The Pucará Del Salitre Incan ruins are located in Cotopaxi, Latacunga inside the Cotopaxi National Park.
The ruins are what remains from a military fortress built strategically on a hilltop for military observations and monitoring. Steep grades and slopes along the hill have been carved out to create terraces and concentric trenches used for defense and surveillance.
The ruins are considered to have been constructed during the Incan expansion led by the Incan emperor Tahuantinsuyo toward the end of the 25th century. During this time, the Incan empire’s territorial expansion was militant and met with great resistance from the indigenous people occupying present-day Ecuador. As such, the fortress was built to observe possible resistance groups, the movement of armies, and the migration of conquered peoples. The Pucará Del Salitre was actually constructed as part of a grouping of defensive buildings built to communicate with Quito in the North, Tambo Real of El Callo to the South, and the Amazon to the East.