Píllaro () is a town in

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 ...

, located in the province of

Tungurahua Tungurahua (; from Quichua ''tunguri'' (throat) and ''rahua'' (fire), "Throat of Fire")) is an active stratovolcano located in the Cordillera Oriental of Ecuador. The volcano gives its name to the province of Tungurahua. Volcanic activity re ...

. It is the capital of the

Píllaro Canton Píllaro Canton is a canton of Ecuador, located in the Tungurahua Province. Its capital is the town of Píllaro Píllaro () is a town in Ecuador, located in the province of Tungurahua. It is the capital of the Píllaro Canton and stands about ...

and stands about 19 km northeast of Ambato, the provincial capital. The town is located on a high

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

plain, at an altitude of 2,800 metres above sea level and has an average temperature of around 13 degrees Celsius. It is an agricultural centre, producing primarily

cereals A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize (Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, suc ...

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es, and fruit (mainly

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s). It is also known as a centre for wood-carving.

History

Rumiñahui, the famous

Incan The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...

military commander, was born in Huaynacuri de Píllaro, around 1482. Son of Huayna Cápac and Nary Ati. Down the maternal line his grandparents were Pillahuaso Ati, Cacique de Píllaro and the Queen Choasanguil. His name means "face of stone". El Congreso Nacional (the National Congress) in 1985, decided that 1 December be remembered as a commemoration of the country's

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

hero and a defender of the Kingdom of Quito against the Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

s. Píllaro was founded in 1570 by Antonio Clavijo. Píllaro became a separate canton in 1851.''http://www.pillaro.gov.ec/fundacion.aspx'' Foundation of Pillaro 4 August 2009 The town was heavily damaged in the 1949 earthquake that similarly devastated the nearby towns of Ambato and

Pelileo Pelileo (full form: San Pedro de Pelileo) is a city, with a population of 11,403 (2022 census), located at the center of the Andean region of Ecuador called ''La Sierra'' ("the highlands"). It is the seat of Pelileo Canton, with a popula ...

Geography

Pillaro is considered a gateway to the

Llanganates National Park Llanganates National Park () is a protected area in Ecuador situated in the Cotopaxi Province, Ecuador, Cotopaxi Province, Napo Province, Ecuador, Napo Province, Pastaza Province, Ecuador, Pastaza Province and Tungurahua Province, Ecuador, Tungura ...

. This is the site of the legend of the Llangantes. The legends goes that Rumiñahui, on his way to

Cajamarca Cajamarca (), also known by the Quechua name, ''Kashamarka'', is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Per ...

to pay off the Spanish conquistadors, hid

gold in the park. The gold was supposed to go to

Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo, Spain, to a poor fam ...

to pay the ransom for the kidnapped Incan king,

Atahualpa Atahualpa (), also Atawallpa or Ataw Wallpa ( Quechua) ( 150226 July 1533), was the last effective Inca emperor, reigning from April 1532 until his capture and execution in July of the following year, as part of the Spanish conquest of the In ...

. Rumiñahui, on learning that his king had been killed, sidetracked to the deserted

páramo Páramo () may refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

of the Llanganates and buried the

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. Many in Pillaro encourage the story, insisting that the town is full of secrets and legends. Pillaro is divided into 7 districts: *Baquerizo Moreno *Emilio María Terán (Rumipamba) *Marcos Espinel (Chacata) *Presidente Urbina (Chagrapamba) *San Andrés *San José de Poaló *San Miguelito.

Climate

References

External links

Municipality of Pillaro (Spanish)
{{Coord, 1, 10, S, 78, 32, W, display=title, region:EC_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Populated places in Tungurahua Province