Manuela Cañizares
Manuela Cañizares was an Ecuadorian salonist and heroine of independence.Life
Cañizares was the host of a popular literary salon in Quito from about 1797, which was a center of the city's intellectual life. On 9–10 August 1809, Manuela Cañizares hosted the famous meeting between the Ecuadorian rebels, which resulted in the formation of the first rebel government, Junta Autonoma de Quito, and declaration of independence in her salon. She was not only the host of the meeting, but an active participant in it, and reputedly a leading and driving force behind the revolution.Death
She was sentenced to death in absentia by the Spanish authorities and went into hiding during the war.Legacy
In 1901, President Eloy Alfaro named the first school for women in Ecuador "Manuela Cañizares" after her.
