History

Long before the Inca arrived, the Cañari people — a highland culture who had occupied the Cañar region for centuries — had established the site of Ingapirca as a sacred landscape. The oval form of Cañari ceremonial structures was already present when the Inca expanded northward into what is now Ecuador in the mid-15th century under Topa Inca Yupanqui. Following the standard Inca policy of incorporating conquered peoples by absorbing their sacred sites and overlaying them with imperial Inca ritual architecture, they built a sun temple and administrative complex here, superimposing Inca order on the Cañari foundation. Cañari-period burials have been excavated beneath the Inca structures, confirming the stratigraphic layering.

After the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532, the site fell gradually into ruin. The Spanish colonial period saw some stone removed for other construction, as was common across former Inca territories. Systematic archaeological investigation began in the 20th century, revealing the full extent of both the Inca and Cañari components of the site. Today Ingapirca is Ecuador’s primary pre-Columbian monument and the country’s most visited archaeological site.