Chimbus

The Chimbus, or Chimbos, were a pre-Inca people of the Chimbo River valley in the Ecuadorian highlands, closely related to the Puruhá and Tomabela peoples of the surrounding sierra.

During the Inca expansion of the late fifteenth century they resisted the invading armies from Peru: tradition names the chief Chimbo Cando, called the Guaranga, as their leader in the fighting where Guaranda later rose. After the conquest many Chimbus were deported as mitimae settlers to the region of Lake Titicaca, while Inca colonists were brought into their valley.

Spanish rule began in 1534, when Sebastián de Belalcázar established the corregimiento of Chimbo, and Guaranda was founded around 1571. In time the Chimbus merged with Tomabela, Puruhá and Inca communities to form the Waranka people, and their Panzaleo tongue died out during the eighteenth century as Kichwa took its place.