Ecuador Culture

In the Culture of Ecuador, the rich history of Ecuador and its diverse geography have helped to forge the cultural identities of the communities that are found throughout the Pacific coast , they are settle on the cold Andean mountain landscapes extending their territories through the lush ecosystems of the Amazon rainforest .

The tourism in Ecuador promotes the knowledge of pre-Hispanic cultures of people who lived in Ecuador.

Ecuador is a multiethnic country, its population has an heritage from Indigenous , African and European. Most of Ecuadorians are mix race, with a mix of spanish and indigenous on their  ancestries. More than one million Ecuadorians have African ancestors, and many of them live in the regions of the northwest : Esmeraldas and Chota.

The culinary traditions in the Ecuadorian Culture is vary widely by region : the coastal gastronomic elements are often fish and legumes, while Andean cuisine prefers meat, rice and ground corn. The tourist in Ecuador you can enjoy exotic fruits, tasty seafood, such as shrimp spicy marinated in lemon, and a surprising variety of potatoes among other . flavors

Music has been an important cultural aspect in Ecuador, since long before of the Inca Empire. Instruments such as flutes, drums and trumpets have been found in ancient graves. The Pasillo is a popular genre of Ecuadorian music, It is associated with indigenous communities, while music Marimba and Bomba are associated with Afro-Ecuadorian communities.

Ecuador cultures

The Cultures of Ecuador can be seen in its three continental regions. Here coexist 18 indigenous nationalities and 14 peoples with diverse traditions and their own worldview. The most known Amazonian nationalities are: Kichwa , Huaorani , Achuar , Shuar , Cofán , Siona - Secoya , Shiwiar and Záparo. The Tagaeri and Taromenane are relatives of the Huaorani people, which conform another people in the zone, which also was declared as “intangible” by the State, for respecting its willingness to live away from civilization. All of these ethnic communities are also covered by the Constitution of the Republic in its Title II and chapter 4, mainly by recognizing them since 1998 collective rights that would facilitate conserve their culture and ancestral territories.

The Cultures of Ecuador in the mountains, in the Andes and in the South are the Quichuas ofthe mountain such as Otavalo, Salasaca , Cañari and Saraguro . In the northern part, the is the Awá community. On the Pacific coast they are the Chachi , Tsáchila and Huancavilca . Mestizos, whites and Afro-Ecuadorians, live in cities and towns, but also there are an important migration from the countryside to the city.

The indigenous communities of Ecuador are mostly integrated within the culture established at different levels, but some communities still practice their own customs, particularly in the most remote of the Cuenca´s tradition.

On the other hand are the Afro-Ecuadorians. Mainly there are two strong concentrations of Afro-descendant in the country. On one side is the that exists on the north coast in the province of Esmeraldas and the other one  lives in the Chota Valley, between the provinces of Imbabura and Carchi. Afro-Ecuadorians live anyway in all regions of the country, with special concentration on Esmeraldas and the northern highlands.

The majority of the Ecuadorian population self recognize as mestizo, although they exist some who prefer to adhere to a basically white / European cultural legacy, mainly in the main cities, as well as there are mulattos, zambos and various small groups of immigrants from other countries.

How many cultures are there in Ecuador

Below a detailed list of the names of the cultures of Ecuador, there you can also find the ancestral cultures of Ecuador, information about the history of Ecuadorian culture.

Cultures of the Ecuadorian Sierra

1. Inga Culture (12,000 to 4,000 years BC)                                                                                      
   • The Inga was a camp-workshop, which was occupied uninterruptedly, for thousands of years by specialists in lithic work.                                                                                                         
   • It is located on Ilaló hill, between the valleys of Tumbaco and Los Chillos, to the East of the city of Quito , 2,520 meters above sea level.
2. Chobshi Culture (9,000 to 6,500 BC)
   • The Black Cave of Chobshi was used as a base camp by the Paleoindian hunter-gatherers from the south of the sierra for more than two millennia
   • It is located near from the current town of Sigsig in the province of Azuay, 2,400 meters above sea level. A natural coat close to a spring of water, enabled the permanence of human groups, also that nature gave them the collection of fruits and also abundant animals for hunting.
3. Las Vegas Culture (8,800 to 4,600 years at C)
   • The archaic society of the coast , were organized in family groups, they occupied the western end of the peninsula of Santa Elena in the outskirts of the Pacific Ocean .
   • - In the past there were abundant mangroves, today disappeared due to to tectonic uprising and human intervention (Stothert, 1988), where they collected on the shores of the ocean: fish, molluscs and crustaceans on beaches and mangroves.
   • They would be divided into groups that toured the interior areas of the peninsula collecting dry forest products and hunting animals for Meat supply
4. Valdivia Culture (4,000 to 1,600 years BC)
   • Valdivia is the first society of sedentary farmers and potters in our country and one of the oldest in South America, the current research gives it greater seniority.
   • - Its name is taken from the current fishing village called Valdivia in the province of Santa Elena, having as food source and of interrelation the ocean, the river and the valley. Most of the sites are located in the western part of the peninsula of Santa Elena.
   • Other Valdivia sites are inland, in the middle river basin Guayas (Peñón del Río deposit) and in some places on the Manabi  coast.
5. Machalilla Culture (1600 to 800 years BC)
   • Machalilla culture is the continuation of Valdivia, at the end of the Valdiviana´s phase, there was a population movement, occupying bigger territories.
   • These peoples maintained their identity, but were also incorporating new cultural elements until presenting its own culture known as Machalilla.
   • Machalilla pottery has its own characteristics, the appearance of the “ stirrup handle bottle ”, containers with a handle, which helps the transport of liquids.
   • Human representations presented for the first time in our history, cranial deformation, which is the lengthening of the skull with religious and aesthetic purposes.
6. Chorrera Culture (1000 to 100 years BC)
   • From around 3000 years ago until 100 BC, on the peninsula of Santa Elena and in the lower part of the Guayas river basin developed a society called the Chorrera culture.
   • It was the most representative in the elaboration of multiple objects of ceramics. Reaching perfection in clay work techniques, those techniques are unknown until today, such us the “Iridescent painting” of the bowls, which when is wet allows to see the designs and colors. The cooking grades and degreasers used they were the most resistant to the passage of time, as today we can to appreciate. For all this knowledge it was said that Chorrera is the "Nucleus of the Ecuadorian nationality”.
7. Narrío Culture (2,000 BC to 400 AD)
   • The Cerro Narrío culture was developed in the southern Andean part of Ecuador, In the present provinces of Cañar and Azuay, they have also been found certain manifestations in the south of Chimborazo ( Alausí ) and in the part north-central Loja. It is the direct predecessor culture of culture Cañari of the Integration period. The best known Cerro Narrío site is in the city of Cañar .
   • In agriculture they used the slash system in temperate forests of the inter-Andean valleys . Next to the corn, the beans were sown, chocho, quinoa, pumpkins (mate, squash or zambo), chili pepper, potato, melloco and the goose. Apart from animal hunting, in their homes they practiced guinea pig farming as an important complement food.
8. Cotocollao Culture (1800 to 350 years BC)
   • The Cotocollao site is a neighborhood of the same name in the current Quito city, on the low slopes and surrounding valleys. Since approximately 4000 years ago, the people of Cotocollao were located in the territories of the current provinces of Pichincha , Cotopaxi and Tungurahua and in the outer foothills of the Andes , at northwest of the province of Pichincha.
   • Cotocollao was a culture that performed funeral ceremonies, with concepts of duality of life and death, a clear example of rituality are the stone bowls, characteristics of this culture where human skulls are embedded, as a sign of the ceremonies of the dead with stones, as an eternal material of nature.
9. Pasto Culture (700 to 1,500 years AD)
   • The village of Pastos inhabited the inter-Andean zone between the Chota river - Mira, in the province of Carchi, spreading through the current territory of Colombian to the Guáitara river basin, before the city of Pasto.
   • On the side of the current Ecuadorian territory there were four units socio-policies: Tulcán, Tuza, Guaca and Mira; on the Colombian side they were: Ipiales , Túqueres y Pupiales , and the settlement of Mallama , in the western foothills of the Andean mountain range. The town of Mira, also called Chontahuasi, it was the most southern settlement near the Chota river and had links with the non-pastures of the banks of the Mira .
10. Caranqui Culture (700 to 1,500 years AD)
    • - The Confederation of the Caranquis was developed, from 700 AD until 1430 settled in the current provinces of Imbabura and north of Pichincha, in the inter-Andean region between the Chota-Mira rivers to the north and Guayllabamba to the south.
    • - This is the great confederation of the manors Otavalo-Cayambe- Caranqui that has an elite centralizing class, which goes monopolizing access to reduced enclaves of resource production such as coca, cotton and chili peppers. This large population it had, an intense agricultural production, reason why they incorporated zones before not exploited and difficult productivity, thanks to the construction of ridges, terraces and irrigation canals for cultivation.
11. Chaupicruz Culture - Florida (100 to 1500 AD)
    • - The Quito plateau, during the Integration period, is known archaeologically as Chaupicruz, due to the first findings in the old Chaupicruz Farm, in the north of Quito, which corresponds to what is today the parish of the same name in the city of Quito.
    • - The geographical location of this region was a confluence for products exchange between the Coast and the Amazon, through the natural communication steps, called "mountain mouths", like Calacalí, Nono, Lloa, Tandapi and Guamaní.
12. Puruhá Culture (300 to 1,500 years AD)
    • The Puruhaes developed their culture in the territory  of the provinces of Chimborazo, Tungurahua and a part of Bolívar. The analyzes performed in textiles adhered to metal parts, coming from the site called Alacao, located in Guano, we have the date of presence of villages organized in 300 AD
    • Ethnohistoric sources have confirmed the existence of centers of power: Punín, Yaruquíes and Guano. Other important towns in time Incaica were: Chambo, Pungalaá, Químiac, Pallatanga, Licán, Calpi, Licto and Penipe, etc.
13. Cañari Culture (400 to 1,500 C.)
    • - This culture occupied, the territory of the current provinces of Cañar and Azuay, where are the holes of: Cañar, Azogues-Cuenca, Paute - Gualaceo and Jubones. There are the Chanchán rivers to the north, Jubones to the south, and the Paute that drains to the east. Cañari ceramics, is classified in Two phases: Tacalshapa and Cashaloma with geometric color decorations Black and white on red.
    • - Ceramic evidences of Cañari occupation exists in the south of the Chimborazo province in Achupallas and Pumallacta, in the north of the Loja province and within the province of El Oro. The cacicazgos Cañaris were: Hatun Cañar, Molleturo, Cañaribamba, Taday-Pindilig and Sigsig Hatun Guapondélico Cañaribamba, (current Cuenca) Taday-Pindilig, among others.

Cultures of the Ecuadorian Coast

1. Bahía Culture (500 BC - 650 AD)
   • - About 2,500 years ago, members of the Bahia culture, occupied the central-southern part of the current province of Manabí, from Bahía de Caráquez to the limit with the province of Guayas . This area is crossed by small mountain ranges that create a climate of rainy tropics ; It is also far from the direct influence of the cold Humboldt current , so it is one of the best areas for agriculture, where corn persisted as a crop primary .
2. Jama-Coaque (350 BC - 1532 AD)
   • - This society occupied the north of the current province of Manabí and the south of the province of Esmeraldas in an area between the cove from Bahía de Caráquez in the south, Santo Domingo de los Colorados to interior and the old cape of San Francisco to the north, located near to The city of Esmeraldas .
   • - Investigations conducted in San Isidro , the most settlement important Jama-Coaque, in the valley of the Jama River, allowed recognize this site as a great ceremonial and administrative center regional in nature Its large size (40 hectares), its architecture monumental and the high density of satellite sites, indicate the existence of A stratified society.
3. Guangala Culture (100 BC - 800 AD)
   • - This civilization occupied the area of the Gulf of Guayaquil and the Peninsula of Santa Elena, following the territories between the strip north coastal and mountain ranges of Chongón-Colonche in the current province of Guayas and that of Paján in Manabí, up to the height of the Isla de la Plata .
   • - This is an area where there is variation in the rainfall regime, due to the interaction of the cold stream of Humboldt, of origin Antarctic, and the warm stream of El Niño, which comes from the north.
4. La Tolita Culture (600 BC - 400 AD)
   • La Tolita occupied a territorial space between the Saija river in Colombia until the bay of San Mateo in Ecuador, a coastal strip approximately 500 kilometers.
   • Its coastal and marine environment was in close relationship with the mangrove and tropical forest; the first ecosystem offered crustaceans,
   • small mammals, birds and some varieties of fish; while the tropical forest provided a great variety of plants and animals.
5. Milagro-Quevedo Culture (400 to 1532 AD)
   • - This company settled from the Gulf of Guayaquil to the area from Santo Domingo de los Colorados , which is the very large basin river, where there are important communication routes between Costa and Mountain range. Such is the case of valleys and rthe Chimbo and Chanchán rivers that join the Yaguachi river system, which goes to feed the waters of the Babahoyo River and which, in turn, allows easy
   • connection with the Guayas River, the entire Gulf of Guayaquil and finally, the sea. Possibly it was the town that the Spaniards called them "Chonos."
6. Manteño Culture (500 to 1532 years AD)
   • The Manteño-Huancavilca confederation occupied the territory of the the current provinces of Santa Elena, Guayas, and Manabí. There was a division between urban and rural. In the countryside, they built their houses forming villages scattered throughout its territory. The houses, small and rectangular, occupied by a family, were raised on embankments trimmed on the slope of the hills. The hamlets counted with communal houses, such as those found in Cerro de Hoja, Cerro Jaboncillo, Montecristi Hill, etc.

Cultures of the Ecuadorian Amazon

1. Panzalo or Cosanga culture (1600 BC - 1532 AD)
   • - This human group occupied the valleys of Misahuallí , Jondachi and Quijos in the current province of Napo, in the Ecuadorian Amazon .
   • - Recent archaeological investigations (Delgado, 1999) have found that the Cosanga occupation is very old for approximately 3600 years ago, dating back to the Formative period. The first Cosanga groups settled in the Misahuallí valley. The kind of settlement corresponds to domestic units located on the Cotundo hills system, and in the lower parts, which, once excavated, have shown that they contain accumulated remains that They form a layer of more than 1.5 meters. This indicates that the sites were occupied for a long time.
2. Napo Culture (1200 to 1532 years AD)
   • It was a culture located in the current provinces of Sucumbíos, Orellana, Napo and Pastaza, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. By the north the river Aguarico, in the east Peruvian territory and in the west the valleys of Misahuallí and Jondachí. Its origin is related to the Omagua, of the Tupi-Guarani language family, from the middle Amazon.
   • The Napo sites are located on the high margins of the Napo River and they are located on the tops of the hills near the river. The find of metates and grinding hands evidence the use of grains in their Feeding, probably corn.

Other Regions of Ecuador

Other cultures of Ecuador:

1.  Agroalfarera settled in the Sierra Region
2. Agroalfarera settled in the Costa Region
3.  Pastaza
4.  Carchi-Pasto
5. Redwoods
6. Huaoranis
7. Zaparos
8. Cofanes

What is the Hanan Pacha of the Andean Culture?

Hanan Pacha is according to the Andean tradition the superior or celestial world where only the fair people could enter, crossing a bridge made of hair. It was said that there the gods inhabited such as Mama Quilla , Pahacamac , Mama Cocha , among others.

The world appeared composed of three planes, Haqay Pacha (the world of the most there), Hanan Pacha (the visible world from above), Kay Pacha (the world from here) and Uku Pacha or the world of the dead and also of what was under the Earth's surface