22.08.09 - Quito Museum

The first settlers in Ecuador probably came from across the Bering Strait from Alaska and journeyed south. They populated the coastal regions forming small villages and farming the land. Even the earliest civilizations used the craft of pottery to represent the important members of the community through moulding their portraits on to the front of jars, adorned with jewellery and detailing. As the population grew, so did trade between communities and ritual practising. People began to migrate inland into the Andes and Quito was founded, in it's infant state, with some villages in the valley floor. This continued until 1432 when a small group of pioneering Incas from Peru started their campaign to bring together all the communities and build an empire. In less than one century the Inca empire stretched from North Ecuador all the way down to Peru. They built roads and introduced more sophisticated irrigation systems, so they perhaps caused the collapse of some valuable communities but also brought many advances to the area. Then Columbus arrived to colonise South America. It began as a fairly happy marriage between indigenous and new Spanish, then epidemics including influenza, brought from Spain, killed many local peoples. The Spaniards introduced a 'hacienda' system where power was given to landlords, which heralded the beginning of the end of the happy marriage. There were volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in the 17th century and the poor conditions suffered by the indigenous people caused them revolt against Spanish rule. In 1809 Simon Bolivar heralded the beginning of a new movement for Independence from Spain. Although at first there was not enough patronage, he led a revolt years later and Ecuador and surrounding regions gained their inependence.