San Miguel de los Bancos, or simply Los Bancos, is a

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

in the province of Pichincha,

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: ' ...

. The long name of the town refers to dedication of the area to the

archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

. Local tradition attributes the "Los Bancos" part of the name to the use of tree trunks as benches at the junction of the through road from

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 on ...

to Esmeraldas with the road into the Rio Blanco valley.

Geography

The canton is in the

Guayllabamba Guayllabamba (Kichwa: ''Wayllapampa'', "green plain") is a small agricultural town (administratively, a rural parish of the canton of Quito) located 29 kilometers northeast of the city of Quito in northern Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ' ...

river basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

, which, in turn, is part of the river basin of the

Esmeraldas river The Esmeraldas River is a river in northwestern Ecuador that flows into the Pacific Ocean at the city of Esmeraldas. Among its tributaries is the Guayllabamba River which drains Quito. Charles Marie de la Condamine sailed up it and then climbed ...

, which flows into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. The climate of the canton is

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north a ...

because of its mid-high elevation, as opposed to the climate of higher elevation in the province between the Western and Central Cordilleras, which enclose the highlands of the Ecuadorian

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

Political divisions

The canton is divided into two parishes: the urban parish San Miguel de los Bancos and the rural parish Mindo.

Economy

As with other cantons in the province of Pichincha, Los Bancos' economy is mainly agricultural, based especially on

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

-raising. Recently, there has been considerable growth in eco-tourism, most notably at Mindo. {{Cantons of Ecuador Cantons of Pichincha Province