Rumiñawi, born late 15th century in present-day Ecuador, died June 25, 1535, was a

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

during the Inca Civil War. Hispanicized spellings of his name include Rumiaoui, Ruminavi, Ruminagui, Rumiñagui, and Rumiñahui. After the death of Emperor

Atahualpa Atahualpa (), also Atawallpa or Ataw Wallpa ( Quechua) ( 150226 July 1533), was the last effective Inca emperor, reigning from April 1532 until his capture and execution in July of the following year, as part of the Spanish conquest of the In ...

, he led an uprising in 1533 against the Spanish in the northern part of the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

(modern-day

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

). According to tradition he ordered the city's treasure to be hidden and the city burned. Although captured and tortured, he never revealed the treasure. Since 1985, 1 December has been celebrated as a day of commemoration of his acts.

Life

Born in Pillaro in modern Tungurahua Province in

, his given name was Ati II Pillahuaso. Inca historians tend to believe that he was Atahualpa's half-brother, born from a native noble woman. Later in life, after becoming an important warrior and military leader, he was called Rumiñawi ( Kichwa ''rumi'' meaning stone, rock; ''ñawi'' meaning eye, face,Kichwa Yachakukkunapa Shimiyuk Kamu (Ministry of Education, Ecuador) "stone eye", "stone face", "rock eye" or "rock face").Leon, P., 1998, ''The Discovery and Conquest of Peru, Chronicles of the New World Encounter,'' edited and translated by Cook and Cook, Durham: Duke University Press, When

Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo, Spain, to a poor fam ...

imprisoned Atahualpa and held him in the Ransom Room, Rumiñawi took forces to Cajamarca to deliver a huge amount of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

for his release. After the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

executed Atahualpa, Rumiñawi returned to Quito. He is believed to have ordered the Treasure of the Llanganatis thrown into a lake or buried in snow. Sebastián de Benalcázar headed to

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

, intent on any treasure he could recover. The forces of Rumiñawi and Benalcázar met at the Battle of Mount Chimborazo, where Rumiñawi was defeated. However, before the Spanish forces captured Quito, its treasures were secreted away.Prescott, W.H., 2011, ''The History of the Conquest of Peru,'' Digireads.com Publishing, Rumiñawi had ordered the ancient city of Quito to be burned. He also ordered the principal ladies of the temples who refused to flee to be killed to prevent their being captured by the foreign soldiers. Rumiñahui was eventually captured by the Spanish, who tortured and killed him, enraged at his barbarity. They also wanted the treasure. But he never revealed the location of the treasure.

Legacy

*In 1985 the Ecuadorian Congress made December 1st an annual day of remembrance for Rumiñawi, as an indigenous hero and defender of the Kingdom of Quito. *Rumiñahui's portrait was the prominent image on the front of the 1,000 Ecuadorian sucre note.

Life

Legacy

References

Further reading