Rumicucho

Rumicucho
Map showing location in Ecuador
Map showing location in Ecuador
Shown within Ecuador
LocationEcuador
Coordinates0°00′43″N 78°25′53″W / 0.01194°N 78.43139°W / 0.01194; -78.43139
TypeFort and Settlement
History
Foundedc. 1480s CE
Site notes
ConditionIn ruins

Rumicucho or Pucara de Rumicucho is an archaeological site of the Inca Empire in the parroquia of San Antonio de Pichincha, in Quito Canton, Pichincha Province. Ecuador. Rumicucho is a pucara (hilltop fortress) located 23 kilometres (14 mi) in a straight-line distance north of the city of Quito at an elevation of 2,401 metres (7,877 ft). Rumicucho in the Quechua language means "stone corner", perhaps referring to its strategic location between the territory of the Yumbo people to the east and the chiefdoms of the Pais Caranqui to the north.

The Incas probably built Rumicucho between 1480 and 1500 and ruled this area until the Spanish conquest in the 1530s.

Rumicucho has also been called Lulumbamba (fertile plain), a reference to the valley to its west, now mostly urbanized but formerly intensely cultivated. Rumicucho is a popular site for tourists to visit.