CULTURAL HISTORY

Cultural History of the Northwest Ecuadorian Region

Mindo was the center of a very important Yumbo-Nigua culture, which lived and developed in this territory for thousands of years. The Yumbos were industrious businesspeople, who developed an intense commerce network between the Highlands, the Amazon and the Coast. Before they became astute in business, they had developed a harmonious cosmology vision of our existence, and the relationship with the Universe and the stars. With the arrival of the Spanish domination the advancements of this culture was impacted, their knowledge was confiscated, and eventually their culture as it was known got buried away, with their descendants leaving this area to other regions of Ecuador and Colombia for survival. Centuries later, in 1956 this area was donated for the creation of the Town of Mindo.

Divine Understanding of the Universe

The Yumbos built up an important regional center there. The relationship between the Yumbos, the nearby cultures, and the Incas is of great special interest nowadays as recent discoveries are demonstrating a window to the important divine knowledge this culture held for many centuries. Various analyses underway illuminate the nature of Inca-Yumbo interaction, and provide additional understanding of the nature and process of Inca expansion in the northern Andes over 700 years ago. Unusual stone features, pool configurations, spindle whorls, and abundant Cosanga (“Panzaleo”) pottery, among other data, open up new avenues of inquiry into the Yumbo economy and its important spiritual and commercial role throughout the Americas.

Regional Cultural Archaeology

The oldest archaeological findings in Ecuador are found during the Paleo-Indian period approximately 15,000 years ago whose remains were found in areas surrounding Quito. The Yumbos were avid traders between the coast and the mountain cultures. They were known to be a gentle, peaceful and accessible people, partly because no traces of weapons or battles have been found in the areas where they inhabited. The Yumbos developed a large network of roads (some still exist today and are familiarly known as Yumbo Trails) which began in the area north-east of Quito (Upper Amazon Basin), reached the area of Tulipe (west of Quito), and connects to the coastal areas of Ecuador. These trails were later used by the Incas, then by the Spanish conquistadors, and recently they are used by the locals who live in the cloud forest, and by interested travelers.

The Yumbos displacement

Some descendants of the Yumbos are known today as the Schachilas (Yumbos Colorados) who reside in Santo Domingo de los Colorados. Many other descendants live in the Amazon and Southern Colombia nowadays.

The great eruption of the Pululahua volcano (next to Mitad Del Mundo on the way to Mindo) which took place more than 2 millennia ago greatly affected, and may have put an end to the rich development of many cultures in the Northwest Ecuador region. Then, in the middle of the XVII century the violent eruptions of the Pululahua and Pichincha volcanoes further pushed the Yumbos definitely out of the surrounding Quito area towards the Coast and the Amazon.

Yumbo product trading

Due to having maintained a solid political and economic organization, even after the first big eruption, the arrival and presence of the Incas did not change the Yumbo culture. Among their trading products we find animals, seeds, precious stones, crystals, shells, preserved seafood, coca, medicinal plants, tropical fruits, salt, musical instruments and animals.

The present town of Tulipe, a predominant farming community about 40 miles northwest of Quito (on the way to Mindo), preserves natural museums where you may observe some of the amazing physical remnants of this culture, and learn about their epic history. They are open daily and accommodations and food can readily be found there.

Ancient Yumbo sites to visit

One of the still remaining most sacred sites in Ecuador and in the Andes Mountains Region in general, is the “Pucara” (sacred site) of Rumicucho, a spiritual temple and defensive fortification. The cultures in this area, including the Incas, each year still celebrate the beginning of a new agricultural year during the solstice in this temple, referred to as Inti-Raymi (Festival of the Sun). This temple was also an Incan military fort, since it’s a strategic top-of-the-mountain far-visibility location allowed the 360° monitoring of movement coming from the Amazon, surrounding mountains and any advancement from the coastal regions. There are several fortifications throughout the Andes, similar to this one, all Pre-Hispanic, many Pre-Incan, that together make up a systematic earthling reflection of the movement of the Sun and the stars.

The real “Mitad Del Mundo” - Catequilla

From the beginning of time, Ecuadorian societies studied the Sun, the Moon and the stars, and eventually analyzed precisely the solstice and equinox calendars. To consolidate this knowledge they built the star temple in the Mountain known as Catequilla (near the well-known Mitad Del Mundo), which is the exact place where the equatorial line divides both the north and the south hemisphere. The local people discovered the center of the world many centuries ago. Being this temple more accurate than the site marked by the French Geodesic Mission in today’s famous Mitad Del Mundo it is now becoming a hot discussion topic among archeologists and scientists. So much so that mainstream academia refuses to further investigate the Catequilla.

Yumbo and Inca influence on the Americas 

The brilliance and audacity of the Yumbos provided a transparent and humanistic communication network, and spiritual direction throughout the Northern Andean region. This may had greatly contributed to the region’s social, spiritual and commercial development that the Incas intelligently took great beneficial advantage of for their own political expansion and regional consolidation.