The Kañaris: Identity and Persistence Hall at the Pumapungo Museum in
Cuenca is a powerful tribute to one of the most influential yet often
overlooked civilizations of the southern Ecuadorian Andes.
Inaugurated in January 2025, this permanent exhibition seeks to honor the
legacy of the Kañari people, whose cultural territory once spanned vast
regions—from Chimborazo to Loja, and across the Eastern and Western
Cordilleras. The hall is designed not just as a historical showcase, but as an
act of cultural justice, addressing the historiographical gaps and reaffirming
the Kañari’s enduring presence in Ecuador’s national identity.
The exhibition traces the Kañari’s evolution from Paleolithic settlers to
complex agricultural societies. It highlights how their adaptation to diverse
ecological zones led to the development of ceremonial centers and ethnic
lordships, laying the groundwork for a regional state that, while never fully
consolidated, exerted significant influence over trade, governance, and
spiritual life. Artifacts unearthed from the Pumapungo archaeological
complex—such as pottery, textiles, and ceremonial tools—illustrate the
sophistication of Kañari craftsmanship and their deep connection to the land.
These pieces are not merely relics; they are expressions of a worldview rooted
in reciprocity, resilience, and reverence for nature.
More than a historical archive, the Identity and Persistence Hall is a
living narrative of cultural survival. It invites visitors to reflect on how
ethnic territories are shaped not only by geography but by the people’s
ability to adapt, resist, and thrive. By foregrounding the Kañari story, the
museum fosters a deeper understanding of Ecuador’s multicultural heritage and
encourages dialogue about indigenous contributions to contemporary society. In
doing so, it transforms memory into momentum—ensuring that the Kañari legacy
continues to inspire future generations.
Kañaris: Identity and Persistence
«The Kañaris: Identity and
Persistence hall is the result of the implementation of a long-term
institutional policy that aims to position and recognize a millennia-old
cultural legacy. This space is a tribute to the richness of the Kañari
culture, whose historical memory has been little disseminated in
official historiographical accounts of Ecuador.
The effort to
highlight and preserve this heritage seeks not only to give visibility
to one of the oldest and most important indigenous cultures of the
Ecuadorian Andes, but also to vindicate its fundamental contribution to
the construction of national identity.
The Kañari culture,
with its ancestral knowledge, worldview, and resilience in the face of
historical adversity, represents a living example of cultural
persistence and dignity. We hope that this exhibition will be a firm
step forward and motivate research and dissemination of the Kañari
world, to settle this historical debt with its social memory.
Monserrath
Tello,
Director of the Pumapungo Nuclear Museum»
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Kañaris: Identity and Persistence
«Ethnic territories are
defined at the moment a people take possession of them, beginning a
process of adaptation to the prevailing environmental conditions, but at
the same time generating the appropriation of their resources and
spatial control of the areas where they are found. In the case of Andean
societies, this process begins with the Paleolithic, which, in the case
of Ecuador, represents a little over 10,000 years of antiquity.
The
first villages of farmers and potters, along with the growth of the
economy and population, allowed for the emergence of ceremonial centers,
which initiated the unification of vast territories, later under the
control of ethnic lordships. In the southern Andes, dominated by the
Kañari, they came to form a cultural territory, which developed the
foundations of a regional state that could not be consolidated. They
dominated the southern part of Chimborazo province, the central
provinces of Cañar and Azuay, and the northern part of Loja. They also
dominated the foothills and foothills of the Eastern and Western
Cordilleras, in the provinces of Morona Santiago on one side and El Oro
and Guayas on the other.
Jaime Idrovo
Curator»
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The Paleolithic in the Southern Ecuadorian Highlands
«The
Paleolithic in the southern Ecuadorian highlands (8000-3000/2500 BCE)
paves the way for future human occupations, as it initiated the
recognition of the environment of the time, along with the domestication
of plants such as corn and others, which enabled the leap from initial
horticulture to agriculture, which necessitated sedentarization and the
formation of the first permanent village centers.
From this
period, we know of two studied sites in the Kañari area: La Cueva Negra
de Chobshi and Cubilán, both located in the eastern mountain range,
which suggests a possible early ascent route from the Amazon. Being
groups whose economy was primarily based on hunting, they set up
seasonal camps at strategic hunting points, especially near grasslands.
They developed a stone industry with scrapers, scrapers, knives,
lanceolate and triangular projectile points, spears, and awls.
Meanwhile, to gather wild plants, they moved to more temperate zones.
The presence of some obsidian artifacts suggests the beginning of
long-distance trade with the northern highlands of Ecuador.»
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The Formative Period and the Initial Kurakazgos
«During the
Formative Period (2500-300 BC), the first chiefdoms, or Initial
Kurakazgos, were established. These chiefdoms controlled village life,
divided into the village population itself, composed of artisans,
merchants, service people, and the priestly elite, and the large mass of
farmers settled on the outskirts of the villages. This was the period in
which pottery and textile production began, with trade directed
primarily toward the coast, the Amazon region, and northern Peru.
In
this sense, the extremely high-quality ceramics and their evident
kinship with Chorrera, a Middle Formative society on the Ecuadorian
coast (1300-300 BCE), reveal their cultural ties with societies such as
Chavín de Huantar and Cupisnique in Peru. The main centers of pottery
and textile production, along with the processing of other materials
such as stoneware and seashells that arrived via trade, are discovered
in Narrío, Chaullabamba, Pirincay, and Villa Jubones, expressing
patterns of identity, although they also highlight regional
particularities. The first elements of a religious ideology related to
the cult of the dead and certain Andean anthropomorphic deities emerge.»
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Ucuyaya or funerary votive made of seashell (Anandara), from the
Narrio site (Cañar Province)
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Vase, Tacalshapa I phase (Azuay Province)
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Possible ceremonial seat made of ceramic, from the Narrio site (Cañar
Province)
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Ucuyaya or funerary votive made of seashell (Spondylus), from the
Narrio site (Cañar Province)
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Anthropomorphic bottle with kutu, Tacalshapa II phase (Azuay
Province)
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Openwork copper axe, Tacalshapa II phase (Azuay Province)
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Elongated bottle with anthropomorphic representation, Tacalshapa II
phase (Azuay Province)
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Integration Period; the Kañari Ethnic Lordships
«The
Integration Period then began (500/700 CE - 1470 CE), with the formation
of what we call the Tacalshapa III societies, which ended between 900
and 1000 CE and produced pottery of very poor quality. However,
settlements grew in size, with a semi-dispersed pattern, defining
themselves as pre-urban centers organized around large regional
sanctuaries.
Then, between the ninth and tenth centuries,
changes occurred in the coastal economy when the Manteños, extractors of
the sacred shells, ventured into deep-sea navigation with rafts equipped
with rudders and sails, which cut off the mountain routes for the
commercialization of these products. Furthermore, the presence of jungle
peoples ascending the Eastern Cordillera provoked a series of
interethnic conflicts over control of regional contact routes and
territorial disputes. These events led to the union of kurakazgo groups
and the establishment of Ethnic Lordships, as embryos leading to the
formation of a regional state. As witnesses to this division, we find
these regional potters, who, while they bear similarities, also impose
their own identity.»
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Anthropomorphic pitcher with reduced legs, Tacalshapa III phase
(Prov. Azuay)
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Anthropomorphic jug with side handles and hands pointing towards the
mouth, Tacalshapa III phase (Azuay Province)
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Anthropomorphic jug with chin, Tacalshapa III phase (Azuay
Province)
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Anthropomorphic vase with bichrome painting, Cashaloma phase (Cañar
Province)
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Anthropomorphic jug with arms, Tacalshapa III phase (Azuay
Province)
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The Inkas and the Conquest of the Northern Andes
«The Inka
presence and their conquests in the Northern Andes demonstrate the
disadvantages of state-based societies equipped with conventional armies
compared to societies with more dynamic organizational structures and
semi-dispersed settlements, abundant natural irrigation, and other
environmental advantages, including the existence of warrior groups with
independent movement.
Already on Kañari soil, early
documentation based on the testimony of local informants, point to three
different moments: the incursions under the command of Tupaq Yupanqui,
when his father, Pachakuteq Inka, still had the regency of the Tawan
tinsuyu and then, those carried out by his son, already named sovereign
of the empire, as well as those finally carried out by Wayna Qhapaq,
born in Tomebamba. Despite this, the domination was not total, since the
Kañaris of the eastern sector were never completely subdued and in
general, the resistance throughout the territory, with the exception of
the central part of the Azogues-Cuenca valley, provoked continuous
uprisings, which explains why this people was one of the most punished
with forced relocations, through the Mitmakuna institution that
regulated them.»
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Tomebamba: Genesis and Development of an Imperial City
«The
stagnation of the Kañari conquest of the Azogues Valley in Cuenca; the
importance of Tomebamba in the seashell trade to the south, plus the
richness of its soil, the existence of precious metals, and contacts
with other regions in this part of the Andes, explain the founding of
the city of Tomebamba, which occupied the site of the former regional
capital of the Kañari, Guapondelic.
An initial urban layout
designed by Tupaq Yupanqui, giving it an eminently military character,
as war was in full swing, also determined the prolonged stay of the
Sapan Inka in Tomebamba, which soon saw the birth of his son Wayna
Qhapaq. When it was his turn to govern, the city witnessed a
reorganization of its spatial layout, which took the form of the
mythical puma and reproduced the main neighborhoods of the imperial
capital, Cusco, with the same names. The city, already conceived as a
religious and political center from which new conquests and
administrative actions for the entire northern part of the empire were
planned, gained prestige and soon began to rival the capital of
Tawantinsuyo itself.»
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Pumapungo; the religious, political, and administrative center of
Tomebamba
«The Pumapungo neighborhood constitutes the most important space
in Tomebamba. It is composed of a series of architectural complexes,
which, in addition to a walled area reserved for the Cusco elite and
possibly where Wayna Qhapaq was born, extended to other sites such as
the "Cacique's Palace," next to the core area, and other facilities
built between the Barranco and the Tomebamba River, reaching the Todos
los Santos complex. Likewise, other buildings such as the "Temple of
Viracocha" to the north and, to the northeast, past the Qhapaqñan, a
first Uzhnu, which is complemented to the west by a second Uzhnu that
was later destroyed when the Todos los Santos Church was built, making
it perhaps the most important in the city.
Within the walled
area are the Qhorikancha (Temple of the Sun), the Agllawasi (Agllakuna
residence), the Kallankas (houses) dedicated to housing high-ranking
military personnel passing through Tomebamba, and the Inka Gardens,
designed for the solace of the Sapan Inka and his local court. Pumapungo
also represents the most saturated urban area and has its equivalent in
the Puma Chupa in Cusco.»
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Tomebamba; the rise and fall of the second capital of Tawantinsuyu
«The conquest of the Northern Andes and the need to quell the
continuous revolts of the already subjugated peoples resulted in the
displacement of the elites, especially the military, from Cusco to
Tomebamba. Added to this was the continuous presence of the Sapan Inka
in this city, as it was Tupaq Yupanqui and later his son, Wayna Qhapaq,
who directed the military actions, either from the battlefield or from
this city, which acquired a status of singular importance, even
religious. Under these circumstances, the city grew, acquiring the
necessary infrastructure to receive powerful armies and their high
commands, including the Inca himself, conceived as the Son of the Sun,
that is, a sacred figure.
Thus, rivalries arose, as the
imperial capital somehow took a back seat, with the religious leadership
claiming its place in the leadership of the empire. This ended in a
confrontation between the Waskar and Atawallpa brothers, with a tragic
outcome for Tomebamba, which was literally erased from the political
geography of the empire, as it supported the former, and was almost
completely destroyed.»
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Cuenca, the Spanish city born from the remains of Tomebamba
«The destruction of Tomebamba around 1530 and the founding of
Cuenca on its ruins, at the beginning of the colonial period, were
events that occurred successively. In this context, we know that a very
early Spanish occupation took place in the Pumapungo neighborhood,
destroyed and burned during the war between the Waskar and Atawallpa
brothers. Years later, in 1557, the official founding of the colonial
city displaced the first Spanish residents to what is now the very
center of Cuenca.
Concentrated in the area known as
Paucarbamba, which was apparently part of another Inca neighborhood, the
new city followed the urban planning guidelines of Tomebamba, with
north-south and east-west street layouts, the occupation of some of its
streets, and the infrastructure of canals and water fountains, which,
unfortunately, were destroyed by the new occupants over the following
decades. The Pumapungo neighborhood was abandoned, but served as a
quarry for the construction of temples, churches, public buildings, and
even private homes, gradually losing its historical memory.»
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See Also
Source
Location
Pumapungo Museum - Archaeological Park
Pumapungo Museum - Cocoa in Ecuador Hall
Pumapungo Museum - INTI Presidential Hall
Pumapungo Museum - National Ethnography Hall
Pumapungo Museum - The Shuar: Man - Nature Hall
Pumapungo Museum - Spiritualities and Ritualities Hall