RIOBAMBA  or ROYABAMBA, a

town of Ecuador, capital of the province of Chimborazo, on the railway between Guayaquil and Quito, about 85.m . E.N.E. of the former . Pop . (1900, estimate) 12,000: It stands in a barren, sandy basin of the great central plateau, drained by the Chambo, a tributary of the Pastaza, on the old road running southward from Quito into Peru, 9039 ft. above sea-level, and in full view of the imposing heights of Chimborazo, Carahuairazo (Carguairazo), Tunguragua and Altar . Though 300 ft. lower than Quito, its climate is considerably colder, owing, perhaps, to its more exposed situation and the vicinity of so many snow-clad peaks . It is a town of unusually wide streets and one-storeyed adobe houses, being so laid out and built because of earthquakes . It has very little importance as a commercial or industrial centre, having only a small trade and a few unimportant industries.' The present town dates from 1997, when the great earthquake of that year destroyed the old town then situated 12 m . W., near the existing village of Cajabamba . The ruins of the old town indicate that it was much larger and finer than its successor .