Píllaro (pronounced 'PEE-lyah-ro' or 'Pee-zha-ro') is a city in
Ecuador, located in the province of
Tungurahua. It is the capital of the
Píllaro Canton
Píllaro Canton is a canton of Ecuador, located in the Tungurahua Province
Tungurahua ( es, Provincia del Tungurahua, literally ''Province of the Tungurahua''; ) is one of the twenty-four provinces of Ecuador. Its capital is Ambato. The provi ...
and stands about 19 km northeast of
Ambato, the provincial capital.
The city is located on a high
Andean plain, at an altitude of 2,800 metres above sea level and has an average temperature of around 13 degrees Celsius. It is an agricultural centre, producing primarily
cereals,
potatoes, and fruit (mainly
apples). It is also known as a centre for wood-carving.
History
Rumiñahui, the famous
Incan military commander, was born in Huaynacuri de Píllaro, around 1482. Son of Huayna Cápac and Nary Ati. Down the maternal line his grandparents were Pillahuaso Ati, Cacique de Píllaro and the Queen Choasanguil. His name means "face of stone". El Congreso Nacional (the National Congress) in 1985, decided that 1 December be remembered as a commemoration of the country's
indigenous hero and a defender of the Kingdom of Quito against the Spanish
conquistador
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...
s.
Píllaro was founded in 1570 by Antonio Clavijo. Píllaro became a separate canton in 1851.
[''http://www.pillaro.gov.ec/fundacion.aspx'' Foundation of Pillaro 4 August 2009] The town was heavily damaged in the
1949 earthquake that similarly devastated the nearby towns of
Ambato and
Pelileo.
Geography
Pillaro is considered a gateway to the
Llanganates National Park. This is the site of the legend of the
Llangantes. The legends goes that
Rumiñahui, on his way to
Cajamarca to pay off the Spanish conquistadors, hid
Incan gold in the park. The gold was supposed to go to
Francisco Pizarro to pay the ransom for the kidnapped Incan king,
Atahualpa
Atahualpa (), also Atawallpa (Quechua), Atabalica, Atahuallpa, Atabalipa (c. 1502 – 26-29 July 1533) was the last Inca Emperor. After defeating his brother, Atahualpa became very briefly the last Sapa Inca (sovereign emperor) of the Inca Empir ...
. Rumiñahui, on learning that his king had been killed, sidetracked to the deserted
páramo
Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...
of the Llanganates and buried the
gold. Many in Pillaro encourage the story, insisting that the town is full of secrets and legends.
Pillaro is divided into 7 districts:
*Baquerizo Moreno
*Emilio María Terán (Rumipamba)
*Marcos Espinel (Chacata)
*Presidente Urbina (Chagrapamba)
*San Andrés
*San José de Poaló
*San Miguelito.
References
External links
Municipality of Pillaro (Spanish)
{{Coord, 1, 10, S, 78, 32, W, display=title, region:EC_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki
Populated places in Tungurahua Province