Tailor Made Holidays in Ecuador: In the News

Artefacts to be returned to Ecuador: 24-09-2008

The US has agreed to return a number of pre-Columbian artefacts to Ecuador, it has been reported.

The pre-Columbian period refers to the time before the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus - and is often used as an umbrella term for the history of American indigenous cultures.

According to floridatoday.com, US officials have given the go-ahead for 150 artefacts from this era to be sent back to their rightful home in Ecuador as part of a wider effort to ensure stolen cultural heirlooms are replaced.

A ceremony to mark the occasion will be held in North Miami Beach today (September 24th).

Experts believe that the items in question - which include pottery, baskets, jewellery, carvings, figurines and sculptures - are aged between 2,000 and 5,000 years old, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has revealed.

Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, mistaking it for eastern Asia.

He had hoped to find a way of reaching the Indies by sailing west from Iberia, rather than travelling overland through Arabia.