Chimborazo, the 20,000 foot apex of the Andes Mountain range in Ecuador, is an extinct volcano in the center of the country. On this mountain live an indigenous people known as the Quichua. Indigenous empires (Cara, Inca), the Spanish colonial rule (from 1526 to 1830), and long-standing border disputes with Peru, which sits east and south of Ecuador, have come and gone. Enduring are the campesinos of Chimborazo Province.