Quito: Leading Tourist Destination in South America
- Carolina Segarra
- Sep 15, 2022
- 8 min read
Updated: Jun 26
By Carolina Segarra
Quito, known as San Francisco de Quito, was formerly known as Quitu, named after the Quitu-Cara indigenous population who were the original inhabitants of the Pichincha area in Ecuador. The word “Quitu” means place or space in the center of the world. Quito was founded with the name “Quitu” on December 6, 1534, by Sebastián de Benalcázar, a Spanish conqueror who arrived in America in 1514 on one of Columbus' ships. Benalcázar, like other conquerors, committed genocide to an indigenous population to obtain a new colony. The Spanish, with the blood of the Incas still on their hands, took Quitu and implemented the policies of the Spanish crown. It should be noted that before December 6, 1534, there had already been two confrontations to take Quitu. In the first confrontation, the Cañaris, an indigenous population, allied themselves with the Spaniards, which cost them their lives at the hands of the Inca leader Rumiñahui. In the second encounter, the few Incas who still remained faithful to the Incan throne engaged the Spaniards in battle after Rumiñahui ordered the execution of the deserters and traitors. The Spaniards outnumbered them both in numbers and in artillery, and Rumiñahui had to flee in the direction of Pucará de los Sigchos, in Cotopaxi. The Spaniards located him there, severely injured, in the region that today bears his name. After that, he was imprisoned and subjected to torture in order for the Spaniards to learn more about Atahualpa's tremendous wealth. Rumiñahui was burned in a makeshift bonfire after being tortured at the hands of the Spanish to learn the whereabouts of the treasure of Atahualpa that remains a mystery today as well as the location of his grave.
