[1] In the 15th century, the people of the Andes highlands of Ecuador north of Quito were organized into several chiefdoms, apparently similar in language and culture but competitive with each other and frequently engaged in internecine warfare.

His son Huayna Capac (ruled 1493-1525) would spend nearly all his reign completing the conquest of northern Ecuador of which the first major barrier to the Incas was probably the Cayambe defense at Pambamarca.

The intensity of the struggle is illustrated by the fact that 106 of 184 known Inca pukaras are in northern Ecuador, a relatively small area in an empire that stretched 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) north to south.

The inhabited area was surrounded by three concentric walls, each about 3 metres (9.8 ft) high and accessible through gates defended by towers, ditches, and other defensive works.

Quitoloma was probably an administrative center and had the dual purpose of persecuting the war against the Pais Caranqui and defending the city of Quito and the sacred site of El Quinche.

Archaeologists have found weaponry and large caches of stones used by the Incas's principal long-range weapons of slings and bolas scattered along the inside faces of the walls.