Guaranda

Guaranda, city, central highland Ecuador, on a headstream of the Chimbo River in the Cordillera de Guaranda of the Andes Mountains. It is about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest peak. As an agricultural centre for the surrounding area, the city trades in cinchona (a source of quinine), wheat, corn (maize), and timber. Its slight industrial development includes a tannery. Guaranda is connected by highway with Riobamba and Quito; before the opening of a rail line between Guayaquil and Quito (1908), it was an important transshipment point between the two cities. Guaranda was made a Roman Catholic episcopal see in 1957. Pop. (2001) 20,742; (2010) 23,874.