View source for Quilago

{{Short description|Caranqui queen and military leader}}
{{good article}}
'''Quilago''' ({{circa|1490–1515}}) was the [[queen regnant]] of [[Cochasquí]], in modern-day [[Ecuador]]. She is known for leading native resistance to the expansion of the [[Inca Empire]] and was supposedly the mother of [[Atahualpa]], the last [[Sapa Inca]]. Her story has become an [[origin myth]] in Ecuadorian national mythology, which has retroactively framed her as an Ecuadorian rebel against Peruvian invaders.
==Biography==
[[File:Ecuador_Pichincha_province.svg|thumb|right|alt=Map of Ecuador showing the area of the Caranqui culture in north-central Ecuador|Location of the [[Cara culture|Caranqui culture]] in modern-day [[Ecuador]]]]
Quilago was a princess of the [[Cara culture|Caranqui people]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Becker|1a2=Tutillo|1y=2009|1p=22|2a1=Fine-Dare|2y=2019|2p=34|3a1=Galindo Castro|3y=2008|4a1=Hyland|4y=2007|4p=72}} The name by which she is commonly known, Quilago, was a female military rank derived from the [[Tsafiki language]] word "quela" ({{langx|en|feline}}); it is commonly confused for the noble title of [[Queen regnant|Queen]].{{Sfn|Naranjo Gomezjurado|2014}} Her proper name is unknown, so she is commonly referred to by her title,{{Sfn|Naranjo Gomezjurado|2014}} although the name Quilago Túpac Palla has appeared in some sources.{{Sfn|Becker|Tutillo|2009|p=22}} Quilago was from [[Cochasquí]], which in the modern era is considered an emblematic site of the [[Cara culture#Kingdom of Quito|Kingdom of Quito]].{{Sfn|Benavides|2008|p=1066}} She became ruler of Cochasquí at a time when the [[Inca Empire]] was expanding northwards, into the lands of the Caranqui.{{Sfn|Galindo Castro|2008}} As queen, Quilago formed a united front with neighboring indigenous societies to militarily resist the expansion of the Inca.{{Sfnm|1a1=Benavides|1y=2008|1p=1067|2a1=Benavides|2y=2011|2p=130|3a1=Galindo Castro|3y=2008|4a1=Hyland|4y=2007|4p=72}} She fortified the north bank of the [[Pisque]] river, in order to halt the Inca advance.{{Sfnm|1a1=Galindo Castro|1y=2008|2a1=Naranjo Gomezjurado|2y=2014}}
[[File:Inca_Expansion.svg|thumb|right|alt=Map showing the Inca Empire's expansion, with Huayna Capac's conquests of the Caranqui seen at the northernmost point between 1493 and 1525|Inca expansion under [[Huayna Capac]] (green)]]
The Caranqui's conflict with the Inca began in {{circa|1500}}.{{Sfn|Naranjo Gomezjurado|2014}} Quilago's military coalition managed to keep the invading Inca at bay for two years,{{Sfnm|1a1=Benavides|1y=2011|1p=130|2a1=Fine-Dare|2y=2019|2pp=34-35|3a1=Galindo Castro|3y=2008|4a1=Naranjo Gomezjurado|4y=2014}} during which many troops were killed and the bridges across the river destroyed in fire. [[Huayna Capac]], the [[Sapa Inca]], tactically withdrew his forces, telling his soldiers that he had been promised victory by the Sun God and that they ought not to be intimidated by an army led by a woman. He then set fire to the grasslands where Quilago's soldiers were hidden and bypassed the river.{{Sfn|Naranjo Gomezjurado|2014}} Quilago's forces were ultimately defeated.{{Sfnm|1a1=Benavides|1y=2008|1p=1067|2a1=Benavides|2y=2011|2p=130|3a1=Fine-Dare|3y=2019|3pp=34-35}}
Cochasquí was besieged by the Inca, who managed to break their way into the city and arrest Quilago.{{Sfnm|1a1=Galindo Castro|1y=2008|2a1=Naranjo Gomezjurado|2y=2014}} She was ransomed for gold and allowed to return to her palace, but she remained a prisoner of the Inca.{{Sfn|Galindo Castro|2008}} In order to prevent the further destruction of her community,{{Sfn|Benavides|2008|p=1067}} she was [[forced marriage|forced to marry]] the man that had conquered her kingdom, Huayna Capac.{{Sfn|Benavides|2008|p=1067}} In the end, this had the effect of solidifying Inca control over her people.{{Sfn|Benavides|2011|pp=130-131}} Quilago bore the Sapa Inca's child; according to the archaeological narrative of Cochasquí, which has been supported by some historians,{{Sfn|Benavides|2008|p=1067}} their child was [[Atahualpa]], the final Sapa Inca before the [[Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Becker|1a2=Tutillo|1y=2009|1p=22|2a1=Benavides|2y=2008|2p=1067|3a1=Benavides|3y=2009|3p=188|4a1=Fine-Dare|4y=2019|4pp=34-35}}
Quilago then began to plot the murder of Huayna Capac.{{Sfnm|1a1=Benavides|1y=2008|1p=1067|2a1=Fine-Dare|2y=2019|2pp=34-35|3a1=Galindo Castro|3y=2008|4a1=Hyland|4y=2007|4p=72|5a1=Naranjo Gomezjurado|5y=2014}} She sent him love letters, with the intention of leading him to a well that she had dug in her apartments and pushing him into it.{{Sfnm|1a1=Galindo Castro|1y=2008|2a1=Hyland|2y=2007|2p=72|3a1=Naranjo Gomezjurado|3y=2014}} She hoped that without their Sapa Inca, the imperial troops would be unable to rally and would easily fall to an attack by her own warriors.{{Sfn|Galindo Castro|2008}} However, she was betrayed by her own servants, who informed Huayna Capac of her plans.{{Sfn|Benavides|2008|p=1067}} With forewarning, Huayna Capac went to her rooms and instead pushed her down the hole,{{Sfnm|1a1=Fine-Dare|1y=2019|1pp=34-35|2a1=Hyland|2y=2007|2p=72|3a1=Naranjo Gomezjurado|3y=2014}} along with her serving maids.{{Sfnm|1a1=Hyland|1y=2007|1p=72|2a1=Naranjo Gomezjurado|2y=2014}} Anthropologists [[Frank Salamone]] and [[Sabine Hyland]] consider this story to be a folkloric explanation for the use of [[shaft tomb]]s in Quito.{{Sfn|Hyland|2007|pp=72-73}}
In reaction to her death, an insurrection broke out in the occupied Caranqui region.{{Sfnm|1a1=Galindo Castro|1y=2008|2a1=Naranjo Gomezjurado|2y=2014}} The Caranqui secured Sarance (present-day [[Otavalo (city)|Otavalo]]), which was attacked by the Sapa Inca's brother Tuma. Many soldiers on both sides died, including Tuma himself.{{Sfn|Naranjo Gomezjurado|2014}} With much of his army killed, the Sapa Inca brought reinforcements from the south and attacked the Caranqui in a [[pincer movement]].{{Sfn|Galindo Castro|2008}} The Caranqui were forced out towards the lake of [[Yawarkucha]], where they were finally wiped out in battle.{{Sfnm|1a1=Galindo Castro|1y=2008|2a1=Hyland|2y=2007|2p=72|3a1=Naranjo Gomezjurado|3y=2014}} Quilago's son Atahualpa later rose to become the Sapa Inca and was executed by the Spanish [[conquistador]]s in 1533.{{Sfn|Fine-Dare|2019|pp=34-35}}
==Legacy==
[[File:P_Cochasqui_0505_002_(16763730143).jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of the archaeological site of Cochasquí, with pyramidal mounds seen in the distance|right|Modern day site of [[Cochasquí]]]]
Quilago's legend was passed down by the [[indigenous peoples of Ecuador]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Fine-Dare|1y=2019|1pp=34-35|2a1=Hyland|2y=2007|2p=72}} It was recorded in the ''Quito Manuscript'' by the Spanish chronicler {{ill|Fernando de Montesinos|es}}.{{Sfnm|1a1=Galindo Castro|1y=2008|2a1=Hyland|2y=2007|2p=72}} The title of "Quilago" has since been passed down into the surnames of northern Andean peoples, including Abaquilago, Angoquilago, Arraquilago, Imbaquilago, Paraquilago and Quilango.{{Sfn|Naranjo Gomezjurado|2014}}
As the final ruler of Cochasquí, Quilago has taken a central position in archaeological narratives of the Inca conquest of Ecuador.{{Sfnm|1a1=Benavides|1y=2008|1p=1067|2a1=Galindo Castro|2y=2008}} The story of Quilago's reign has also become an [[origin myth]] in the [[history of Ecuador]], drawing on contemporary ideas of [[indigeneity]] and [[gender]] to construct an [[Ecuadorians|Ecuadorian national identity]].{{Sfn|Benavides|2008|pp=1066-1067}} In this national narrative, Atahualpa has been held to be the "first true Ecuadorian"{{sfn|Benavides|2008|p=1067}} or a "son of Ecuador"{{Sfn|Becker|Tutillo|2009|p=22}} due to his mixed heritage from Quilago and Huayna Capac.{{Sfnm|1a1=Becker|1a2=Tutillo|1y=2009|1p=22|2a1=Benavides|2y=2008|2p=1067}} In the 1930s, this theory provoked the [[Armed Forces of Ecuador]] to search for her remains, in order to "reclaim the [[mother of the nation]]".{{Sfnm|1a1=Benavides|1y=2008|1p=1067|2a1=Benavides|2y=2009|2p=188}} In the ruins of Cochasquí, the site's museum has been named after Quilago{{Sfn|Benavides|2008|p=1067}} and tour guides have made her the protagonist of the stories they tell about the site.{{Sfnm|1a1=Benavides|1y=2008|1p=1067|2a1=Galindo Castro|2y=2008}}
Cochasquí and Quilago herself have been [[Cultural appropriation|appropriated]] by Ecuadorian [[national myth]]ology, which retroactively re-framed the history in terms of modern [[nation state]]s.{{Sfnm|1a1=Benavides|1y=2008|1pp=1067-1068|2a1=Benavides|2y=2011|2p=131|3a1=Galindo Castro|3y=2008}} The portrayal of Quilago's forces as native Ecuadorians resisting Peruvian invaders has led to some Peruvian tourists abandoning tours of Cochasquí.{{Sfnm|1a1=Benavides|1y=2008|1pp=1067-1068|2a1=Benavides|2y=2011|2p=131}} According to archaeologist [[O. Hugo Benavides]], the history's appropriation by Ecuadorian nationalist narratives has also served to deny the indigenous peoples of Ecuador their own historical continuity, while they are themselves still subjected to [[racism]] and [[discrimination]] by Ecuadorian society.{{Sfnm|1a1=Benavides|1y=2008|1pp=1067-1068|2a1=Fine-Dare|2y=2019|2p=35}}
Benavides has also pointed out that, despite Quilago's representation of "[female] courage and maternal concern", which broke with traditional [[gender role]]s, the site of Cochasquí has been "masculinized to represent the pre-Hispanic community's members' courage against the foreign conquerors".{{Sfn|Benavides|2008|p=1067}} To Benavides, Quilago's narrative has been used to legitimise [[sexism|sexist ideas]] of a nation's heroic masculinity: "[Quilago] escapes the inferior feminine depiction of Ecuadorian womanhood only to be burdened by the masculine characteristics of courage, strength and unwieldy spirit".{{Sfn|Benavides|2008|p=1068}}
==See also==
*[[Paccha Duchicela]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin|2}}
*{{cite book|last1=Becker|first1=Marc|last2=Tutillo|first2=Silvia|year=2009|chapter=La etnohistoria del cantón Cayambe|title=Historia agraria y social de Cayambe|location=[[Quito]]|publisher=[[Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences]]|isbn=978-9978-67-214-3|language=es|pages=11–44}}
*{{Cite book|last=Benavides|first=O. Hugo|year=2008|chapter=Archaeology, Globalization and the Nation: Appropriating the Past in Ecuador|editor-last1=Silverman|editor-first1=Helaine|editor-last2=Isbell|editor-first2=William H.|title=The Handbook of South American Archaeology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yZr-lxQgJiAC|publisher=[[Springer Publishing|Springer]]|doi=10.1007/978-0-387-74907-5_53|isbn=9780387752280|pages=1063–1072}}
*{{cite book|last=Benavides|first=O. Hugo|year=2009|chapter=Narratives of Power, the Power of Narratives: The Failing Foundational Narrative of the Ecuadorian Nation|title=Contested Histories in Public Space: Memory, Race, and Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s6fMgeAPXIIC|editor-first1=Daniel J.|editor-last1=Walkowitz|editor-first2=Lisa Maya|editor-last2=Knauer|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|isbn=9780822391425|pages=178–196}}
*{{cite book|last=Benavides|first=O. Hugo|year=2011|chapter=‘Our ancestors the Incas': Andean warring over the conquering pasts|editor-last1=Gegner|editor-first1=Martin|editor-last2=Ziino|editor-first2=Bart|title=The Heritage of War|publisher=[[Routledge]]|pages=127–141|doi=10.4324/9780203809204-9|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |isbn=9780203809204}}
*{{cite book|last=Fine-Dare|first=Kathleen S.|year=2019|chapter=Northern Andean Landscapes of Movement and History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2bBDwAAQBAJ|title=Urban Mountain Beings: History, Indigeneity, and Geographies of Time in Quito, Ecuador|publisher=[[Lexington Books]]|isbn=9781498575942|pages=21–46}}
*{{cite journal|last=Galindo Castro|first=Mauricio|date=12 December 2008|title=Quilago: ¿Un símbolo quiteño?|url=https://revistas.arqueo-ecuatoriana.ec/es/apachita/apachita-14/160-quilago-iun-simbolo-quiteno|trans-title=Quilago: A Quiteño Symbol?|journal=Apachita|issue=14|publisher=[[Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador]]|language=es|oclc=302320348}}
*{{cite book|last=Hyland|first=Sabine|author-link=Sabine Hyland|year=2007|title=The Quito Manuscript: An Inca History Preserved by Fernando de Montesinos|url=https://www.academia.edu/download/41698990/hyland-copy.pdf|publisher=[[Yale University]]|isbn=9780913516249|oclc=964732009}}
*{{cite web|last=Naranjo Gomezjurado|first=Mauricio|date=4 September 2014|title=Quilago: Una generala Caranqui|trans-title=Quilago: A Caranqui General|url=http://www.ibarraecuador.gob.ec/index.php/ibarra1234/cultura/articulos/702-quilago-una-generala-caranqui|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526050036/http://www.ibarraecuador.gob.ec/index.php/ibarra1234/cultura/articulos/702-quilago-una-generala-caranqui|archive-date=26 May 2015|website=[[Ibarra, Ecuador|Ibarra]]|language=es}}
{{refend}}
==Further reading==
{{refbegin|2}}
*{{cite book|last=Caillavet|first=Chantal|year=2021|chapter=Public Voice and Political Authority: Native Female Leadership in the Sixteenth-Century Northern Andes|editor-first1=Margarita R.|editor-last1=Ochoa|editor-first2=Sara V.|editor-last2=Guengerich|title=Cacicas: The Indigenous Women Leaders of Spanish America, 1492–1825|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izYGEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA165|publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]]|isbn=9780806169996|pages=165–188}}
*{{cite book|last=Quinatoa Cotacachi|first=Estelina|year=2013|orig-year=2009|chapter=Mujeres Indígenas del siglo XIX y mediados del XX en el Ecuador|trans-chapter=Indigenous Women of the 19th and mid-20th centuries in Ecuador|editor-first=Martha|editor-last=Moscoso Carvallo|title=Historia de Mujeres e historia de género en el Ecuador|trans-title=History of Women and History of Gender in Ecuador|url=https://ia600409.us.archive.org/12/items/ConamuHistoriaDeMujeresEHistoriaDeGeneroEnElEcuador/Conamu%20-%20Historia%20De%20Mujeres%20E%20Historia%20De%20Genero%20En%20El%20Ecuador.pdf|publisher=[[Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences]]|pages=42–104|isbn=978-9978600733|oclc=1007040848|language=es}}
*{{cite journal|last=Ugalde|first=María Fernanda|year=2019|title=The Rebel Potters: A Review of Gender Relations, Female Oppression, and Patriarchy from the Perspective of Ecuadorian Archaeology|url=https://revistas.uniandes.edu.co/index.php/antipoda/article/download/2089/532/9927|journal=Antipoda. Revista de Antropología y Arqueología|volume=36|pages=33–56|doi=10.7440/antipoda36.2019.03|issn=1900-5407|doi-access=free}}
{{Refend}}
[[Category:15th-century births]]
[[Category:16th-century deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century queens regnant]]
[[Category:16th-century women rulers]]
[[Category:Inca Empire people]]
[[Category:Native American women in warfare]]
[[Category:Royalty in South America]]
[[Category:Women in 16th-century warfare]]
[[Category:Women in war in South America]]