The rule of native lords narrowly defined was a communal matter, most clearly visible when studied most locally. But the political economy within which the “cacique” operated only becomes visible when one studies the circum-Quito region as a whole. In the present chapter the aboriginal communities will be identified and grouped into small phytogeographical regions in order to highlight their environmental variety and suggest the differentials in production which contributed to regional interdependence.

The word llajta, plural llajtakuna, of Quichua origin and usually translated as “village,” has been used to designate the unit called pueblo de naturales (‘native town or village’) by the early Spaniards and “community” by modern social scientists. We have chosen the Quichua word in order to avoid anachronistic or ethnocentric connotations. For example, it is not meant to imply territorial integrity as a necessary condition, nor the existence of a nucleated center, nor fixed location. Its definition here consists only of traits demonstrably common to all the collectivities studied: a llajta is a group of persons sharing hereditary rights over certain factors of production (particular lands, the labor of certain people, and specific tools and infrastructures), and recognizing as a political authority a privileged member of their own number. Such an authority is termed “native lord” to distinguish him from rulers who were not acknowledged as members of the group.