Quitu

Quitu occupies a long Andean valley beneath the slopes of Pichincha, high above the lands descending towards the Pacific and the Amazon. Before the Spanish conquest it was an important centre of the northern Inca realm, set on the great road that linked the highland regions of the empire. The city that grew here would become a seat of government, religious life and art for a vast surrounding territory.

In 1534 Spanish conquerors established San Francisco de Quito on the remains of the Inca settlement, after fighting the forces of Rumiñahui. Churches and monasteries rose in the colonial city, whose workshops produced sculpture, painting and richly decorated religious interiors. From 1563 Quito was the seat of a royal audiencia, a court and administrative authority whose jurisdiction stretched far beyond the city and its mountain basin. Indigenous labour and communities remained essential to the economy that supported colonial institutions.

In August 1809 a local junta challenged Spanish authority, beginning a turbulent struggle over government and independence. Royalist power returned, but the campaign resumed in the following decade. On 24 May 1822 the army of Antonio José de Sucre defeated royalist forces on the slopes of Pichincha, securing Quito for the independence cause. The mountain overlooking the city thus gave its name to a decisive battle in the liberation of the northern Andes.