Intercambio prehispánico en el golfo de Guayaquil: 1490-1531

Abstract

The Inca expansion and conquest of Chinchaysuyo, comprising the territories of the present countries of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, began in the first half of the sixteenth century, lasted about 100 years until Huayna Capac consolidated it. For Pachacutik annexed the territories of Tumbez in 1431; Then Tupac Yupanqui in 1450 added the Paltas and Cañares; In 1493 Huayna Capac from Tomebamba conquered the Chinchaysuyo, even conquered the island Puná. The conquest of the Puruháes, Guancavilcas, Caraques, Paltas, Túmbez, Cañares, was by terrestrial route delayed and difficult; This forced the Incas to use sea and river navigation, using Balsas, which were linked to several river or maritime ports, used in the first instance for military purposes and then as Tiangues or ancestral markets. The Incas established a government or cacicazgo in the island of Puná in the Gulf of Guayaquil, from where navigation and the use of rafts were facilitated, with access to the territories of the different continental and insular hydrographic networks that drain in the gulf. This monograph explains the historical link existing between the Incas and the use of Balsas for the transport of goods and products or merchandise in the Gulf of Guayaquil in the so-called Tiangues ancestral markets.