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<\/a>The territories of modern-day Ecuador were once home to a variety of Amerindian<\/a> groups that were gradually incorporated into the Inca Empire during the 15th century. The territory was colonized by Spain<\/a> during the 16th century, achieving independence in 1820 as part of Gran Colombia<\/a>, from which it emerged as its own sovereign state in 1830. The legacy of both empires is reflected in Ecuador’s ethnically diverse population, with most of its 17.1 million people being mestizos, followed by large minorities of European, Amerindian, and African<\/a> descendants. Spanish is the official language and is spoken by a majority of the population, though 13 Amerindian languages are also recognized, including Quichua<\/a> and Shuar<\/a>.<\/p>\n The sovereign state of Ecuador is a middle-income representative democratic republic with a developing economy that is highly dependent on commodities, namely petroleum and agricultural products. It is governed as a democratic presidential republic. One of 18 megadiverse<\/a> countries in the world, Ecuador hosts many endemic plants and animals, such as those of the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands.<\/p>\n In recognition of its unique ecological heritage, the new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights. It also has the fifth lowest homicide rate in the Americas. Between 2006 and 2016, poverty decreased from 36.7% to 22.5% and annual per capita GDP growth was 1.5 percent (as compared to 0.6 percent over the prior two decades). At the same time, inequalities, as measured by the Gini index, decreased from 0.55 to 0.47.<\/p>\n Various peoples had settled in the area of future Ecuador before the arrival of the Incas<\/a>. The archaeological evidence suggests that the Paleo-Indians<\/a>‘ first dispersal into the Americas occurred near the end of the last glacial period<\/a>, around 16,500\u201313,000 years ago. The first Indians who reached Ecuador may have journeyed by land from North and Central America or by boat down the Pacific Ocean coastline. Much later migrations to Ecuador may have come via the Amazon tributaries, others descended from northern South America, and others ascended from the southern part of South America through the Andes. They developed different languages while emerging as unique ethnic groups.<\/p>\n Even though their languages were unrelated, these groups developed similar groups of cultures, each based in different environments. The people of the coast developed a fishing, hunting, and gathering culture; the people of the highland Andes developed a sedentary agricultural way of life, and the people of the Amazon basin developed a nomadic hunting-and-gathering mode of existence.<\/p>\n Over time these groups began to interact and intermingle with each other so that groups of families in one area became one community or tribe, with a similar language and culture. Many civilizations arose in Ecuador, such as the Valdivia Culture<\/a> and Machalilla Cultur<\/a>e on the coast, the Quitus<\/a> (near present-day Quito), and the Ca\u00f1ari<\/a> (near present-day Cuenca). Each civilization developed its own distinctive architecture, pottery, and religious interests.<\/p>\n In the highland Andes mountains, where life was more sedentary, groups of tribes cooperated and formed villages; thus the first nations based on agricultural resources and the domestication of animals formed. Eventually, through wars and marriage alliances of their leaders, a group of nations formed confederations. One region consolidated under a confederation called the Shyris, which exercised organized trading and bartering between the different regions. Its political and military power came under the rule of the Duchicela blood-line.<\/p>\n When the Incas arrived, they found that these confederations were so developed that it took the Incas two generations of rulers\u2014Topa Inca Yupanqui<\/a> and Huayna Capac<\/a>\u2014to absorb them into the Inca Empire.<\/p>\n The native confederations that gave them the most problems were deported to distant areas of Peru, Bolivia, and north Argentina. Similarly, a number of loyal Inca subjects from Peru and Bolivia were brought to Ecuador to prevent rebellion. Thus, the region of highland Ecuador became part of the Inca Empire in 1463 sharing the same language.<\/p>\n In contrast, when the Incas made incursions into coastal Ecuador and the eastern Amazon jungles of Ecuador, they found both the environment and indigenous people more hostile. Moreover, when the Incas tried to subdue them, these indigenous people withdrew to the interior and resorted to guerrilla tactics. As a result, Inca expansion into the Amazon Basin and the Pacific coast of Ecuador was hampered. The indigenous people of the Amazon jungle and coastal Ecuador remained relatively autonomous until the Spanish soldiers and missionaries arrived in force. The Amazonian people and the Cayapas<\/a> of Coastal Ecuador were the only groups to resist Inca and Spanish domination, maintaining their language and culture well into the 21st century.<\/p>\n Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Inca Empire was involved in a civil war. The untimely death of both the heir Ninan Cuchi and the Emperor Huayna Capac, from a European disease that spread into Ecuador, created a power vacuum between two factions. The northern faction headed by Atahualpa claimed that Huayna Capac gave a verbal decree before his death about how the empire should be divided. He gave the territories pertaining to present-day Ecuador and northern Peru to his favorite son Atahualpa, who was to rule from Quito; and he gave the rest to Hu\u00e1scar<\/a>, who was to rule from Cuzco<\/a>. He willed that his heart be buried in Quito, his favorite city, and the rest of his body be buried with his ancestors in Cuzco.<\/p>\n Hu\u00e1scar did not recognize his father’s will, since it did not follow Inca traditions of naming an Inca through the priests. Hu\u00e1scar ordered Atahualpa to attend their father’s burial in Cuzco and pay homage to him as the new Inca ruler. Atahualpa, with a large number of his father’s veteran soldiers, decided to ignore Hu\u00e1scar, and a civil war ensued. A number of bloody battles took place until finally Hu\u00e1scar was captured. Atahualpa marched south to Cuzco and massacred the royal family associated with his brother.<\/p>\n In 1532, a small band of Spaniards headed by Francisco Pizarro<\/a> landed in Tumbez and marched over the Andes Mountains until they reached Cajamarca, where the new Inca Atahualpa was to hold an interview with them. Valverde, the priest, tried to convince Atahualpa that he should join the Catholic Church and declare himself a vassal of Spain. This infuriated Atahualpa so much that he threw the Bible to the ground. At this point the enraged Spaniards, with orders from Valverde, attacked and massacred unarmed escorts of the Inca and captured Atahualpa. Pizarro promised to release Atahualpa if he made good his promise of filling a room full of gold. But, after a mock trial, the Spaniards executed Atahualpa by strangulation.<\/p>\n New infectious diseases such as smallpox<\/a>, endemic to the Europeans, caused high fatalities among the Amerindian population during the first decades of Spanish rule, as they had no immunity. At the same time, the natives were forced into the encomienda<\/a> labor system for the Spanish. In 1563, Quito became the seat of a real audiencia<\/a> (administrative district) of Spain and part of the Viceroyalty of Peru<\/a> and later the Viceroyalty of New Granada<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 1797 Riobamba earthquake<\/a>, which caused up to 40,000 casualties, was studied by Alexander von Humboldt<\/a>, when he visited the area in 1801\u20131802.<\/p>\n After nearly 300 years of Spanish rule, Quito was still a small city numbering 10,000 inhabitants. On August 10, 1809, the city’s criollos<\/a> called for independence from Spain (first among the peoples of Latin America). They were led by Juan P\u00edo Mont\u00fafar, Quiroga, Salinas, and Bishop Cuero y Caicedo. Quito’s nickname, “Luz de Am\u00e9rica<\/a>” (“Light of America”), is based on its leading role in trying to secure an independent, local government. Although the new government lasted no more than two months, it had important repercussions and was an inspiration for the independence movement of the rest of Spanish America. August 10 is now celebrated as Independence Day, a national holiday.<\/p>\n On October 9, 1820, Guayaquil<\/a> became the first city in Ecuador to gain its independence from Spain. Its inhabitants celebrated what is now Ecuador’s official Independence Day on May 24, 1822. The rest of Ecuador gained its independence after Antonio Jos\u00e9 de Sucre<\/a> defeated the Spanish Royalist forces at the Battle of Pichincha,<\/a> near Quito. Following the battle, Ecuador joined Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar<\/a>‘s Republic of Gran Colombia<\/a>, also including modern-day Colombia, Venezuela<\/a> and Panama<\/a>. In 1830, Ecuador separated from Gran Colombia and became an independent republic.<\/p>\n The 19th century was marked by instability for Ecuador with a rapid succession of rulers. The first president of Ecuador was the Venezuelan-born Juan Jos\u00e9 Flores<\/a>, who was ultimately deposed, followed by several authoritarian leaders, such as Vicente Rocafuerte<\/a>; Jos\u00e9 Joaqu\u00edn de Olmedo<\/a>; Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Urbina<\/a>; Diego Noboa<\/a>; Pedro Jos\u00e9 de Arteta<\/a>; Manuel de Asc\u00e1subi<\/a>; and Flores’s own son, Antonio Flores Jij\u00f3n<\/a>, among others. The conservative Gabriel Garcia Moreno<\/a> unified the country in the 1860s with the support of the Roman Catholic Church. In the late 19th century, world demand for cocoa tied the economy to commodity exports and led to migrations from the highlands to the agricultural frontier on the coast.<\/p>\n Ecuador abolished slavery and freed its black slaves in 1851.<\/p>\n The Liberal Revolution of 1895 under Eloy Alfaro<\/a> reduced the power of the clergy and the conservative land owners. This liberal wing retained power until the military “Julian Revolution” of 1925. The 1930s and 1940s were marked by instability and emergence of populist politicians, such as five-time President Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Velasco Ibarra<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since Ecuador’s separation from Colombia in May 13, 1830, its first President, General Juan Jos\u00e9 Flores, laid claim to the territory that was called the Real Audiencia of Quito, also referred to as the Presidencia of Quito. He supported his claims with Spanish Royal decrees or Real Cedulas, that delineated the borders of Spain’s former overseas colonies. In the case of Ecuador, Flores-based Ecuador’s de jure claims on the following cedulas – Real Cedula of 1563, 1739, and 1740; with modifications in the Amazon Basin and Andes Mountains that were introduced through the Treaty of Guayaquil (1829) which Peru reluctantly signed, after the overwhelmingly outnumbered Gran Colombian force led by Antonio Jos\u00e9 de Sucre defeated President and General La Mar’s Peruvian invasion force in the Battle of Tarqui<\/a>. In addition, Ecuador’s eastern border with the Portuguese colony of Brazil<\/a> in the Amazon Basin was modified before the wars of Independence by the First Treaty of San Ildefonso (1777)<\/a> between the Spanish Empire<\/a> and the Portuguese Empire<\/a>. Moreover, to add legitimacy to his claims, on February 16, 1840, Flores signed a treaty with Spain, whereby Flores convinced Spain to officially recognize Ecuadorian independence and its sole rights to colonial titles over Spain’s former colonial territory known anciently to Spain as the Kingdom and Presidency of Quito.<\/p>\n Ecuador during its long and turbulent history has lost most of its contested territories to each of its more powerful neighbors, such as Colombia in 1832 and 1916, Brazil in 1904 through a series of peaceful treaties, and Peru after a short war in which the Protocol of Rio de Janeiro was signed in 1942.<\/p>\n During the struggle for independence<\/a>, before Peru or Ecuador became independent nations, a few areas of the former Vice Royalty of New Granada – Guayaquil, Tumbez, and Ja\u00e9n – declared themselves independent from Spain. A few months later, a part of the Peruvian liberation army of San Martin<\/a> decided to occupy the independent cities of Tumbez and Ja\u00e9n with the intention of using these towns as springboards to occupy the independent city of Guayaquil and then to liberate the rest of the Audiencia de Quito (Ecuador). It was common knowledge among the top officers of the liberation army from the south that their leader San Martin wished to liberate present-day Ecuador and add it to the future republic of Peru, since it had been part of the Inca Empire before the Spaniards conquered it.<\/p>\n However, Bol\u00edvar’s intention was to form a new republic known as the Gran Colombia, out of the liberated Spanish territory of New Granada which consisted of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. San Martin’s plans were thwarted when Bol\u00edvar, with the help of Marshal Antonio Jos\u00e9 de Sucre and the Gran Colombian liberation force, descended from the Andes mountains and occupied Guayaquil; they also annexed the newly liberated Audiencia de Quito to the Republic of Gran Colombia. This happened a few days before San Martin’s Peruvian forces could arrive and occupy Guayaquil, with the intention of annexing Guayaquil to the rest of Audiencia of Quito (Ecuador) and to the future republic of Peru. Historic documents repeatedly stated that San Martin told Bolivar he came to Guayaquil to liberate the land of the Incas from Spain. Bolivar countered by sending a message from Guayaquil welcoming San Martin and his troops to Colombian soil.<\/p>\n In the south, Ecuador had de jure claims to a small piece of land beside the Pacific Ocean known as Tumbes<\/a> which lay between the Zarumilla<\/a> and Tumbes<\/a> rivers. In Ecuador’s southern Andes Mountain region where the Mara\u00f1on cuts across, Ecuador had de jure claims to an area it called Ja\u00e9n de Bracamoros<\/a>. These areas were included as part of the territory of Gran Colombia by Bolivar on December 17, 1819, during the Congress of Angostura<\/a> when the Republic of Gran Colombia was created. Tumbes declared itself independent from Spain on January 17, 1821, and Jaen de Bracamoros on June 17, 1821, without any outside help from revolutionary armies. However, that same year, 1821, Peruvian forces participating in the Trujillo revolution occupied both Jaen and Tumbes. Some Peruvian generals, without any legal titles backing them up and with Ecuador still federated with the Gran Colombia, had the desire to annex Ecuador to the Republic of Peru at the expense of the Gran Colombia, feeling that Ecuador was once part of the Inca Empire.<\/p>\n On July 28, 1821, Peruvian independence was proclaimed in Lima by the Liberator San Martin, and Tumbes and Jaen, which were included as part of the revolution of Trujillo by the Peruvian occupying force, had the whole region swear allegiance to the new Peruvian flag and incorporated itself into Peru, even though Peru was not completely liberated from Spain. After Peru was completely liberated from Spain by the patriot armies led by Bolivar and Antonio Jose de Sucre at the Battle of Ayacucho<\/a> dated December 9, 1824, there was a strong desire by some Peruvians to resurrect the Inca Empire and to include Bolivia and Ecuador. One of these Peruvian Generals was the Ecuadorian-born Jos\u00e9 de La Mar<\/a>, who became one of Peru’s presidents after Bolivar resigned as dictator of Peru and returned to Colombia. Gran Colombia had always protested Peru for the return of Jaen and Tumbes for almost a decade, then finally Bolivar after long and futile discussion over the return of Jaen, Tumbes, and part of Mainas, declared war. President and General Jos\u00e9 de La Mar, who was born in Ecuador, believing his opportunity had come to annex the District of Ecuador to Peru, personally, with a Peruvian force, invaded and occupied Guayaquil and a few cities in the Loja region of southern Ecuador on November 28, 1828.<\/p>\n The war ended when a triumphant heavily outnumbered southern Gran Colombian army at Battle of Tarqui dated February 27, 1829, led by Antonio Jos\u00e9 de Sucre, defeated the Peruvian invasion force led by President La Mar. This defeat led to the signing of the Treaty of Guayaquil dated September 22, 1829, whereby Peru and its Congress recognized Gran Colombian rights over Tumbes, Jaen, and Maynas. Through protocolized meetings between representatives of Peru and Gran Colombia, the border was set as Tumbes river in the west and in the east the Maranon and Amazon rivers were to be followed toward Brazil as the most natural borders between them. However, what was pending was whether the new border around the Jaen region should follow the Chinchipe River or the Huancabamba River. According to the peace negotiations Peru agreed to return Guayaquil, Tumbez, and Ja\u00e9n; despite this, Peru returned Guayaquil, but failed to return Tumbes and Ja\u00e9n, alleging that it was not obligated to follow the agreements, since the Gran Colombia ceased to exist when it divided itself into three different nations – Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela.<\/p>\n The Central District of the Gran Colombia, known as Cundinamarca or New Granada (modern Colombia) with its capital in Bogota, did not recognize the separation of the Southern District of the Gran Colombia, with its capital in Quito, from the Gran Colombian federation on May 13, 1830. After Ecuador’s separation, the Department of Cauca<\/a> voluntarily decided to unite itself with Ecuador due to instability in the central government of Bogota. The Venezuelan born President of Ecuador, the general Juan Jos\u00e9 Flores, with the approval of the Ecuadorian congress annexed the Department of Cauca on December 20, 1830, since the government of Cauca had called for union with the District of the South as far back as April 1830. Moreover, the Cauca region, throughout its long history, had very strong economic and cultural ties with the people of Ecuador. Also, the Cauca region, which included such cities as Pasto<\/a>, Popay\u00e1n<\/a>, and Buenaventura<\/a>, had always been dependent on the Presidencia or Audiencia of Quito.<\/p>\n Fruitless negotiations continued between the governments of Bogot\u00e1 and Quito, where the government of Bogot\u00e1 did not recognize the separation of Ecuador or that of Cauca from the Gran Colombia until war broke out in May 1832. In five months, New Granada defeated Ecuador due to the fact that the majority of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces were composed of rebellious angry unpaid veterans from Venezuela and Colombia that did not want to fight against their fellow countrymen. Seeing that his officers were rebelling, mutinying, and changing sides, President Flores had no option but to reluctantly make peace with New Granada. The Treaty of Pasto of 1832 was signed by which the Department of Cauca was turned over to New Granada (modern Colombia), the government of Bogot\u00e1 recognized Ecuador as an independent country and the border was to follow the Ley de Divisi\u00f3n Territorial de la Rep\u00fablica de Colombia (Law of the Division of Territory of the Gran Colombia) passed on June 25, 1824. This law set the border at the river Carchi and the eastern border that stretched to Brazil at the Caquet\u00e1 river. Later, Ecuador contended that the Republic of Colombia, while reorganizing its government, unlawfully made its eastern border provisional and that Colombia extended its claims south to the Napo River because it said that the Government of Popay\u00e1n extended its control all the way to the Napo River.<\/p>\n When Ecuador seceded from the Gran Colombia, Peru decided not to follow the Treaty of Guayaquil of 1829 or the protocoled agreements made. Peru contested Ecuador’s claims with the newly discovered Real Cedula of 1802, by which Peru claims the King of Spain had transferred these lands from the Viceroyalty of New Granada to the Viceroyalty of Peru. During colonial times this was to halt the ever-expanding Portuguese settlements into Spanish domains, which were left vacant and in disorder after the expulsion of Jesuit missionaries from their bases along the Amazon Basin. Ecuador countered by labeling the Cedula of 1802 an ecclesiastical instrument, which had nothing to do with political borders. Peru began its de facto occupation of disputed Amazonian territories, after it signed a secret 1851 peace treaty in favor of Brazil. This treaty disregarded Spanish rights that were confirmed during colonial times by a Spanish-Portuguese treaty over the Amazon regarding territories held by illegal Portuguese settlers.<\/p>\n Peru began occupying the defenseless missionary villages in the Mainas or Maynas region, which it began calling Loreto, with its capital in Iquitos. During its negotiations with Brazil, Peru stated that based on the royal cedula of 1802, it claimed Amazonian Basin territories up to Caqueta River in the north and toward the Andes Mountain range, depriving Ecuador and Colombia of all their claims to the Amazon Basin. Colombia protested stating that its claims extended south toward the Napo and Amazon Rivers. Ecuador protested that it claimed the Amazon Basin between the Caqueta river and the Mara\u00f1on-Amazon river. Peru ignored these protests and created the Department of Loreto in 1853 with its capital in Iquitos which it had recently invaded and systematically began to occupy using the river systems in all the territories claimed by both Colombia and Ecuador. Peru briefly occupied Guayaquil again in 1860, since Peru thought that Ecuador was selling some of the disputed land for development to British bond holders, but returned Guayaquil after a few months. The border dispute was then submitted to Spain for arbitration from 1880 to 1910, but to no avail.<\/p>\n In the early part of the 20th century, Ecuador made an effort to peacefully define its eastern Amazonian borders with its neighbors through negotiation. On May 6, 1904, Ecuador signed the Tobar-Rio Branco Treaty recognizing Brazil’s claims to the Amazon in recognition of Ecuador’s claim to be an Amazonian country to counter Peru’s earlier Treaty with Brazil back in October 23, 1851. Then after a few meetings with the Colombian government’s representatives an agreement was reached and the Mu\u00f1oz Vernaza-Suarez Treaty was signed July 15, 1916, in which Colombian rights to the Putumayo river were recognized as well as Ecuador’s rights to the Napo river and the new border was a line that ran midpoint between those two rivers. In this way, Ecuador gave up the claims it had to the Amazonian territories between the Caquet\u00e1 River and Napo River to Colombia, thus cutting itself off from Brazil. Later, a brief war erupted between Colombia and Peru, over Peru’s claims to the Caquet\u00e1 region, which ended with Peru reluctantly signing the Salomon-Lozano Treaty on March 24, 1922. Ecuador protested this secret treaty, since Colombia gave away Ecuadorian claimed land to Peru that Ecuador had given to Colombia in 1916.<\/p>\n In July 21, 1924, the Ponce-Castro Oyanguren Protocol was signed between Ecuador and Peru where both agreed to hold direct negotiations and to resolve the dispute in an equitable manner and to submit the differing points of the dispute to the United States for arbitration. Negotiations between the Ecuadorian and Peruvian representatives began in Washington on September 30, 1935. These negotiations were long and tiresome. Both sides logically presented their cases, but no one seemed to give up their claims. Then on February 6, 1937, Ecuador presented a transactional line which Peru rejected the next day. The negotiations turned into intense arguments during the next 7 months and finally on September 29, 1937, the Peruvian representatives decided to break off the negotiations without submitting the dispute to arbitration because the direct negotiations were going nowhere.<\/p>\n Four years later in 1941, amid fast-growing tensions within disputed territories around the Zarumilla River, war broke out with Peru<\/a>. Peru claimed that Ecuador’s military presence in Peruvian-claimed territory was an invasion; Ecuador, for its part, claimed that Peru had recently invaded Ecuador around the Zarumilla River and that Peru since Ecuador’s independence from Spain has systematically occupied Tumbez, Jaen, and most of the disputed territories in the Amazonian Basin between the Putomayo and Mara\u00f1on Rivers. In July 1941, troops were mobilized in both countries. Peru had an army of 11,681 troops who faced a poorly supplied and inadequately armed Ecuadorian force of 2,300, of which only 1,300 were deployed in the southern provinces. Hostilities erupted on July 5, 1941, when Peruvian forces crossed the Zarumilla river at several locations, testing the strength and resolve of the Ecuadorian border troops. Finally, on July 23, 1941, the Peruvians launched a major invasion, crossing the Zarumilla river in force and advancing into the Ecuadorian province of El Oro.<\/p>\n During the course of the Ecuadorian\u2013Peruvian War, Peru gained control over part of the disputed territory and some parts of the province of El Oro, and some parts of the province of Loja, demanding that the Ecuadorian government give up its territorial claims. The Peruvian Navy blocked the port of Guayaquil, almost cutting all supplies to the Ecuadorian troops. After a few weeks of war and under pressure by the United States and several Latin American nations, all fighting came to a stop. Ecuador and Peru came to an accord formalized in the Rio Protocol<\/a>, signed on January 29, 1942, in favor of hemispheric unity against the Axis Powers<\/a> in World War II<\/a> favoring Peru with the territory they occupied at the time the war came to an end.<\/p>\n The 1944 Glorious May Revolution followed a military-civilian rebellion and a subsequent civic strike which successfully removed Carlos Arroyo del R\u00edo as a dictator from Ecuador’s government. However, a post-Second World War recession and popular unrest led to a return to populist politics and domestic military interventions in the 1960s, while foreign companies developed oil resources in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In 1972, construction of the Andean pipeline was completed. The pipeline brought oil from the east side of the Andes to the coast, making Ecuador South America’s second largest oil exporter. The pipeline in southern Ecuador did nothing to resolve tensions between Ecuador and Peru, however.<\/p>\n The Rio Protocol failed to precisely resolve the border along a little river in the remote Cordillera del C\u00f3ndor region in southern Ecuador. This caused a long-simmering dispute between Ecuador and Peru, which ultimately led to fighting between the two countries; first a border skirmish in January\u2013February 1981 known as the Paquisha Incident<\/a>, and ultimately full-scale warfare in January 1995 where the Ecuadorian military shot down Peruvian aircraft and helicopters and Peruvian infantry marched into southern Ecuador. Each country blamed the other for the onset of hostilities, known as the Cenepa War<\/a>. Sixto Dur\u00e1n Ball\u00e9n<\/a>, the Ecuadorian president, famously declared that he would not give up a single centimeter of Ecuador. Popular sentiment in Ecuador became strongly nationalistic against Peru: graffiti could be seen on the walls of Quito referring to Peru as the “Cain de Latinoam\u00e9rica”, a reference to the murder of Abel by his brother Cain<\/a> in the Book of Genesis.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ecuador and Peru signed the Brasilia Presidential Act<\/a> peace agreement on October 26, 1998, which ended hostilities, and effectively put an end to the Western Hemisphere’s longest running territorial dispute. The Guarantors of the Rio Protocol (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and the United States of America) ruled that the border of the undelineated zone was to be set at the line of the Cordillera del C\u00f3ndor. While Ecuador had to give up its decades-old territorial claims to the eastern slopes of the Cordillera, as well as to the entire western area of Cenepa headwaters, Peru was compelled to give to Ecuador, in perpetual lease but without sovereignty, 1 km2 (0.39 sq mi) of its territory, in the area where the Ecuadorian base of Tiwinza \u2013 focal point of the war \u2013 had been located within Peruvian soil and which the Ecuadorian Army held during the conflict. The final border demarcation came into effect on May 13, 1999 and the multi-national MOMEP (Military Observer Mission for Ecuador and Peru) troop deployment withdrew on June 17, 1999.<\/p>\n In 1972, a “revolutionary and nationalist” military junta overthrew the government of Velasco Ibarra. The coup d’\u00e9tat was led by General Guillermo Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> and executed by navy commander Jorge Queirolo G.<\/p>\n The new president exiled Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Velasco to Argentina<\/a>. He remained in power until 1976, when he was removed by another military government. That military junta was led by Admiral Alfredo Poveda<\/a>, who was declared chairman of the Supreme Council. The Supreme Council included two other members: General Guillermo Dur\u00e1n Arcentales and General Luis Leoro Franco. The civil society more and more insistently called for democratic elections. Colonel Richelieu Levoyer<\/a>, Government Minister, proposed and implemented a Plan to return to the constitutional system through universal elections. This plan enabled the new democratically elected president to assume the duties of the executive office.<\/p>\n Elections were held on April 29, 1979, under a new constitution. Jaime Rold\u00f3s Aguilera<\/a> was elected president, garnering over one million votes, the most in Ecuadorian history. He took office on August 10, as the first constitutionally elected president after nearly a decade of civilian and military dictatorships. In 1980, he founded the Partido Pueblo, Cambio y Democracia (People, Change, and Democracy Party) after withdrawing from the Concentraci\u00f3n de Fuerzas Populares (Popular Forces Concentration) and governed until May 24, 1981, when he died along with his wife and the minister of defense, Marco Subia Martinez, when his Air Force plane crashed in heavy rain near the Peruvian border. Many people believe that he was assassinated by the CIA, given the multiple death threats leveled against him because of his reformist agenda, deaths in automobile crashes of two key witnesses before they could testify during the investigation, and the sometimes contradictory accounts of the incident.<\/p>\n Roldos was immediately succeeded by Vice President Osvaldo Hurtado, who was followed in 1984 by Le\u00f3n Febres Cordero<\/a> from the Social Christian Party. Rodrigo Borja Cevallos<\/a> of the Democratic Left (Izquierda Democr\u00e1tica, or ID) party won the presidency in 1988, running in the runoff election against Abdal\u00e1 Bucaram<\/a> (brother in law of Jaime Roldos and founder of the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party). His government was committed to improving human rights protection and carried out some reforms, notably an opening of Ecuador to foreign trade. The Borja government concluded an accord leading to the disbanding of the small terrorist group, “\u00a1Alfaro Vive, Carajo!<\/a>” (“Alfaro Lives, Dammit!”), named after Eloy Alfaro<\/a>. However, continuing economic problems undermined the popularity of the ID, and opposition parties gained control of Congress in 1999.<\/p>\n The emergence of the Amerindian population as an active constituency has added to the democratic volatility of the country in recent years. The population has been motivated by government failures to deliver on promises of land reform, lower unemployment and provision of social services, and historical exploitation by the land-holding elite. Their movement, along with the continuing destabilizing efforts by both the elite and leftist movements, has led to a deterioration of the executive office. The populace and the other branches of government give the president very little political capital, as illustrated by the most recent removal of President Lucio Guti\u00e9rrez<\/a> from office by Congress in April 2005. Vice President Alfredo Palaci<\/a>o took his place and remained in office until the presidential election of 2006<\/a>, in which Rafael Correa<\/a> gained the presidency.<\/p>\n In December 2008, president Correa declared Ecuador’s national debt illegitimate, based on the argument that it was odious debt contracted by corrupt and despotic prior regimes. He announced that the country would default on over $3 billion worth of bonds; he then pledged to fight creditors in international courts and succeeded in reducing the price of outstanding bonds by more than 60%. He brought Ecuador into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas<\/a> in June 2009. To date, Correa’s administration has succeeded in reducing the high levels of poverty and unemployment in Ecuador.<\/p>\n After being elected in 2017, President Lenin Moreno<\/a>‘s government adopted economically liberal policies: reduction of public spending, trade liberalization, flexibility of the labour code, etc. He also left the left-wing Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in August 2018. The Productive Development Act enshrines an austerity policy, and reduces the development and redistribution policies of the previous mandate. In the area of taxes, the authorities aim to “encourage the return of investors” by granting amnesty to fraudsters and proposing measures to reduce tax rates for large companies. In addition, the government waives the right to tax increases in raw material prices and foreign exchange repatriations.<\/p>\n A series of protests began on 3 October 2019<\/a> against the end of fuel subsidies and austerity measures adopted by President of Ecuador Len\u00edn Moreno and his administration. On 10 October, protesters overran the capital Quito causing the Government of Ecuador to relocate to Guayaquil, but it was reported that the government still had plans to return to Quito.<\/p>\n Ecuador has a total area of 283,561 km2 (109,484 sq mi), including the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands. Of this, 276,841 km2 (106,889 sq mi) is land and 6,720 km2 (2,595 sq mi) water. Ecuador is bigger than Uruguay, Suriname, Guyana and French Guyana in South America.<\/p>\n The country has four main geographic regions:<\/p>\n La Costa, or “the coast”: The coastal region consists of the provinces to the west of the Andean range \u2013 Esmeraldas<\/a>, Guayas<\/a>, Los R\u00edos<\/a>, Manab\u00ed<\/a>, El Or<\/a>o, and Santa Elena<\/a>. It is the country’s most fertile and productive land, and is the seat of the large banana exportation plantations of the companies Dole<\/a> and Chiquita<\/a>. This region is also where most of Ecuador’s rice crop is grown. The truly coastal provinces have active fisheries. The largest coastal city is Guayaquil.<\/p>\n La Sierra, or “the highlands”: The sierra consists of the Andean and Interandean highland provinces \u2013 Azuay<\/a>, Ca\u00f1ar<\/a>, Carchi<\/a>, Chimborazo<\/a>, Imbabura<\/a>, Loja<\/a>, Pichincha<\/a>, and Tungurahua<\/a>. This land contains most of Ecuador’s volcanoes and all of its snow-capped peaks. Agriculture is focused on the traditional crops of potato, maize, and quinua<\/a> and the population is predominantly Amerindian Kichua<\/a>. The largest Sierran city is Quito.<\/p>\n La Amazon\u00eda, also known as El Oriente, or “the east”: The oriente consists of the Amazon jungle provinces \u2013 Morona Santiago<\/a>, Napo<\/a>, Orellana<\/a>, Pastaza<\/a>, Sucumb\u00edos<\/a>, and Zamora-Chinchipe<\/a>. This region is primarily made up of the huge Amazon national parks and Amerindian untouchable zones, which are vast stretches of land set aside for the Amazon Amerindian tribes to continue living traditionally. It is also the area with the largest reserves of petroleum in Ecuador, and parts of the upper Amazon here have been extensively exploited by petroleum companies. The population is primarily mixed Amerindian Shuar<\/a>, Huaorani<\/a> and Kichua, although there are numerous tribes in the deep jungle which are little-contacted. The largest city in the Oriente is probably Lago Agrio<\/a> in Sucumb\u00edos, although Macas<\/a> in Morona Santiago runs a close second.<\/p>\n La Regi\u00f3n Insular is the region comprising the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands<\/a>, some 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) west of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n Ecuador’s capital is Quito, which is in the province of Pichincha in the Sierra region. Its largest city is Guayaquil, in the Guayas Province. Cotopaxi, just south of Quito, is one of the world’s highest active volcanoes. The top of Mount Chimborazo (6,268 m, or 20,560 ft, above sea level), Ecuador’s tallest mountain, is the most distant point from the center of the Earth on the Earth’s surface because of the ellipsoid shape of the planet.<\/p>\n Ecuador has a developing economy that is highly dependent on commodities, namely petroleum and agricultural products. The country is classified as an upper-middle-income country. Ecuador’s economy is the eighth largest in Latin America and experienced an average growth of 4.6% between 2000 and 2006. From 2007 to 2012, Ecuador’s GDP grew at an annual average of 4.3 percent, above the average for Latin America and the Caribbean, which was 3.5%.<\/p>\n The extreme poverty rate has declined significantly between 1999 and 2010. In 2001, it was estimated at 40% of the population, while by 2011 the figure dropped to 17.4% of the total population. This is explained to an extent by emigration and the economic stability achieved after adopting the U.S. dollar as official means of transaction (before 2000, the Ecuadorian sucre was prone to rampant inflation). However, starting in 2008, with the bad economic performance of the nations where most Ecuadorian emigrants work, the reduction of poverty has been realized through social spending, mainly in education and health.<\/p>\n Oil accounts for 40% of exports and contributes to maintaining a positive trade balance. Since the late 1960s, the exploitation of oil increased production, and proven reserves are estimated at 6.51 billion barrels as of 2011.<\/p>\n In the agricultural sector, Ecuador is a major exporter of bananas (first place worldwide in production and export), flowers, and the seventh largest producer of cocoa. Ecuador also produces coffee, rice, potatoes, cassava (manioc, tapioca), plantains and sugarcane; cattle, sheep, pigs, beef, pork and dairy products; fish, and shrimp; and balsa wood. The country’s vast resources include large amounts of timber across the country, like eucalyptus and mangroves. Pines and cedars are planted in the region of La Sierra and walnuts, rosemary, and balsa wood in the Guayas River Basin. The industry is concentrated mainly in Guayaquil, the largest industrial center, and in Quito, where in recent years the industry has grown considerably. This city is also the largest business center of the country. Industrial production is directed primarily to the domestic market. Despite this, there is limited export of products produced or processed industrially. These include canned foods, liquor, jewelry, furniture, and more. A minor industrial activity is also concentrated in Cuenca. Incomes from tourism has been increasing during the last few years because of the Government showing the variety of climates and the biodiversity of Ecuador.<\/p>\n The historic center of Quito has one of the largest and best-preserved historic centers in the Americas. The city also houses a large number of museums. The Ministry of Information and Tourism was created on August 10, 1992, at the beginning of the government of Sixto Dur\u00e1n Ball\u00e9n<\/a>, who viewed tourism as a fundamental activity for the economic and social development of the peoples. Faced with the growth of the tourism sector, in June 1994, the decision was taken to separate tourism from information, so that it is exclusively dedicated to promoting and strengthening this activity.<\/p>\n Ecuador is a country with vast natural wealth. The diversity of its four regions has given rise to thousands of species of flora and fauna. It has around 1640 kinds of birds. The species of butterflies border the 4,500, the reptiles 345, the amphibians 358 and the mammals 258, among others. Not in vain, Ecuador is considered one of the 17 countries where the planet’s highest biodiversity is concentrated, being also the largest country with diversity per km2 in the world. Most of its fauna and flora lives in 26 protected areas by the State. Also, it has a huge culture spectrum. Since 2007, with the government of Rafael Correa, the tourism brand “Ecuador Ama la Vida” has been transformed, with which the nation’s tourism promotion would be sold. Focused on considering it as a country friendly and respectful of the nature, natural biodiversity and cultural diversity of the peoples. And for this, means of exploiting them are developed along with the private economy.<\/p>\n The country has two cities UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Quito and Cuenca, as well as two natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Galapagos Islands and Sangay National Park in addition to one World Biosphere Reserve<\/a>, such as the Cajas massif. Culturally, the Toquilla straw hat and the culture of the Zapara indigenous people are recognized. The most popular sites for national and foreign tourists have different nuances due to the various tourist activities offered by the country.<\/p>\n Among the main tourist destinations are:<\/p>\n Nature attractions: Gal\u00e1pagos Island<\/a>s, Yasuni National Park<\/a>, El Cajas National Park<\/a>, Sangay National Park<\/a>, Podocarpus National Park<\/a>, Vilcabamba<\/a>, Ba\u00f1os de Agua Santa.<\/a> The rehabilitation and reopening of the Ecuadorian railroad and use of it as a tourist attraction is one of the recent developments in transportation matters.<\/p>\n The roads of Ecuador in recent years have undergone important improvement. The major routes are Pan American (under enhancement from four to six lanes from Rumichaca to Ambato, the conclusion of 4 lanes on the entire stretch of Ambato and Riobamba and running via Riobamba to Loja). In the absence of the section between Loja and the border with Peru, there are the Route Espondilus and\/or Ruta del Sol (oriented to travel along the Ecuadorian coastline) and the Amazon backbone (which crosses from north to south along the Ecuadorian Amazon, linking most and more major cities of it).<\/p>\n Another major project is developing the road Manta \u2013 Tena, the highway Guayaquil \u2013 Salinas Highway Aloag Santo Domingo, Riobamba \u2013 Macas (which crosses Sangay National Park). Other new developments include the National Unity bridge complex in Guayaquil, the bridge over the Napo river in Francisco de Orellana, the Esmeraldas River Bridge in the city of the same name, and, perhaps the most remarkable of all, the Bahia \u2013 San Vincente Bridge, being the largest on the Latin American Pacific coast.<\/p>\n Cuenca’s tramway is the largest public transport system in the city and the first modern tramway in Ecuador. It was inaugurated on March 8, 2019. It has 20,4 km and 27 stations. It will transport 120 000 passagers daily. Its route starts in the south of Cuenca and ends in the north at the Parque Industrial neighbourhood.<\/p>\n The Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito and the Jos\u00e9 Joaqu\u00edn de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil have experienced a high increase in demand and have required modernization. In the case of Guayaquil it involved a new air terminal, once considered the best in South America and the best in Latin America[91] and in Quito where an entire new airport has been built in Tababela and was inaugurated in February 2013, with Canadian assistance. However, the main road leading from Quito city centre to the new airport will only be finished in late 2014, making current travelling from the airport to downtown Quito as long as two hours during rush hour.[92] Quito’s old city-centre airport is being turned into parkland, with some light industrial use.<\/p>\n The national flag of Ecuador, which consists of horizontal bands of yellow (double width), blue and red, was first adopted by law in 1835 and later on 26 September 1860. The design of the current flag was finalized in 1900 with the addition of the coat of arms in the center of the flag. Before using the yellow, blue and red tricolor, Ecuador used white and blue flags that contained stars for each province of the country. The design of the flag is very similar to those of Colombia<\/a> and Venezuela<\/a>, which are also former constituent territories of Gran Colombia<\/a>. All three are based on a proposal by Venezuelan General Francisco de Miranda<\/a>, which was adopted by Venezuela in 1811 and later Gran Colombia with some modifications. There is a variant of the flag that does not contain the coat of arms that is used by the merchant marine. This flag matches Colombia’s in every aspect, but Colombia uses a different design when her merchant marine ships are at sail.<\/p>\n The Ecuadorian National Secretariat of Communication (Secretar\u00eda Nacional de Comunicaci\u00f3n) issued regulations describing the applications and proportions of the national flag, coat of arms, and other national symbols in November 2009.<\/p>\n The national flag has a length of 2.20 meters and a width of 1.47 m, a ratio of 2 to 3. The field is split into three horizontal colored bands, a yellow band of one-half the flag’s width, a blue band of one-quarter the width, and a red band of one-quarter the width. All three bands extend the full length of the flag. The flag is charged with the Ecuadorian coat of arms scaled to one-half the width of the flag and centered in the field. The coat of arms itself is constructed in a rectangle with proportions 12:10.<\/p>\n In the background of the oval shield is the mountain Chimborazo<\/a>, while the river originating from its base represents the Guayas<\/a>. Chimborazo is also the highest mountain in Ecuador and is part of the Andes Range<\/a>. The steamboat on the river is named Guayas as well. The ship was built in Guayaquil<\/a> and was the first seaworthy steamship built in both Ecuador and in all of South America. It was first put into service on 9 October 1841. The ship has the features of a Caduceus<\/a> representing trade and economy. This kind of mast has two wings surrounding a pole with two snakes encircling it. On top a golden sun surrounded by the Zodiac<\/a> astrological signs for Aries<\/a>, Taurus<\/a>, Gemini<\/a> and Cancer<\/a> representing the months March to July to symbolize the duration of the March Revolution of 1845<\/a> that ousted General Juan Jos\u00e9 Flores.<\/a><\/p>\n The condor<\/a> on top of the shield stretches his wings to symbolize power, greatness and strength of Ecuador. The condor also represents the idea that it will always be ready to attack any enemy. The shield is flanked by four national flags. The laurel on the left represents the victories of the republic. The palm leaf on the right side is a symbol of the martyrs of the fight for independence and liberty. The Fasces<\/a> below the shield represents the republican dignity. The final design of the coat of arms was completed in 1900.<\/p>\n The colors have the following meanings:<\/p>\n Yellow: The crops and the fertile soil. The national flag of Ecuador, which consists of horizontal bands of yellow (double width), blue and red, was first adopted by law in 1835 and later on 26 September 1860. The design of the current flag was finalized in 1900 with the addition of the coat of arms in the center of the flag. Before using the yellow, blue and red tricolor, Ecuador used white and blue flags that contained stars for each province of the country. The design of the flag is very similar to those of Colombia and Venezuela, which are also former constituent territories of Gran Colombia. All three are based on a proposal by Venezuelan General Francisco de Miranda, which was adopted by Venezuela in 1811 and later Gran Colombia with some modifications. There is a variant of the flag that does not contain the coat of arms that is used by the merchant marine. This flag matches Colombia’s in every aspect, but Colombia uses a different design when her merchant marine ships are at sail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,6,7,29,30,28,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Megadiverse-Countries-300x132.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
Pre-Inca Era:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Tumaco-La-Tolita-Mythological-Figure-100-BC-and-100-AD-Esmeraldas-225x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Inca Era:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/The-Inca-Empire-300x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Pre-Hispanic-Shrunken-Head-of-the-Shuars-295x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Ruins-of-Ingapirca-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Spanish Rule:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Quito-Main-Square-18th-Century-300x222.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Independence:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Antonio-Jos\u00e9-de-Sucre-225x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Liberal Revolution:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Jos\u00e9-Mar\u00eda-Velasco-Ibarra-221x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Loss of Claimed Territories Since 1830:<\/h3>\n
The Ecuadorian\u2013Peruvian Territorial Dispute:<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Juan-Jos\u00e9-Flores-190x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Struggle for Independence:<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Royal-Audiencia-of-Quito-1779-300x166.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Peruvian Occupation of Ja\u00e9n, Tumbes, and Guayaquil:<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Tumbes-in-Peru-246x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Battle-of-Ayacucho-300x124.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>The Dissolution of Gran Colombia:<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Cauca-Department-in-Colombia-225x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Struggle for Possession of the Amazon Basin:<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Viceroyalty-of-New-Granada-300x242.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Baron-of-Rio-Branco-201x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Zarumilla-River-Peru-right-Ecuador-left-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Carlos-Arroyo-del-R\u00edo-203x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Peru-Ecuador-Area-of-Boundary-Dispute-238x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Military Governments (1972\u201379):<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/General-Guillermo-Rodr\u00edguez-254x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Return to Democracy:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Jaime-Roldos-Aguilera-184x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/President-Len\u00edn-Moreno-First-Lady-Roc\u00edo-Gonz\u00e1lez-Navas-and-Predecessor-Rafael-Correa-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>2019 State of Emergency:<\/h3>\n
Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Topographic-Map-of-Ecuador-270x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Cotopaxi-Volcano-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Ecuador-Exports-293x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/World-Trade-Center-headquarters-in-Guayaquil-300x212.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Tourism:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Historic-Center-of-Quito-Tourism-Attraction-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Gal\u00e1pagos-Sea-Lion-on-San-Crist\u00f3bal-Island-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>
\nCultural attractions: Historic center of Quit<\/a>o, Ciudad Mitad del Mundo<\/a>, Ingapirca<\/a>, Historic center of Cuenca<\/a>, Latacunga<\/a> and its Mama Negra festival.
\nSnowy mountains: Antisana volcano, Cayambe volcano<\/a>, Chimborazo volcano<\/a>, Cotopaxi volcano<\/a>, Illinizas volcanoes<\/a>.
\nBeaches: Atacames<\/a>, Bah\u00eda de Car\u00e1quez<\/a>, Crucita, Esmeraldas<\/a>, Manta<\/a>, Monta\u00f1ita<\/a>, Playas<\/a>, Salinas<\/a>.<\/p>\nTransportation:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Railways-in-Ecuador-221x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Jos\u00e9-Joaqu\u00edn-de-Olmedo-International-Airport-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Flag of Ecuador:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/04\/Flag-of-Ecuador-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>
\nBlue: The ocean and the clear skies
\nRed: The blood spilled by the heroes who died in the name of their countrymen’s Fatherland and Freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"