RIOBAMBA

city, central Ecuador. It is situated in the central highlands at an elevation of about 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in the basin of the Riobamba River, just south of Mount Chimborazo. The town dates from pre-Inca and Inca times; in 1534 the Spanish settled on the site of Cajabamba (12 miles south). A landslide in 1797 killed many inhabitants, and the survivors moved the city to its present location. In 1830 the first Ecuadoran constitutional congress met at Riobamba and proclaimed the republic. The Roman Catholic diocese of Riobamba was established in 1863. Riobamba is in a fertile region and serves as an agricultural trade and processing centre. Small-scale manufacturing industries produce cotton and woolen textiles, carpets, cement, ceramics, and shoes; food processing is economically important. A weekly fair, shifting from one to another of the three main plazas (depending on the products being sold), attracts Indian farmers from the surrounding countryside. The city is an important centre of native artifacts, and it is also the headquarters of the Guayaquil-Quito railway. A polytechnic school was established in 1969. Pop. (1989 est.) 98,554.