Canchimalero
- Peter Stromberg
- Mar 15, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 27
By Peter Stromberg
The northern most coastal province in Ecuador is called Esmeraldas. It's home to 70% of the Afro-Ecuadorian community in Ecuador. According to Wikipedia, ``Most Afro-Ecuadorians are the descendants of enslaved Africans who originally arrived in Ecuador from the early 16th century. In 1553, the first enslaved Africans reached Ecuador in Quito when a slave ship heading to Peru was stranded off the Ecuadorian coast. The enslaved Africans escaped and established maroon settlements in Esmeraldas, which became a safe haven as many Africans fleeing slave conditions either escaped to there or were forced to live there."
Today Esmeraldas is one of the richest places in Ecuador in culture and raw beauty. The humble people are the greatest resource in this area and their style of hospitality is as impressive as the world's largest mangroves in which they live.
