Cajabamba (Villa la Unión) is a location in the

Chimborazo Province Chimborazo () is a province in the central Ecuadorian Andes. It is a home to a section of Sangay National Park. The capital is Riobamba. The province contains Chimborazo (6,267 m), Ecuador's highest mountain. Cantons The province is divided ...

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: ' ...

. It is the seat of the

Colta Canton Colta Canton is a canton of Ecuador, located in the Chimborazo Province Chimborazo () is a province in the central Ecuadorian Andes. It is a home to a section of Sangay National Park. The capital is Riobamba. The province contains Chimborazo (6 ...

. The village of Cajabamba (

Kichwa Kichwa (, , also Spanish ) is a Quechuan language that includes all Quechua varieties of Ecuador and Colombia ('' Inga''), as well as extensions into Peru. It has an estimated half million speakers. The most widely spoken dialects are Chimbor ...

: Kashapampa, "thorn plain") is situated in a fertile arable valley in

(Chimborazo = "snows on the other side"). It is unknown when the valley was first inhabited but it is known to have been settled in

pre-Incan This is a chart of cultural periods of Peru and the Andean Region developed by John Rowe and Edward Lanning and used by some archaeologists studying the area. An alternative dating system was developed by Luis Lumbreras and provides different dat ...

times as the city of Liribamba, the capital of the ancient

Puruhá The Puruhá are an indigenous people of Ecuador. Their traditional area in the highlands of the Andes Mountains includes much of Chimborazo Province and parts of Bolívar Province. History In the early period they grew subsistence crops, raise ...

people. As the

Incan empire The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...

expanded, the region became an area of conquest and was fully under the control of the

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...

by the time of Wayna Qhapaq. After the capture and subsequent murder of his son and successor

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 Em ...

Cajamarca Cajamarca (), also known by the Quechua name, ''Kashamarka'', is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Peru ...

, resistance to the '' conquista'' centered on the Incan general Rumiñawi, who withdrew his troops to the region. After a drawn-out series of engagements with the ''

conquistadors 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, ...

'', who allied with the

Cañari The Cañari (in Kichwa: Kañari) are an indigenous ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the territory of the modern provinces of Azuay and Cañar in Ecuador. They are descended from the independent pre-Columbian tribal confederation of the ...

(recently conquered Incan subjects), Rumiñawi, faced with the prospect of near-certain defeat, ordered the city of Liribamba burned and the treasures of the Incas hidden or destroyed. Within the month (August 1534), Spanish conquistador

Diego de Almagro Diego de Almagro (; – July 8, 1538), also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo, was a Spanish conquistador known for his exploits in western South America. He participated with Francisco Pizarro in the Spanish conquest of Peru. While subd ...

founded a new city on the ashes of Liribamba which he named Santiago de Quito, the first city founded by the Spanish. By the end of the year, Incan resistance had collapsed, culminating in a battle at the volcanic mountain Chimborazo, and Rumiñahui was captured. Soon after, the city of Quito was moved to its current location. The city in the valley was renamed by its founders Villa de Riobamba, which means "plain on the journey" (possibly referring to its centrality). The city was destroyed in a massive 8.3 magnitude earthquake in 1797 and moved to its current location 20 km away. (An important cavalry battle known as the Combate de Tapi was fought here in 1822 during the Independence War). The small populations remaining at the sites lived in the parishes known as Cajabamba and Sicalpa (also Cicalpa). In 1884, the parishes broke from the metropolitan umbrella of Riobamba and joined together to form Villa La Unión, which is the formal name of the village today known as Cajabamba.

References

www.inec.gov.ec

www.ame.gov.ec

External links

Canton Colta
{{Ecuador-geo-stub Populated places in Chimborazo Province