EL TRUEQUE EN LAS SOCIEDADES PREHISPÁNICAS DEL ANTIGUO ECUADOR

Abstract

Before the arrival of the Spaniards to the contexts of presentday Ecuador, aboriginal societies implemented barter as a way to facilitate their trade relations; this system allowed the creation of a complex network of exchange markets, as well as the emergence of a caste of merchants by trade dedicated for hundreds of years to the provision of products between regions and climatic floors. The northwestern area of the Pichincha Province is rich in cultural vestiges of the legendary “Yumbo” people, whose culture and traditions have not been fully visualized in the social imaginary. Culuncos, tolas, embankments, aquifer reservoirs are witnesses of a culture dedicated to commerce, rich in traditions and with their own worldview, in which the mystical, telluric and cosmic elements are intertwined.