Person

Juan de Velasco

1727–1792 · 18th century

Juan de Velasco was a Jesuit priest and historian born in Riobamba in the Audiencia of Quito. Exiled to Italy with the Jesuits in 1767, he wrote there his Historia del Reino de Quito, completed in 1789, which described a pre-Inca Kingdom of Quito ruled by the Shyri kings of the Cara people. Modern scholars regard that account as largely legendary, but it shaped Ecuadorian national identity.

Juan de Velasco
Image: Eladio Sevilla · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Quitu-Cara

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Juan de Velasco. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/juan-de-velasco
MLA
“Juan de Velasco.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/juan-de-velasco. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Juan de Velasco.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/juan-de-velasco.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Juan de Velasco’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/juan-de-velasco (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻