Ecuador Travel

Archaeological Ayampe and Salinas

The southern coast's human history stretched back millennia. In fact, the historical records show that the provinces of Santa Elena, Guayas, Los Ríos and El Oro were among the very first parts of Ecuador to be settled by human beings.

The oldest record of Paleolithic settlement was found in the Santa Elena province. Nearby, the Las Vegas culture, one of the first organized hunter/gatherer societies in Ecuador, flourished from 8000 BC-4600 BC. Shortly afterwards the Valdivia culture emerged in the same territory, where they fished and farmed for thousands of years. The Valdivia also developed one of Ecuador's first true artistic cultures by producing beautiful ceramics.

One of the most interesting archeological sites is the Sumpa Lovers museum. This resting place of a couple in their tomb, was discovered in the early 1960s and is an attraction not to be missed. The site is older than 4000 years B.C.

In the Common Era, cultures also flourished on the southern coastal plains. On the coast of El Oro and Guayas province, the Huancavilca culture ruled from the seventh century until the arrival of the Spaniards. The Huancavilca formed a complex society, and were known for their skill in goldsmithing. The Guayas River took its name from a famous Huancavilca chief and a legend about the Guayas and Quil is thought to be the origin of the name of the city of Guayaquil.

Inland, on the banks of the Daule and Babahoya Rivers, the Milagro-Quevedo culture took shape around 500 C.E. The inhabitants of the Milagro-Quevedo cities, which spanned El Oro and Los Ríos Provinces, were famous artisans and built a number of tolas, or mounds. Some of these still remain, and have impressive proportions.

Spaniards arrived on the southern coast by the 1530s, and in 1538, an indigenous village on the banks of the Guayas River was settled as Guayaquil. Guayaquil quickly became an important port and shipbuilding center, and the surrounding forests were stripped of timber to build the boats. Pirate attacks throughout the 18th century damaged the city. Colonial agriculture was slower to develop on the southern coast than in the Sierra, due to diseases like malaria, but eventually the southern lowlands yielded cacao, sugarcane and bananas. These goods were shipped to other colonies through the port of Guayaquil.

Guayaquil's declaration of independence in 1820 propelled the southern coast out of Spanish rule. By the mid-19th century, roads were built to connect the region with the Sierra, and the interior lowlands were opened up for agriculture. Babahoyo and Quevedo grew during this time as important spots on the roads between Guayaquil and the mountains. Relations with the Sierra were sometimes volatile. Throughout the second half of the 19th century and into the 20th century, the southern coast was the center of liberal politics in Ecuador.

In the mid-20th century, agriculture in the southern coast region was revolutionized. As disease ravaged banana plantations in Central America and the Caribbean, production increasingly shifted to the southern coast of Ecuador. Near Machala, the production of gold, which gave El Oro its name, was replaced with the production of green gold- bananas and plantains. Ecuador's large plantations yielded more bananas than anywhere else in the world, and the vast majority of those plantations lined the southern coastline. Other large-scale agricultural enterprises focused on the production of cacao and coffee. At the same time, Guayaquil grew, as its port processed more exports.