Manta

Manta belongs to the Pacific coast of Ecuador, where fishing, cultivation and seaborne exchange supported communities before Spanish conquest. The wider Manteño and Huancavilca world developed maritime skills that allowed goods and people to move along the coast. Large sailing rafts linked different environments, while trade in valued materials, including Spondylus shell, connected coastal society with more distant communities. Local rulers drew influence from production and exchange as well as alliances on land.

In 1534 Pedro de Alvarado's expedition landed at Manta, where it looted and burned the settlement. Later, colonial Manta served as a port connected by road to inland Portoviejo. Sources give conflicting dates for the Spanish town's foundation, so a precise founding year is uncertain.