Diario las Américas., 1958-01-28
Know thv
Nei9h.bofi
BY ANTONIO RUIZ

ECUADOR - E~cuadorean his
tory goes far back before the time
of the Spanish Conquistador Fran
cisco de Pizarro first leanerd of the
existence of the great Inca Empire
and its fabulous wealth. 1t is a 70.
mantle history, so interviewer with
myths and fables, that historians
find it difficult to separate truth
from legend.
Long before the powerful Incas
extended the boundaries of their
vast Empire northward into Ecua-
dor, several tribes of Indians in
habited the coast and the high
lands. Among them were the Qui-
tus who reigned in the vicinity of
~present-day Quito. In about 900 A.
D., the Quitus were conquered by
the Caras, a noble, intelligent peo-
pie who are thought to have come
from across the sea.
Under the reign of the Shyris, as
the Caras' rulers were called, the
Kingdom grew and flourished, I'm.
til the Incas, who ruled what is
now Peru, began to cast covetous
eyes in the direction of their nor
thern neighbors. For some years
the Caras resisted the Incas, until
finally they were conquered by
the superior forces of Huayna-Ca-
pac, twelfth Inca ruler.
After conquering the Caras,
Huayna-Capa took as one of his
wives the beautiful Princess Pac-
cha, daughter of the dead Shyri
ing, who bore him a handsome
son they named Atahualpa. When
Huayna-C apac was near death, he
divided his vast empire between
his eldest son and legal heir, Huas-
car, and Atahualpa, his favorite.
Huascar was jealous of his broth
er, and when his father died, a fra
tricidal war broke out between the
two sons. Atahualpa eventually de-
feated his half brother, thus be-
coming supreme ruler, but the war
had weakened the Inca forces to
such an extent, that when the Spa
niards arrived they encountered
comparatively little resistance.
Atahualpa was freacherously put
to death by Pizarro in 1888, inau-
gurating then a long period of
ruthless warfare against the native
population.
In 1884, by order of Francisco
Pizarro, who was himself occupied
with the conquest of PERU, Sebas-
tian de Belalcazar and Diego de
Alagro set out on an expedition
into the mountainous regions of
Ecuador, in search for the King
dom of Quito a land reputed to be
richer than any of the provinces
of the New World. Travelling over
the old road built by the Incas to
connect Quito with Cuzco, PERU,
the two capitals of their great en-
pire, the Spaniards penetrated in
to the interior of Ecuador, final
ly reaching Quitu, where, in the
shadows of the Pichincha volcano,
on August Is, 1884, the Spanish ci-
ty of San Francisco de Quito was
founded.
Almagro then returned to PERT,
and Belalcazar set out on his fruit
less search for the mythical land
of Ell Dorado (The Gilded MANI.
During Belalcazar's absence from
Quito, Pizarro appointed his bro
Their, Gonzalo as Captain General
of Quito, Popayan in Colombia, and
all the region that he might dis
cover. But .Gonzalo Pizarro was
restless, and eager for new adven-
lures.
In the year 1541 he organized an
expedition to search for the "land
Of the cinnamon" With a COM
pany of some $50 Spaniards, some
of them mounted and some on foot
1000 Indians, as well as pigs, la
mas, and dogs, Pizarro crossed the
Andes and eventually reached the
Rio Coca. Here the hapless band
of men, tired and hungry as they
were from the long trek, and dis.
appointed with not having found
the land Of the cinnamon, decid-
ed to build a brigantine to con.
tinue their exploration.
Continued tomorrow)
Spanish Version Page 3