Quijos…Who?: Unraveling the Identities of the Late Integration and Spanish Colonial Periods of the Upper Amazon of Northern Ecuador

Abstract

The province called Quijos during Spanish colonialism, which would become modern Napo and western Sucumbíos and Orellana,
was composed of different ethnic groups. In 1577, Diego de Ortegón distinguished that the region harbored different unique cultural and linguistic practices. Indigenous groups included the eponymous Quijos, Zumaquí, Canelos, Kofán (A'i), Omagua, and others. Early colonial efforts show a lack of control by Tawantinsuyu (the Inka empire) and the locations of the Spanish administrative centers suggest an awareness of the different societies they were colonizing. The description of the communities was constantly changing, as well as those who resided in this region, due to the devastating impact of disease, labor abuses and encroaching displacement. The goal of this research is to further expose the diverse identities of the Indigenous societies of this region through a combination of ethnohistorical sources, archaeological data from the Late Integration and Spanish Colonial periods, and modern ethnography.