Cayambe, Ecuador


Cayambe is an agricultural service city in highland Ecuador. It lies at the foot of the Cayambe volcano. While the city is mainly peopled by mestizos, the surrounding rural population is primarily composed of indigenous people who are mainly involved in subsistence agriculture, dairy farming and procurement of lumber. It's the third largest city in Pichincha Province.

History

Cayambe's indigenous people of today are descendants of the pre-Inca Kayambi people. The Kayambi were resistant to Inca expansion and were only definitively conquered by Huayna Capac after a bloody 20-year war. At that time, the Kayambi people adopted the Kichwa language, a dialect of the Quechua family of languages. Not long afterwards, in the 16th century, the first Spanish conquistadores arrived in the region. Kichwa survives in some of the hamlets today, while in others it has given way to Spanish.

Government

The town of Cayambe is the seat of the canton of Cayambe.

Industry

The area hosts numerous flower plantations, whose products are destined for the overseas cut flower market. Among the local food products, better known are cheese and biscochos de Cayambe.

Points of interest

There are two monuments at the Equator in Cayambe:
  1. The Quitsato Sundial, which is a touristic sundial, and very possibly one of the most accurate places in the world created to determine equator position.
  2. A globe monument, known as "La Bola", which is located from Quito at the Pan-American Highway.
In the surroundings of Cayambe are some interesting points to visit: The waterfalls of Cariacu, the virgin forests of , and the arquelogical museum near Puntazil.

Gallery