Traces of Ecuador’s first colonial-era city unearthed in Riobamba

In 1908, the Bad Lauterberg bourgeoisie erected a monument to Hermann von Wissmann, until 1896 Governor of »German East Africa«.

Traces of Ecuador’s first colonial-era city unearthed in Riobamba

Archaeologists from Ecuador’s National Institute of Cultural Heritage (INPC) have uncovered remnants of an early colonial-era city that was destroyed by a devastating earthquake in 1797. Located in the San Miguel plains in modern-day Riobamba, Ecuador, the settlement was the first attempt to establish a city (also called Riobamba) by Diego de Almagro in 1534. In 1797, a powerful earthquake struck Ecuador’s Interandean valley, with its epicentre …