1 Sucre 450th Anniversary of Cuenca

Cuenca — formally Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca — was founded by the Spanish governor Gil Ramírez Dávalos in 1557, making 2007 its 450th anniversary. The city had been the site of the Inca administrative center of Tomebamba before Spanish colonization, and its historic center was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Ecuador had replaced the sucre with the U.S. dollar in 2000 following a catastrophic banking crisis, so this coin was struck purely as a commemorative with no circulating intent — the denomination it carries had ceased to exist as functional currency seven years before the coin was minted.