[8] Quito is the capital city closest to the Equator, which runs through the northern part of the metropolitan area in the parish of San Antonio.

The oldest traces of human presence in Quito were excavated by American archeologist Robert E. Bell in 1960, on the slopes of the Ilaló volcano, located between the eastern valleys of Los Chillos and Tumbaco.

[9] The discovery of projectile points, particularly specimens with basal fluting, stimulated his interest, and he made several visits to the site to collect surface materials.

Graffham's previous interest in Paleo-Indian remains, and his experience with early human-made materials in Kansas and Nebraska in the Central Plains of the United States, led him to believe that the site was an important discovery.

Dating to AD 800, they provide evidence of the high quality of craftsmanship among the Quitu, and of the elaborate and complex character of their funerary rites.

In 2010, the Museo de Sitio La Florida opened to preserve some of the artifacts from the tombs and explain this complex culture.

The city was later refounded at its present location on 6 December 1534 by 204 settlers led by Sebastián de Benalcázar, who captured leader Rumiñahui, effectively ending all organized resistance.

This initial movement was defeated on 2 August 1810, when colonial troops arrived from Lima, Peru, and killed the leaders of the uprising and about 200 other settlers.

[citation needed] A chain of conflicts climaxed on 24 May 1822, when Antonio José de Sucre, under the command of Simón Bolívar, led troops into the Battle of Pichincha, on the slopes of the volcano.

On 12 February 1949, a realistic broadcast of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds led to citywide panic, and the deaths of more than twenty people who died in fires set by mobs.

The new Mariscal Sucre International Airport, A 45 minutes drive from central Quito, opened to air traffic on 20 February 2013.

The valley of Guayllabamba River where Quito lies is flanked by volcanoes, some of them snow-capped, and visible from the city on a clear day.

Since the times of the Metropolitan District of Quito, parishes of this type are also grouped into larger divisions known as municipal zones (zonas municipales).

[40] The MetrobusQ network, also known as "Red Integrada de Transporte Público", is the bus rapid transit system running in Quito, and it goes through the city from south to north.

[45] Although public transport is the primary form of travel in the city, including fleets of taxis that continually cruise the roadways, the use of private vehicles has increased substantially during the past decade.

[46] Because of growing road congestion in many areas, there were plans to construct a light rail system, which were conceived to replace the northern portion of the Trole.

The historic center of the city is based on a grid pattern, despite the hills, with the streets Venezuela, Chile, García Moreno, and Guayaquil being the most important.

[citation needed] One of the major events that took place in this cathedral was the murder of the Bishop of Quito, José Ignacio Checa y Barba, who during the mass of Good Friday on 30 March 1877, was poisoned by strychnine dissolved in the consecrated wine.

The cathedral is also the burial place of the remains of the Grand Marshal Antonio José de Sucre and also of several presidents of the Republic, as well as of bishops and priests who died in the diocese.

This was done by Native Americans who carefully shaped the stones to build the façade in the ornate Baroque style, in what is one of the finest examples of this art in the Americas.

The Basilica of San Francisco is the largest of the existing architectural ensembles in the historic centers of cities in Latin America.

Another Baroque masterpiece that still stands today, is the Chapel of Nuestra Señora del Rosario, a recognizable architectural icon of Quito.

In 1976, the Spanish artist Agustín de la Herrán Matorras was commissioned by the religious order of the Oblates to build a 41 m (135 ft)–tall aluminum monument of a madonna, which was assembled on a high pedestal on the top of Panecillo.

Its cosmopolitan atmosphere is expressed in a wide variety of culinary, artistic, and cultural options, and the large number of hotels, inns, travel agencies, shops, bars, and discothèques that light up when the sun sets.

El Ejido[59] is the fourth-largest park of Quito (after Metropolitan, Bicentenario and La Carolina), and it divides the old part of the city from the modern one.

Every year on 7 September the guapuleños honor their neighborhood with the Fiestas de Guápulo, a fantastic celebration complete with costumes, parade, food, drink, song, dance, and fireworks.

The neighborhood has local and international restaurants, a cinema, small theaters, cafes, bars, museums and coworking spaces.

Since July 2005, Quito has had an aerial tramway, known as the "Telefériqo", from the city center to the hill known as Cruz Loma on the east side of the Pichincha volcano.

La Mitad del Mundo[64] (the middle of the world) is a small village administered by the prefecture of the province of Pichincha, 35 km (22 mi) north of Quito.

LDU Quito is Ecuador's most successful team, as it is the only club from the country to have won the Copa Libertadores, in 2008, as well as four more international titles.