Riobamba - History

History

The region surrounding Riobamba was inhabited by the Puruhá nation before the advance of the Incas during the late 15th century. The Puruhas presented a fierce resistance to the Inca intentions of conquering the north of today's Ecuador, and therefore obliged the Inca Huayna Capac to find an alliance in order to pacify the tribes who sided with Condorazo, the general of the Puruha nation. This alliance sealed the peace between the Shyris confederation, named by the Jesuit historian Juan de Velasco to the group of tribes whose ruler were the Duchicela dynasty, and the Inca Empire. The Inca Huayna Capac took as his wife the princess Paccha and gave special treatment and social status privileges to the higher castes of the new subjects. The offspring of this dynastic relation was Atahualpa, the last king of the Incas. In 1534, the city was founded in the San Miguel plains, becoming the first city in modern-day Ecuador to be established. In 1563 the city became part of the Spanish Empire's newly-formed Royal Audience of Quito. The city was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1797, but rebuilt a few years later 14 km (8.7 mi) away from its original location (near a village named Cajabamba in the plains of San Antonio de Aguíscate). The city still retains much architecture from the Spanish period.

In the Ecuadorian War of Independence Riobamba first declared independence on November 11, 1820 but was soon retaken. The city finally became part of an independent Gran Colombia in 1822, and then a separate Republic of Ecuador in 1830.

On November 20, 2002, 8 people were killed and hundreds wounded when an explosion in the munitions depot at the Galapagos Brigade arsenal in Riobamba, set off a series of blasts. Such was the force of the explosion that many residents said their initial reaction was that there had been an earthquake or volcanic eruption. Windows were blown out more than 1.5 kilometres from the arsenal, and many of the injured suffered lacerations from flying shards of glass.

According to Colonel Arturo Cadena, a military spokesman in Quito, the initial explosion occurred during maintenance work inside the dump. In April 2003, the army published its final report into the explosion. The report holds the Santa Barbara munitions factory directly responsible for the explosion, which the army is calling an accident.