Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño (11 December 1890 – 17 August 1950) was an

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

ian historian, archeologist, and politician. He was the mayor of the city of Quito (the capital of Ecuador) from 1946 to 1948. He was a member of the Ecuadorian parliament and a candidate for the presidency of Ecuador. He published several works about the pre-Hispanic history of cultures in Ecuador.

Early life and education

Jijón y Caamaño was born in

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

in 1890 to Don Manuel Jijón Larrea and Doña Dolores Caamaño y Almada. He attended school in the city, where he was taught by Archbishop Federico González Suárez. In 1912, he and his mother traveled with a fellow pupil, Carlos Manuel Larrea, to Europe. There, Jijón y Caamaño developed his interest in the sciences, and learned

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, French, and

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. Having also collected numerous books, he returned to Ecuador where he began to use his money to support his studies of pre-Hispanic settlements in the area.Arqueólogo Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño (1890-1950)
. Accessed 1 April 2010.

Career

As an

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...

, Jijón y Caamaño surveyed pre-Hispanic settlement near the town of

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, mapping the largest structures. He was the first to use the term " Manteño" to describe such early coastal settlements. He believed that the Manteños had a culture that was more of a trading ring than a kingdom or empire. He drew parallels between their network and the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

of Europe. He wrote several works, including ''Quito y la independencia de America: discurso leido en la sesion solemne celebrada por la Academia Nacional de Historia ... en conmemoracion del I centenario de la batalla de Pichincha'' ("Quito and the independence of America: Address delivered at the solemn session held by the National Academy of History ... in commemoration of the centenary of the Battle of Pichincha", referring to

, capital of Ecuador, and the

Battle of Pichincha The Battle of Pichincha took place on 24 May 1822, on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, 3,500 meters above sea-level, right next to the city of Quito, in modern Ecuador. The encounter, fought in the context of the Spanish American wars of i ...

). He also wrote books on archaeological topics, such as the ''Antropología prehispánica del Ecuador'' ("Pre-Hispanic Anthropology of Ecuador"). In addition to his archeological studies, Jijón y Caamaño became politically active. He was elected and served as mayor of Quito for a two-year term, from 1946 to 1948. He also was elected to the Ecuadorian parliament. In 1940, he ran as a candidate for the presidency of Ecuador.

Bibliography

*Jijón y Caamaño, Jacinto. 1940–1945. ''El Ecuador interandino y occidental antes de la conquista castellana'' (Inter-Andean and Western Ecuador before the Castilian Conquest). Quito: Editorial Ecuatoriana.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jijon Y Caamano, Jacinto 1890 births 1950 deaths Mayors of Quito People from Quito Archaeology of Ecuador Members of the National Congress (Ecuador) History of Ecuador 20th-century archaeologists Linguists of indigenous languages of South America