Cotopaxi

On a clear day, Cotopaxi is clearly visible on the skyline from Latacunga and Quito. It has one of the few equatorial glaciers in the world, which starts at the height of . At its summit, Cotopaxi has an wide crater which is deep. The crater consists of two concentric crater rims, the outer one being partly free of snow and irregular in shape. The crater interior is covered with ice cornices and is rather flat. The highest point is on the outer rim of the crater on the north side. ==History==

Name According to locals who speak Quechua, coto means 'neck' and paxi means 'moon' (Quechua ''q'oto'' 'throat' + Aymara phakhsi 'moon'). This refers to the crater of Cotopaxi that looks like a crescent moon. The mountain was honored as a sacred mountain by local Andean people, even before the Inca invasion in the 15th century. It was worshiped as rain sender, which served as the guarantor of the land's fertility, and at the same time its summit was revered as a place where gods lived. Historic eruptions With 87 known eruptions, Cotopaxi is one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes. Cotopaxi's most violent eruptions in historical times occurred in the years 1742, 1744, 1768, and 1877. The 1744 and 1768 events destroyed the colonial town of Latacunga. During the June 26, 1877 eruption, pyroclastic flows descended on all sides of the mountain melting the entire ice cap, with lahars traveling more than into the Pacific Ocean and western Amazon basin draining the valley. Climbing The first non-Spanish European who tried to climb the mountain was Alexander von Humboldt in 1802; however, he only reached a height of about . In 1858 Moritz Wagner investigated the mountain, but he could not reach the summit either. On November 28, 1872, German geologist Wilhelm Reiss and his Colombian partner, Angel Escobar, finally reached the summit of Cotopaxi. In 1880 British mountaineer Edward Whymper and the Italian guides Jean-Antoine Carrel and Louis Carrel made the third recorded ascent of Cotopaxi and spent a night on the summit. Painters Rudolf Reschreiter and Hans Meyer reached the summit in 1903, and many of Reschreiter's paintings feature a view of Cotopaxi. In the late 20th century, summiting Cotopaxi became a major tourist draw. The José F. Ribas Refuge (Refugio José Félix Ribas) was built in 1971 at an elevation of and enlarged in 2005. A tragedy occurred on Easter Sunday 1996 when an avalanche partially buried the Refuge and dozens of tourists. The glacier above the Refuge was probably weakened by an earthquake that had shaken the entire Province of Cotopaxi for several days prior to the avalanche. In the warm midday sun a huge portion of the ice wall broke loose. Being Easter, there were many day visitors on the mountain who were buried in the ice and snow. Those trapped in the Refuge broke windows on the downhill side to climb to safety, but 13 people died on the slope above. The Refuge itself is located in a valley and consequently vulnerable to future avalanches. ==Recent activity==

has an inner crater inside the outer crater. Colors show elevations. Ash was deposited heavily in areas close to the volcano, including damaging farmlands on the flanks of neighbouring volcanoes such as El Corazon, and thinly as far as Quito, affecting southern and central areas of the city. A new eruption began on 21 October 2022 and is ongoing as of June 2023. If there were to be a very large explosion, it would destroy many northerly settlements within the valley in the suburban area of Quito (pop. more than 2,000,000). Another city which would be in great danger is the regional capital Latacunga, which is located in the south valley, and has been destroyed at least twice (in 1768, 1877) by lahars caused by volcanic activity. ==In art==

, 1862. , 1874. • Cotopaxi is depicted in the traditional paintings of the indigenous people of Tigua, as the volcano holds significant cultural value. • Cotopaxi was the subject of important works by painter Frederic Edwin Church in 1855 and 1862. • In The Star (1897), a short story by H. G. Wells, Cotopaxi erupts with a tumult of lava that reaches the coastline in a day. • In the poem Romance ("Chimborazo, Cotopaxi....Popocatapetl") by Walter J. Turner (1916), Cotopaxi is one of the romantic locations that has stolen the poet's heart. • In Shadrach in the Furnace (1976), a science fiction novel by Robert Silverberg, an eruption by Cotopaxi becomes known as "the night of Cotopaxi". It starts a series of disasters and uprisings that establish in the early 21st century a world dictatorship by the Mongolian Genghis Mao. • In the American film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the SS Cotopaxi, a ship named Cotopaxi that disappeared in 1925, appears in the Gobi Desert. • American rock band The Mars Volta have a 2009 song named after the mountain. • The cover art of the Cell Reports issue from Oct 2024 features an image taken on the slopes of Cotopaxi. ==See also==