Pichincha is a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. The capital

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

wraps around its eastern slopes. The two highest peaks of the mountain are Wawa Pichincha (

Kichwa Kichwa (, , also Spanish ) is a Quechuan language that includes all Quechua varieties of Ecuador and Colombia ('' Inga''), as well as extensions into Peru. It has an estimated half million speakers. Classification Kichwa belongs to the Nor ...

''wawa'' child, baby / small, Spanish spelling ''Guagua Pichincha'') () and Ruku Pichincha (Kichwa ''ruku'' old person, Spanish ''Rucu Pichincha'') (). The active

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

is in Wawa Pichincha on the western side of the mountain.

Description

Both peaks are visible from the city of Quito and both are popular

acclimatization Acclimatization or acclimatisation ( also called acclimation or acclimatation) is the process in which an individual organism adjusts to a change in its environment (such as a change in altitude, temperature, humidity, photoperiod, or pH), ...

climbs. Wawa Pichincha is usually accessed from the village of Lloa outside of Quito. Ruku is typically accessed from the TelefériQo on the western side of Quito. In October 1999, the volcano erupted and covered the city with several inches of

ash Ash is the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash is the ...

. Before that, the last major eruptions were in 1553 and in 1660, when about of ash fell on the city. The

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

in which it is located was named for the mountain. This is also the case for many of the other provinces in Ecuador (including

Cotopaxi Cotopaxi () is an active stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located near Latacunga city of Cotopaxi Province, about south of Quito, and northeast of the city of Latacunga, Ecuador. It is the second highest summit in Ecuador (after Chim ...

Chimborazo Chimborazo () is a stratovolcano situated in Ecuador in the Cordillera Occidental (Ecuador), Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes. Its last known Types of volcanic eruptions, eruption is believed to have occurred around AD 550. Although not ...

, and Imbabura).

Geography

'' Dracula vampira'', a type of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

, can be found on the volcano, at an altitude of above sea level.Jenny, R. (1997) ''Dracula vampira''. Caesiana, 8: center page.Luer, C.A. (1993) ''Systematics of Dracula''. Missouri Botanical Gardens.

Eruptions

In 1660, Pichincha underwent a

Plinian eruption Plinian eruptions or Vesuvian eruptions are volcanic eruptions characterized by their similarity to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which destroyed the ancient Roman cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The eruption was described in a le ...

, spreading ash over , with over of ash falling on Quito. The most recent significant eruption began in August 1998. On March 12, 2000, a

phreatic eruption A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evap ...

killed two volcanologists who were working on the lava dome.

History

The volcano was considered sacred to numerous cultures of the indigenous peoples who lived in this region for thousands of years before encounter with Spanish and other Europeans. The first recorded ascent of Guagua Pichincha was in 1582 by a group of locals led by José Ortiguera. In 1737 several members of the

French Geodesic Mission The French Geodesic Mission to the Equator (), also called the French Geodesic Mission to Peru and the Spanish-French Geodesic Mission, was an 18th-century expedition to what is now Ecuador carried out for the purpose of performing an arc measu ...

to the equator, including

Charles-Marie de La Condamine Charles Marie de La Condamine (; 28 January 1701 – 4 February 1774) was a French explorer, geographer, and mathematician. He spent ten years in territory which is now Ecuador, measuring the length of a degree of latitude at the equator and pr ...

Pierre Bouguer Pierre Bouguer () (16 February 1698, Le Croisic – 15 August 1758, Paris) was a French mathematician, geophysicist, geodesist, and astronomer. He is also known as "the father of naval architecture". Career Bouguer's father, Jean Bouguer, ...

and

Antonio de Ulloa Antonio de Ulloa y de la Torre-Guiral (12 January 1716 – 3 July 1795) was a Spanish Navy officer. He spent much of his career in the Spanish America, Americas, where he carried out important scientific work. As a scientist, Ulloa is re ...

, spent 23 days on the summit of Rucu Pichincha as part of their triangulation work to calculate the length of a degree of latitude. Batalla de Pichincha

On 17 June 1742, during the same mission, La Condamine and Bouguer made an ascent of Guagua Pichincha and looked down into the crater of the volcano, which had last erupted in 1660. La Condamine compared what he saw to the underworld. In the summer season of 1802,

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

climbed and measured the altitude of this mountain and several other volcanoes in the region. Humboldt's writings inspired artist

Frederic Edwin Church Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painting, landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, best known for paintin ...

to visit and paint Pichincha and other Andean peaks. On May 24, 1822, General

Sucre Sucre (; ) is the ''de jure'' capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high ...

's southern campaign in the Spanish–American War of independence came to a climax when his forces defeated the Spanish colonial army on the southeast slopes of this volcano. The engagement, known as the

Battle of Pichincha The Battle of Pichincha took place on 24 May 1822, on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, 3,500 meters above sea-level, right next to the city of Quito, in modern Ecuador. The encounter, fought in the context of the Spanish American wars of ...

, secured the independence from Spain of the territories of present-day Ecuador.

References

External links