﻿THE 
  HISTORIC 
  TRIBES 
  OF 
  ECUADOR 
  

  

  By 
  John 
  Mtjrra 
  

  

  INTRODUCTION 
  

  

  The 
  place 
  assigned 
  to 
  Ecuador 
  in 
  traditional 
  culture-area 
  divisions 
  

   of 
  the 
  Andean 
  chain 
  is 
  a 
  marginal 
  one 
  (map 
  1, 
  No. 
  16). 
  Within 
  the 
  

   territory 
  of 
  this 
  country 
  we 
  find 
  the 
  southernmost 
  extension 
  of 
  Chib- 
  

   c/tan-speaking 
  groups 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  peoples 
  for 
  whom 
  affiliation 
  with 
  the 
  

   North 
  Coast 
  of 
  Peru 
  has 
  been 
  suggested. 
  In 
  addition, 
  the 
  tribes 
  of 
  

   Ecuador 
  were 
  the 
  last 
  to 
  be 
  subdued 
  by 
  the 
  Inca 
  and 
  as 
  such 
  were 
  

   never 
  thoroughly 
  integrated 
  within 
  the 
  feudal 
  structure 
  of 
  the 
  Empire. 
  

  

  But 
  we 
  can 
  also 
  think 
  of 
  these 
  tribes 
  as 
  part 
  of 
  an 
  extensive 
  north 
  

   Andean 
  continuum 
  of 
  native 
  tribes, 
  located 
  between 
  central 
  Colombia 
  

   and 
  the 
  heart 
  of 
  Peru, 
  which 
  by 
  A. 
  D. 
  1400 
  had 
  [achieved 
  a 
  high 
  

   degree 
  of 
  environmental 
  mastery 
  and 
  considerable 
  complexity 
  of 
  social 
  

   organization. 
  Intensive 
  cultivation 
  of 
  varied 
  crops 
  insured 
  a 
  depend- 
  

   able 
  food 
  supply 
  for 
  a 
  sedentary 
  and 
  numerous 
  population. 
  Regular 
  

   trade 
  routes, 
  at 
  least 
  along 
  the 
  Coast, 
  facilitated 
  the 
  exchange 
  of 
  cere- 
  

   monial 
  and 
  utilitarian 
  commodities. 
  Throughout 
  this 
  area, 
  local 
  

   groups 
  frequently 
  banded 
  together 
  for 
  military 
  conquest 
  and 
  mutual 
  

   defense 
  in 
  what 
  are 
  known 
  as 
  kingdoms 
  and 
  confederations. 
  Finally, 
  

   throughout 
  the 
  northwest 
  countries, 
  native 
  peoples 
  had 
  developed 
  a 
  

   series 
  of 
  artistic 
  forms 
  in 
  various 
  media 
  which 
  testify 
  to 
  interests 
  and 
  

   skills 
  not 
  found 
  among 
  their 
  Amazonian 
  neighbors. 
  Their 
  degree 
  of 
  

   social 
  and 
  economic 
  organization 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  technical 
  competence 
  must 
  

   have 
  been 
  of 
  the 
  kind 
  which, 
  only 
  a 
  very 
  few 
  centuries 
  earlier, 
  had 
  

   permitted 
  the 
  rise 
  of 
  an 
  unmistakable 
  state 
  structure 
  in 
  the 
  Peruvian 
  

   Highland. 
  This 
  continuum 
  was 
  interrupted 
  by 
  the 
  Inca 
  conquest, 
  

   and 
  later 
  divergent 
  Colonial 
  and 
  Republican 
  development 
  deepened 
  

   the 
  cultural 
  gulf 
  between 
  the 
  natives 
  of 
  Highland 
  Ecuador 
  and 
  their 
  

   neighbors 
  to 
  the 
  north. 
  

  

  Peculiar 
  historic 
  circumstances 
  explain 
  our 
  relatively 
  meager 
  knowl- 
  

   edge 
  of 
  pr 
  e-Inca, 
  pre-Columbian 
  life 
  in 
  this 
  area. 
  The 
  country 
  was 
  

   obviously 
  poorer, 
  smaller, 
  and 
  less 
  profitable 
  than 
  Peru, 
  and 
  so 
  at- 
  

   tracted 
  the 
  interest 
  of 
  fewer 
  conquistadors 
  and 
  chroniclers. 
  The 
  area 
  

   had 
  been 
  conquered 
  by 
  the 
  Inca, 
  and, 
  though 
  the 
  effect 
  of 
  their 
  occu- 
  

   pation 
  was 
  not 
  thoroughgoing, 
  it 
  was 
  difficult 
  for 
  the 
  few 
  16th-century 
  

  

  785 
  

  

  