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History > Colonial History of Ecuador

| The Conquest of Quito |
| La Audiencia de Quito | Inca Uprisings |

The Conquest of Quito

In April 1534, Benalcázar started on the conquest of Quito in order to beat Pedro de Alvarado who had left Guatemala with the same goal. Diego de Almagro and his troops followed Benalcázar. In May, Benalcázar entered Quito and found a population of some 20,000 indigenous people living in mud houses covered with straw. Annoyed at not finding gold, he marched towards Cayambe. On the way, in El Quinche, he tortured and killed a number of indigenous people in order to make them divulge the whereabouts of the part of Atahualpa’s ransom which did not reach Peru. Disappointed at not finding the answer, he headed for Riobamba. There, with Almagro, he waited for Alvarado. On the 15th of August, with the aim of presenting Alvarado with a fait accompli, Almagro founded the city of Santiago de Quito near Cicalpa. To highlight the legal and royal rights of Quito, Almagro founded the Villa de San Francisco de Quito from Riobamba. At the beginning of September, Benalcázar set out for Quito to establish the City Council. There he found that Rumiñahui had burnt the town and cut the throats of the Virgens of the Sun, as a punishment for having fraternized with the Spanish. Rumiñahui was captured. On the 6th of December, Benalcázar definitively founded San Francisco de Quito in the same place as it now.

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La Audiencia de Quito

On the 29th of August 1563, acceding to a petition made by the Quito Council, Felipe II issued the Cédula Real which created the Real Audiencia and Cancillería de San Francisco de Quito. The jurisdiction of the Audiencia included all the southern provinces as far as Paita and Piura. To the east were the Quijos and peoples which were being discovered. To the west it reached Buenaventura, and to the north to the small towns of Pasto, Popayán, Cali, Buga, Champachica and Guarchicona. The first President was Hernando de Santillán. The Real Audiencia of Quito was accountable to the Real Audiencia of Lima. In 1569 Francisco de Toledo was named Viceroy of Peru and Lope Díaz Aúz de Armendáriz was named President of the Real Audiencia of Quito, and King Felipe II established the Inquisition in the West Indies. Diego de Narváez took the position of President of the Audiencia of Quito, and in 1587 Manuel Barros de San Millán took the position. Later other presidents such as Esteban de Marañón, Miguel de Ibarra, Juan Fernández de Recalde, Antonio de Morga, among others, took power. On the 27th of May 1717, the Cédula Real created the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada with its seat in Santa Fe de Bogotá, eliminating the Real Audiencia of Quito. Its jurisdictions were incorporated into the new Viceroyalty. Then, the Real Audiencia of Quito was restored to power and was again under the Viceroyalty of Peru. In 1739, the Cédula Real reestablished the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada and Quito was once again incorporated into this Viceroyalty. Sebastián de Eslava was named Viceroy of Nueva Granada. Subsequently, the territorial borders of the incorporation of the Audiencia de Quito to Nueva Granada were established.

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Rebellion of the Stores and Incan uprisings

On the 7th of March 1764, the indigenous people from outside rebelled in Riobamba and refused to do the forced labour required as a condition for receiving community lands. The restoration of the Incan system of forced labour, which the Indians had to comply with, was permitted by Spanish magistrates and Councils. During November and December the State liquor store was set up and customs taxes were created. However, on the 7th of May 1765, the communities of Quito rose against them. The store and customs buildings were burnt down. The troops of the Governor Juan Antonio Zelaya arrived to put down the rebellion. After, in 1766, the Indians of Salcedo also rebelled against the payment of taxes. In 1768 the Indians working together at, rebelled against the increase in their workload. In 1771, the Indians of Tilipulo and La Calera rebelled in opposition to numeration. Two years later, the State tobacco store was set up in Quito.

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| The Conquest of Quito|
| La Audiencia de Quito | Inca Uprisings |

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