The Cañari (in Kichwa: Kañari) are an indigenous ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the territory of the modern provinces of Azuay and Cañar in Ecuador; the term also refers to an independent pre-Hispanic tribal confederation of the same name, from which the modern people are descended. They are particularly noted for their resistance against the Inca Empire. Eventually conquered by the Inca shortly before the arrival of the Spanish, the Cañari would later ally with the Spanish against the Inca. Today, the population of Cañari, which includes many mestizos, numbers only in the thousands.