabilis
Lupinus mutabilis is a species of lupin grown in the Andes for its edible bean. Vernacular names include tarwi, tarhui, chocho, altramuz, Andean lupin, South American lupin, or pearl lupin....
. They also farmed crops that originated in the coastal regions and in the North, including ají, peanut
Peanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
s, beans, and maize. Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....
kept pace with agricultural development, with the domestication of the local animals llama
Llama
The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....
, alpaca
Alpaca
An alpaca is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance.Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador, and northern Chile at an altitude of to above sea level, throughout the year...
, and the guinea pig
Guinea pig
The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...
, as well as the coastal Muscovy Duck
Muscovy Duck
The Muscovy Duck is a large duck which is native to Mexico and Central and South America. A small wild population reaches into the United States in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas...
. The domestication of camelid
Camelid
Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae, the only living family in the suborder Tylopoda. Dromedaries, Bactrian Camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos are in this group....
s during this period laid the basis for the pastoral tradition that continues to this day.
In the Oriente, evidence of maize cultivation discovered at Lake Ayauchi dates from 6250 BP. In Morona-Santiago province, evidence of Regional Development period culture was discovered at the Upano Valley sites of Faldas de Sangay, also known as the Sangay Complex or Huapula, as well as at other nearby sites. These people created ceramics, farmed, and hunted and gathered. They also built large earthen mounds, the smallest of which were used for agriculture or housing, and the largest of which had ceremonial functions. The hundreds of mounds spread over a twelve square kilometer area at Sangay demonstrate that the Oriente was capable of supporting large populations. The lack of evidence of kings or "principal" chiefs and also challenges the notion that cultural creations such as monuments require centralized authority.
Development of metallurgy
The period from 2450 BP—1450 BP is known as the "Regional Development" period, and is marked by the development of metalworking skills. The artisans of La Tolita, an island in the estuary of the Santiago River, made alloys of platinum and gold, fashioning the material into miniatures and masks. The Jama-Coaque, Bahía, Guangala, and Jambalí also practiced metalwork in other areas of the Ecuadorian coast. These goods were traded though mercantile networks.Pre-Incan era
Prior to the invasion of the Inca, the indigenous societies of Ecuador had complex and diverse social, cultural, and economic systems. The ethnic groups of the central Sierra were generally more advanced in organizing farming and commercial activities, and the peoples of the Coast and the Oriente generally followed their lead, coming to specialize in processing local materials into goods for trade.Coast
The coastal peoples continued the traditions of their predecessors on the Santa Elena peninsula. They include the Machalilla, and later the Chorrera, who refined the ceramicism of the Valdivia culture.Oriente
The economy of the peoples of the Oriente was essentially silvicultural, although horticulture was practiced. They extracted dyes from the achioteAchiote
Achiote is a shrub or small tree from the tropical region of the Americas. The name derives from the Nahuatl word for the shrub, achiotl. It is also known as Aploppas, and its original Tupi name urucu. It is cultivated there and in Southeast Asia, where it was introduced by the Spanish in the...
plant for face paint, and curare
Curare
Curare is a common name for various arrow poisons originating from South America. The three main types of curare are:* tubocurare...
poisons for blowgun darts from various other plants. Complex religious systems developed, many of which incorporated (or perhaps originated from) the use of hallucinogenic plants such as Datura
Datura
Datura is a genus of nine species of vespertine flowering plants belonging to the family Solanaceae. Its precise and natural distribution is uncertain, owing to its extensive cultivation and naturalization throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the globe...
and Banisteriopsis
Banisteriopsis caapi
Banisteriopsis caapi, also known as Ayahuasca, Caapi or Yage, is a South American jungle vine of the family Malpighiaceae. It is used to prepare Ayahuasca, a decoction that has a long history of entheogenic uses as a medicine and "plant teacher" among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Rainforest...
. They also made coil ceramics.
Sierra
In the Sierra, the most important groups were the Pasto, the CarasCaras (tribe)
The Cara culture flourished in coastal Ecuador, in what is now Manabí Province, in the first millennium CE.-History:In the 10th century CE, they followed the Esmeraldas River up to the high Andean valley now known as the city San Francisco de Quito. They defeated the local Quitu tribe and set up a...
, the Panzaleo, the Puruhá, the Cañari, and the Palta
Palta
The Palta are a Peruvian Native American ethnic group. They once spoke the unclassified and scarcely attested Palta language....
. They lived on hillsides, terrace farming maize, quinoa
Quinoa
Quinoa , a species of goosefoot , is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the grass family...
, beans, potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es and squash, and developed systems of irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
. Their political organization was a dual system: one of chieftains, the other, a land-holding system called curacazgo, that regulated the planting and harvesting of multiple cycles of crops. While some historians have referred to this system as the "Kingdom of Quito," it did not approach the level of political organization of the state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
.
Economy
Using the system of multicyclic agriculture, which allowed them to have year-long harvests of a wide variety of crops by planting at a variety of altitudes and at different times, the Sierra people flourished. Generally, an ethnic group farmed the mountainside nearest to it. Cities began to specialize in the production of goods, agricultural and otherwise. For this reason, the dry valleys, where cotton, coca, ají (chili pepperChili pepper
Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...
s), indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
, and fruits could be grown and where salt could be produced, gained economic importance. Sometimes, tribes farmed lands outside their immediate purview. These goods were then traded in a two-tiered market system.
Free commerce took place in markets called "tianguez," and was the means by which ordinary individuals fulfilled their need for tubers, maize, and cotton. Directed commerce, however, was undertaken by specialists called mindala under the auspices of a curaca. They also exchanged goods at the tianguez, but specialized in products that had ceremonial purposes, such as coca, salt, gold, and beads. Seashells were sometimes used as currency in places such as Pimampiro
Pimampiro
Pimampiro is the seat of Pimampiro Canton, Imbabura Province, Ecuador....
in the far North. Salt was used in other parts of the Sierra, and in other places where salt was abundant, such as Salinas
Salinas, Ecuador
Salinas is a coastal city located in the Province of Santa Elena, Ecuador. It is the seat of the canton that bears its name. The westernmost city on mainland Ecuador, Salinas is an important tourist center. Recently, Salinas was the center of controversy during the contentious "more fun, less sun,"...
.
In this manner, the Pasto and the Caras undertook their existence in the Chota Valley, the Puruhá in the Chanchán riverbasin, and the Panzaleos in the Patate and Guayallabamba valleys.
In the coastal lowlands, the Esmeralda, the Manta, the Huancavilca, and the Puná were the four major groups. They were seafarers, but also practiced agriculture and trade, both with each other and with peoples of the Sierra. The most important commodity they provided, however, were Spondylus
Spondylus
Spondylus is a genus of bivalve molluscs, the only genus in the family Spondylidae. As well as being the systematic or scientific name, Spondylus is also the most often used common name for these animals, though they are also known as thorny oysters or spiny oysters.There are many species of...
shells, which was a symbol of fertility. In areas such as Guayas
Guayas
Guayas may refer to:*Ecuador:**Guayas River**Guayas Province**Guayas **Guayas *The fruit of the mamoncillo tree...
and Manabí, small beads called chiquira were used as currency.
Also following the lead of the Sierra peoples, the people of the Oriente began congregating around sites where cotton, coca, salt, and beads could be more easily produced for trade. Tianguez developed in the Amazon forest, and were visited by mindala from the Sierra.
Political organization
The extended familyExtended family
The term extended family has several distinct meanings. In modern Western cultures dominated by nuclear family constructs, it has come to be used generically to refer to grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, whether they live together within the same household or not. However, it may also refer...
, in which polygyny
Polygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
was common, was the basic unit of society. The extended family group is referred to by the Kichwa word "ayllu," although this type of organization predates the arrival of Quechua speakers. Two political systems were built on the basis of the ayllu: the curacazgo and the cacicazgo. Each curacazgo is made up of one or more ayllu. The Ecuadorian ayllus, unlike in the Southern Andes, were small, made up of only about 200 people, although the larger ones could reach up to 1,200 members. Each ayllu had its own authority, although each curaca also answered to a chief (cacique
Cacique
Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
), who exercised power over the curacazgo. The caciques power depended on his ability to mobilize manual labor, and was sustained by his ability to distribute highly-valued goods to the members of his curaca.
Religion
Local beliefs and practices co-existed those practiced regionally, which allowed each ethnic group to maintain its own religious identity while interacting, especially commercially, with neighboring groups. Some regional commonalities were the solar calendarSolar calendar
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the position of the earth on its revolution around the sun .-Tropical solar calendars:...
, which marked the solstices and equinoxes, and veneration of the sun, moon, and maize.
Incan conquest
The Incan empire expanded into what later became Ecuador during the reign of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, who began the northward conquest in 1463. He gave his son TopaTopa
Topa is a census town in Hazaribag district in the Indian state of Jharkhand.-Demographics: India census, Topa had a population of 5008. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Topa has an average literacy rate of 62%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 72%,...
control of the army, and Topa conquered the Quitu
Quitu
The Quitus were Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples in Ecuador who founded Quito, which is now the capital of Ecuador. The inhabitants' existence spanned from 2000 BCE to the beginning of the Spaniards' conquest of the city in 1524...
and continued coastward. Upon arriving, he undertook a sea voyage to either the Galápagos or the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
. Upon his return, he was unable to subdue the people of Puná Island
Puná Island
Puná Island is an Island off the coast of southern Ecuador at approximately 80 degrees west longitude and 3 degrees south latitude. It is located at the head of the Gulf of Guayaquil, south of the mouth of the Guayas River and the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city and chief port...
and the Guayas
Guayas
Guayas may refer to:*Ecuador:**Guayas River**Guayas Province**Guayas **Guayas *The fruit of the mamoncillo tree...
coast. His son Huayna Capac
Huayna Capac
Huayna Capac was the eleventh Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire and sixth of the Hanan dynasty. He was the successor to Tupac Inca Yupanqui.-Name:In Quechua, his name is spelled Wayna Qhapaq, and in Southern Quechua, it is Vaina Ghapakh...
, however, was able to subsequently conquer these peoples, consolidating Ecuador into "Tawantinsuyu," the Incan Empire.
One of the Incan tactics included uprooting groups of Quechua-speakers, called mitma
Mitma
Mitma was a policy of forced resettlement employed by the Incas. It involved the forceful migration of groups of extended families or ethnic groups from their home territory to lands recently conquered by the Incas...
s, loyal to the empire and resettling them in areas that offered resistance.
Many tribes resisted the imperial encroachment, in particular the Cañari in the South, near modern-day Cuenca
Cuenca, Ecuador
Cuenca is the capital of the Azuay Province. It is located in the highlands of Ecuador at about 2500 m above sea level...
, and the Caras and the Quitu
Quitu
The Quitus were Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples in Ecuador who founded Quito, which is now the capital of Ecuador. The inhabitants' existence spanned from 2000 BCE to the beginning of the Spaniards' conquest of the city in 1524...
in the North. However, the Incan language and social structures came to predominate, particularly in the Sierra.
Spanish conquest
In 1534, at the time of the arrival of the first columns of Spanish conquistadores, the population of the present day territories of Ecuador is believed to border the figure of one million inhabitants. This might had been a result of epidemics of smallpox and difteria that spread in the Andes after the first contacts with Spanish explorers and their livestock. According to early Spanish chronicles the Inca Huayna Capac died of smallpox and then the territories of Collasuyo and central Peru so a period of civil war for the control of the royal household between two brothers each an heir to the dominions of their respective maternal feudal lands.Huascar was a prince born to a noble family of Cuzco and Atahualpa was a son from a noble family of the Quitus. The quitus were a tribe that formed an aliance with the Incas during the conquest of Huayna Capac. Most important in this civil war was the participation of Huyna Capac generals on the side of Athaulpa's faction, probably due to the late sovereign wish.
Population and demographics
There is debate about the quantities of indigenous currently inhabiting Ecuador. Some elements of society, most famously the former President León Febres CorderoLeón Febres Cordero
León Esteban Febres-Cordero Ribadeneyra was President of Ecuador for a four-year term from 10 August 1984 to 10 August 1988...
, have insisted that the indigenous make up no more than two million people. Historian Enrique Ayala Mora, too, estimates that the indigenous population is no more than sixteen percent. Other organizations, such as CONAIE, while giving varying estimates in different years, tend to approximate closer to four million. The discrepancy arises from the ways in which they are counted: "[d]oes one consider them such on the basis of physical characteristics or whether they live in the Andean Indian world?"
Approximately 96.4% of Ecuador's Indigenous population are Highland Quichuas living in the valleys of the Sierra region. Primarily consisting of the descendents of Incans, they are Quichua speakers and include the Caranqui, the Otavaleños, the Cayambi, the Pichincha, the Panzaleo, the Chimbuelo, the Salasacan, the Tungurahua, the Tugua, the Waranka, the Puruhá, the Cañari, and the Saraguro. Linguistic evidence suggests that the Salascan and the Saraguro may be the descendents of Bolivian ethnic groups transplanted to Ecuador in a mitma, or forced migration.
Coastal groups, including the Awá
Awá (kwaiker)
The Awá are an ancient indigenous people that inhabit the regions of northern Ecuador and southern Colombia . Their entire population is around 32,555 members. They speak a language called Awapit.-Reserve:The Awa Reserve was established in northwestern Ecuador in 1987...
, Chachi, and the Tsáchila
Tsáchila
The Tsáchila people of Ecuador live in the county of Santo Domingo in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.- Legend of the origin of their ornamentation :...
, make up 0.24% percent of the indigenous population, while the remaining 3.35 percent live in the Oriente and consist of the Oriente Quichua (the Canelo and the Quijos
Quijos-Quichua
The Quijos-Quichua are a Lowland Quechua people, living in the basins of the Napo, Aguarico, San Miguel, and Putumayo river basins of Ecuador and Peru....
), the Shuar
Shuar
The Shuar people are an indigenous people of Ecuador and Peru. They are members of the Jivaroan peoples, who are Amazonian tribes living at the headwaters of the Marañón River.-Name:...
, the Huaorani
Huaorani
The Huaorani, Waorani or Waodani, also known as the Waos, are native Amerindians from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador who have marked differences from other ethnic groups from Ecuador. The alternate name Auca is a pejorative exonym used by the neighboring Quechua Indians, and commonly adopted by...
, the Siona
Siona people
The Siona people are an indigenous ethnic group living in the Ecuadorian Amazon or Oriente , and in Colombia...
-Secoya
Secoya people
The Secoya people are an indigenous ethnic group living in the Ecuadorian Amazon or The Oriente region of Ecuador , and in Peru . They speak the Secoya language, part of the Western Tucanoan group...
, the Cofán
Cofán
The Cofán people are an indigenous people native to Napo Province northeast Ecuador and to southern Colombia, between the Guamués River and the Aguaricó River...
, and the Achuar
Achuar
The Achuar are an Amazonian community of some 18,500 individuals along either side of the border in between Ecuador and Peru. As of the early 1970s, the Achuar were one of the last of the Jivaroan groups still to be spared the effects of western contact....
.
Politics
In 1986, indigenous people formed the first "truly" national political. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) has been the primary political organization ever since, and has been influential in national politics, including the ouster of the presidents Abdalá BucaramAbdalá Bucaram
Abdalá Jaime Bucaram Ortíz is an Ecuadorian politician and lawyer who briefly occupied the Presidency of Ecuador...
in 1997 and Jamil Mahuad
Jamil Mahuad
Jorge Jamil Mahuad Witt is an Ecuadorian lawyer and politician and the 51st President of Ecuador from August 10, 1998 to January 21, 2000. There was a severe economic crisis in Ecuador , which had led to a 60% cut in the armed forces budget...
in 2000.
In 1998, Ecuador signed and ratified the current international law concerning indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 is an International Labour Organization Convention, also known as ILO-convention 169, or C169. It is the major binding international convention concerning indigenous peoples, and a forerunner of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.It...
. It was adopted in 1989 as the International Labour Organization
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...
Convention 169.
External links
- Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE) - Indigenous rights organization of Ecuador