Shyris
The Shyris were a people who are said to have founded the controversial Reino de Quito in what is now Ecuador through the overthrow of the Quitus people , and who were defeated by the Inca in the mid-15th century . This emerges from the work Historia del Reino de Quito by the Jesuit Juan de Velasco and was taken from the narratives of the indigenous population, who regarded the legends as facts. A century ago, Velasco's claims were challenged by the Ecuadorian historian Federico González Suárez and later refuted by Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño , also an Ecuadorian historian, based on archaeological studies of the period.
The legend
The Shyris (Shiris, Schyris or Scyris) initially called themselves Caras and arrived in balsa sailboats on the Ecuadorian coast (in the province of Manabí ), where they gave the Bahía de Caráquez its name. Archeology confirms that many immigrants have landed on balsa sailboats on the Ecuadorian coast, in the provinces of Guayas , Manabí and Esmeraldas , possibly from Central America.
Creation of Carán
The Caras founded a city, Carán, on the bank of a river called the Chone . After a long time, their leader decided to move further north, where the people encountered the Río Esmeraldas in what is now the province of Esmeraldas. The Caras called this leader "Shyri", meaning supreme warlord. The word shyri still exists today in the region around Quito and has the meaning "lord" for the indigenous population. The Shyri wore a large emerald in a gold headband on his forehead as a sign of his power.
Victory over the Quitus and establishment of the Shyri dynasty
By going up the Río Esmeraldas, the Caras reached the northern Ecuadorian Andes. The province of Pichincha was inhabited during this period by the Quitus, a people who were badly governed and which the Shyri of Carán and the Caras, called by the Quitus Shyris, could easily subjugate. Shyri, the leader of the Caras, founded a dynasty and was known as Shyri de Carán or Shyri Carán I to differentiate him from the subsequent kings who had the same founding title.
Expansion and creation of the Reino de Quito
The following Shyric Kings subjugated other peoples such as the Cayambi, Otavalo, Huaca and Tus, expanded to the area of the Quillacingas and defeated the Latacunga and Ambato peoples in the south. They also tried unsuccessfully to defeat the powerful kings of the Puruhá .
By 1300, 11 Shyri Carán had ruled. Shyri Carán XI, who felt old and had neither a son nor a nephew to succeed the throne, proposed to the King of the Puruhá, Condorazo, that his daughter Toa should be married to Duchicela, the prince of the Puruhá. This should follow him after his death and unite both kingdoms. To make this possible, Shyri Carán XI. passed the law of the dynasty and made Princess Toa the legitimate heir to the throne in front of the assembled nobles of the empire. With mutual consent, it was decided to marry Duchicela.
After Shyri de Quito's death, Duchicela ruled the Quito Empire (in the northern Ecuadorian Andes) and the Puruhá Empire (in the central Ecuadorian Andes) until 1370, while Condoraso, his father, abdicated and retired on a hill whom he gave his name to. Duchicela was called Duchicela-Shyri XII. or just Rey de Quito . During his reign, the Cañaris and other peoples from the southern Ecuadorian Andes joined the Reino de Quito for fear of the Inca invasions .
He was followed by Atauqui (Autachi) as Duchicela-Shyri XIII. , whose reign (1370-1430) remained largely uneventful.
Atauqui's successor was, at his own request and that of his vassals, his second-born son, Hualcopo. He bore the title Duchicela Shyri XIV. He ruled peacefully at first, but had to admit defeat to an invasion of the Incas under Túpac Yupanqui around 1450 .
The most important Andean peoples that were integrated into the Reino de Quito at the time of the conquest by the Incas were: Pastos, Quillacingas, Tulcanes, Huacas, Caranquis, Pimampiros, Otavalos, Cayambis, Cochasquies, Quitus, Panzaleos, Latacungas, Mochas, Puruháes, Chimbos, Cañaris, Tomebambas, Paitas, Zarzas, Huancabambas and Ayabaca.