This photostream is for posting cultural information of the people and City of Cayambe, Ecuador.

The Inca Empire, had been defeated and conquered by warriors of Cayambe, soon before the Conquistadores arrived.

The last great native empire of the Andes, was the Empire of Cayambe.

This fact has been "conveniently" forgotten in the annals of history.

The Cayambis, after resisting the Inca invasion for over twenty years, were brutally decimated.

It was up to the new generation to invade and conquer the Inca Empire.

Then, the Holy Roman Conquistadores came, and thousands, if not millions, of Cayambis, were kllled and the rest subjected to slavery.

The best productive land was given to the Roman Catholic Priests, who went on, in subjecting the Cayambis to a slavery of extermination.

You can call it, Holy Genocide.

Before Auschwitz, there was Jesuit Hacienda "La Compañia", before Buchenwald, there was "Hacienda Guachala", and on and on.

The Dominican Priests had Hacienda Santo Domingo, Hacienda Paquiestancia.

The Merced Priests had the Haciendas: Chimba, Pesillo, Cariaco, Moyurco, Pisambilla.

After the expulsion of the Jesuits, some land passed to the hands of new owners, who kept the slavery of the Cayambis.

Only in the middle of the 1900's, small parcels of unproductive land, was given to some Cayambis.

The great descendants of the mighty warriors of Cayambe, have survived wars of genocide against them, by the Incas and Conquistadores, they survived the slavery of the Roman Catholic Church and descendants of the Spanish landowners (Haciendas).

The stones of the forts and pyramids of Pambamarca and Cayambe, are the mute witness of their hundreds of years of continuous fight for survival, and an eternal monument to the brabery of the warriors of Cayambe.

Contributors:

branko

Pedro Pablo Guaña Quimbiulco, Cicay Museum - Centro de Investigacion Cultural Cayambi

__________

Grandma, tell me once more of your parents, those ancient ones.

And she told me of a distant time, where for thousands of years, our ancestors lived on the valleys next to the Snow Volcanoes. From the river Guayllabamba to Pasto.

When the mighty Inca empire tried to invade them, it took them over twenty years of a bloody conquest.

Our ancestors, the Cayambis were brutally massacred and almost totally exterminated.

They killed most of our warriors. So many they killed, that lakes took on the color of blood.

The rest of the old men and children, they took on a forced march, to the coca plantations of the Inca, many days journey south of Cuzco. They never came back.

They brought men from Inca lands, to marry our Cayambe women.

The Inca King married one of our princesses, and they had a child.

His name was Atahualpa.

When this child became of age, he marched on the Inca Empire, and totally subjugated them.

The last Inca Empire, was a Cayambe Empire, with a king and generals of Cayambe.

Then the Conquistadores came, and the Incas made an alliance with them, to fight Atahualpa and the Cayambis.

They killed the last, King of Cayambe and King of the Inca Empire, Atahualpa.

The Incas cut his head, as they had cut the head of thousands of Cayambe's warriors, during that war.

Cayambean warriors brought Atahualpa's body back to Cayambe, together with the rest of the gold of the empire.

They brought it to the mountains of Cayambe, where it is deposited, in caves, to this day.

And I, deep sleeping, would ask her...

"What mountains Grandma?"

But by that time, once more, I was dreaming that I flew as a Condor, amongst the snow volcanoes of Cayambe.

branko (writer, published by the City University of New York)

________________

Abuela, cuentame una vez mas de tus padres, aquellos antiguos.

Y ella me dijo de un tiempo distante, donde por miles de años, nuestros ancestros vivian en los valles junto a los volcanes cubiertos de nieve. Desde el rio Guallabamba hasta el rio Pasto.

Cuanda el poderoso Imperio Inca trato de invadirles, demoro mas de veinte años de conquista brutal.

Nuestros antepasados, los Cayambis fueron brutalmente masacrados y casi totalmente exterminados.

Ellos mataron la mayoria de nuestros guerreros. Tantos ellos mataron que los lagos, tomaron color de sangre.

El resto de los viejos y niños, ellos llevaron en una marcha forzada, a las plantaciones de coca del Rey Inca, muchos dias de viaje al sur de Cuzco. Estos Cayambis nunca regresaron.

Los invasores trajeron hombres de las tierras del Inca, para casarlos con nuestras mujeres de Cayambe.

El Rey Inca se caso con una de nuestras princesas y ellos tuvieron un hijo.

Su nombre era Atahualpa.

Cuando este niño crecio, el invadio el Imperio Inca, y totalmente los puso bajo su dominio.

El ultimo Imperio Inca, era el Imperio de Cayambe, con un rey y generales de guerra de Cayambe.

Entonces vinieron los conquistadores, y los Incas hicieron una alianza con ellos, para hecer guerra contra Atahualpa y los Cayambis.

Los Incas y Españoles, mataron el ultimo, Rey de Cayambe y del Imperio Inca. Atahualpa.

Los Incas cortaron su cabeza, como habian cortado la cabeza de miles de soldados de Cayambe, durante la guerra de conquista Inca a Cayambe.

Guerreros de Cayambe, trajeron el cuerpo de Atahualpa de regreso a Cayambe, junto con el resto del oro del Imperio.

Lo trajeron a las montañas de cayambe, donde esta depositado, en cuevas, hasta este dia.

Y yo, profundo dormido, le preguntaba...

"En que montañas Abuela?"

Pero ya en ese momento, una vez mas, Yo estaba soñando que volaba como un Condor, entre los nevados volcanes de Cayambe.

branko (escritor, publicado por City University of New York)