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Macas
Macas is the capital of Morona Santiago province in southeastern Ecuador. The city is also the seat of Morona Canton. Known as the "Emerald of the East" due to its location east of the Andes mountains, Macas lies in the Upano Valley, beside the river of the same name. The city has a population of 14,054 inhabitants and along with Tena and Puyo serves as one of Ecuador's main tourist veins to Amazonia, or the Amazon rain forest http://www.macasturismo.gov.ec/ingles.htmlMacas' Tourist Website (English) 2 August 2009.
The city is an important agricultural and livestock raising center as well as a transportation hub for small jungle communities to the east. Types of agricultural products found here include yuca, sugarcane, papaya, coffee, and bananas The Columbia Gazetteer of the World New York: Columbia University (1998). In recent years, Macas also developed a small tourism industry based around jungle trekking, trips to indigenous communities, and extreme sports like rafting. Macas is linked by road to Puyoin the north and Riobamba to the west.
History
The name Macas comes from the Macas Indians who were thought to have inhabited a large portion of what is now the Ecuadorian section of the Amazon basin. The name 'Sevilla del Oro' was first used in 1538 when the area was first founded by Spanish captain Juan Villanueva Maldonadohttp://www.getty.edu/vow/TGNFullDisplay?find=macas&place=&nation=&prev_page=1&english=Y&subjectid=1024122 Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names 3 August 2009. It was later renamed 'Macas' and refounded in 1599. For many years, the city of Macas lay on the boundary of the province of Chimborazo. In 1929, Macas became the capital of the province of Morona Santiago.
Culture
Further afield from Macas lies the territory of the Shuar and Macabea cultures, indigenous peoples that have inhabited the region for hundreds of years. Macas offers a good starting point for exploring these cultures, although this is usually best done through a guide. In the city itself, there are many handicraft makers and artisans, providing a much needed boost to the local economy.
The gastronomy of Macas relies heavily on fish and chicken. The city itself boasts many restaurants from seafood to Chinese cuisine.
External links
Muncipality of Macas (Spanish)
Macas Tourism (English)
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Macas
