This is the history of Ecuador. See also the history of South America and the history of present-day nations and states. HIStory: Past, Present and Future – Book I (or simply HIStory) is a double-disc album by Michael Jackson released in 1995 by the Epic Records devision of Sony Music. ... While perhaps the last continent--except Antarctica to be inhabited by humans, the history of South America spans the full range of human cultural and civilizational forms. ... This is a list of articles on the history of contemporary countries, states and dependencies. ...

Pre-Columbian era

Numerous indigenous cultures thrived in Ecuador for thousands of years before the Inca conquered the area. The Valdivia culture in the Pacific coast region is the earliest known Ecuadorian culture. Ancient Valdivian artifacts from as early as 3500 B.C have been found along the coast north of the Guayas Province in the modern city of Santa Elena.

Several other cultures, including the Quiucaras and the Cañaris, emerged in other parts of Ecuador after the Valdivians. There are other major archaeological sites in the coastal provinces of Manabí and Esmeraldas and in the middle Andean highland provinces of Tungurahua and Chimborazo. With the archaeological evidence uncovered to date, we know that Ecuador was inhabited for at least 4,500 years before the Inca arrived, however, many believe that the area was populated even earlier, possibly as far back as 10,000 B.C.

Great tracts of Ecuador, including almost all of the Oriente, remain unknown to archaeologists; a fact that adds credence to the possibility the country was populated before 3500 B.C. There has been increased attention to the Amazon region recently but the forest is so remote and dense that it takes years for research teams to survey even a small area.

Ecuador under Incan rule

The history of Ecuador is better known from the point of the Inca expansion than during the Pre-Columbian era, though even after the Inca conquered Ecuador many holes remain because of the limited recorded history they kept. In AD 1463, the Inca warrior Pachacuti and his son Topa Yupanqui began the incorpation of Ecuador into Inca rule. By the end of 15th century, despite fierce resistance by several Ecuadorian native tribes, Huayna Capac, Topa Yupanqui's son, conquered all of Ecuador.

The Inca ruled the Ecuadorian Kingdoms until the arrival of Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almargo and a force of Spanish conquistadors in 1532. During the period of Inca control, the Ecuadorian tribesmen adopted agricultural practices and the social organization of their Inca rulers, but maintained their traditional religious beliefs and many customs. Ecuador's indigenous population would suffer far worse under Spanish colonial rule than it did under the Inca.

Arrival of the Spanish

Pizarro set out on his third expedition during the final months of 1531 from Panama. The expedition would end in the defeat of the Inca Empire and the Spanish colonization and conquest of Ecuador. He began the campaign with less than two hundred men while his partner, Almargo, remained in Panama to gather more troops. After landing, Pizarro was forced to spend several months on the Ecuadorian coast and in northern Peru building a base of operations and collecting jewels and gold to finance reinforcements.

When Pizarro's expedition finally arrived in the recently founded Inca capital of Cajamarca, the new Inca king, Atahualpa Capac, was resting at nearby thermal baths after prevailing in a bitter civil war with his brother. The familial war for their father's throne ignited because of a deep hatred fueled by Huascar's, Atahualpa's half brother, insistence that Atahualpa, borne by one of their father's (the Emperor Huayna Capac) lesser wives, was a bastard and held no legitimate claim to the Empire.

Atahualpa reluctantly returned to Cajamarca with thousands of his best troops to greet Pizarro. When he went to Cajamarca's central plaza to meet the Conquistador, instead of Pizarro he found a pompous Fray Vicente de Valverde waiting for him. Promptly after Atahualpa refused to submit to the Catholicism and Spanish king, hiding Spanish soldiers and mercenaries slaughtered thousands of the Inca defenders and took Atahualpa prisoner. Within a year of his capture, Atahualpa was executed.

Colonial Ecuador

According to Spanish law, Ecuador and the rest of Spain's colonies were the personal property of the Spanish king. Thus, every law and deed in the colonies was carried out in the name of the king. In Spain, on the king's behalf, the Council of the Indies conceived all the laws that regulated life in the colonies and the House of Trade governed all trade and commerce between Spain and the colonies. In the colonies, the viceroyalty, audiencias and municipal councils administered law and trade.

Ecuador was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru ruled from Lima from 1544 until 1720, when it joined the newly created Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada ruled from Bogota. In 1563, however, Quito became a royal audiencia of Spain, thus, permitting it to deal directly with Madrid on certain matters instead of going through the Viceroyalty in Lima. The name Quito Audencia is misleading because it gives one the idea that the territory under the jurisdiction of Quito was comparable to the limits of the city of Quito today. In truth, the territory of the Quito Audencia greatly exceeded that of present-day Ecuador, encompassing the north of present-day Peru, the city of Cali in the south of present-day Colombia, and much of the Amazon River Basin east of present-day Ecuador. Quito also served as the most important municipal council within the area comprising modern-day Ecuador and as such was responsible for, among other things, the maintenance of public order.

Independence and Seeds of Revolution

At the same time that the Spanish colonial economy began to fail, messages of the Enlightenment being wrought in Europe penetrated Quito's cultural isolation and began to be disseminated throughout the country on the backs of missionaries. Enlightenment ideals embodied notions of nationalism and individualism and the concepts of equality and freedom. The failing economy and flagging administrative authority of the Quito Audencia, combined with the introduction of Enlightenment ideals, set the stage for Ecuador's independence.

Civil disturbances plagued the Quito Audencia, particularly in the Sierra, from the mid-eighteenth century until the end of the colonial era. However, it was not until the criollos (persons of pure Spanish descent born in the New World) entered the revolutionary picture that independence really began to take form. The criollos resented the privileges afforded to the peninsulares (persons from Spain) and, as a result, sought independence from the crown.

Antonio José de Sucre Alcalá lead the Ecuadorian separatist forces to victory. Ecuador's criollo population tried several times to take control of the Quito Audencia in the decade that followed Napoleon's invasion of Spain, but it was not until 1820 that the criollos had enough force to realize emancipation from Spanish colonial rule. In October 1820, in Guayaquil, a junta under the leadership of José Joaquín Olmedo declared Ecuador's independence from its colonial master. Unlike the earlier juntas, Olmedo appealed to Argentina and Venezuela for support. Ecuador's identification with the wider South American independence movement - led principally by Venezuelan Simón Bolívar Palacios and the Argentinean José de San Martín - was ultimately what permitted it to throw off the shackles of Spanish domination as early as it did. Without help from Bolívar and San Martín, Ecuador likely would have languished under colonial rule for at least a few more decades.

Bolívar and San Martín heeded Olmedo's call for help, sending him significant contingents of troops and a number of skilled officers. Antonio José de Sucre Alcalá led the combined Ecuadorian and foreign forces to a number of successive victories before finally being stopped at the city of Ambato in the highlands south of Quito. The royalist success was short lived, Martín sent Sucre the necessary reinforcements and the brilliant young lieutenant went on the offensive again. After another series of triumphs and a decisive victory at the Battle of Pichincha on May 24, 1822, Ecuador achieved its independence. Within hours of his victory on the slopes the volcano outside of Quito, Sucre received the formal surrender of the Quito Audiencia.

The struggle for independence in the Royal Audience of Quito was part of a movement throughout Spanish America led by the Creoles. The Creoles resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the peninsulares was the fuel of revolution against colonial rule. The spark was Napoleon's invasion of Spain, after which he deposed King Ferdinand VII and, in July 1808, placed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne. Quito (official name: San Francisco de Quito) is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. ... Spanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in the Americas of Christopher Columbus in 1492. ... For the languages, see Creole language The term Creole is used with different meanings in different contexts, which can generate confusion. ... In the colonial caste system of Spanish America, a peninsular was a citizen born in the metropolitan part of the Spanish Empire, modernly called just Spain, in Iberian Peninsula. ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... Ferdinand VII (October 14, 1784 - September 29, 1833) was King of Spain from 1813 to 1833. ... Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte, King of Naples, King of Spain (January 7, 1768 – July 28, 1844) was the elder brother of the French Emperor Napoleon I, who made him King of Naples (1806–1808) and King of Spain (1808–1813). ...

Shortly afterward, Spanish citizens, unhappy at the usurpation of the throne by the French, began organizing local juntas loyal to Ferdinand. A group of Quito's leading citizens followed suit, and on August 10, 1809, after nearly 300 years of Spanish colonization, they set up a Junta and seized power from the local representatives of Joseph Bonaparte in the name of Ferdinand. Thus, this early revolt against colonial rule (one of the first in Spanish America) was, paradoxically, an expression of loyalty to the Spanish king. August 10 is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1809 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... In modern usage, junta (pronounced as in Spanish HUN-ta or HOON-ta) typically refers to a military dictatorship, especially in Latin America, which is officially run by a committee of high-ranking military officers. ...

Historians debate whether this was a true attempt at obtaining independence from Spain. Be that as it may, the members of the Junta found little support, either in other cities of the Royal Audience of Quito, or even among the lower classes in Quito, and were soon arrested by colonial troops sent from Lima. Motto: Spanish: Dios, patria y libertad (English: God, homeland and liberty) [citation needed] Anthem(s): Salve, Oh Patria Capital Quito Largest city Guayaquil Official language(s) Spanish1 Government Republic  - President Alfredo Palacio  - Vice-President Alejandro Serrano Independence    - From Spain May 24, 1822   - From Gran Colombia May 13, 1830  Area  - Total... Lima is the capital and largest city in Peru, as well as the capital of Lima Province. ...

It quickly became apparent that Quito's Creole rebels lacked the anticipated popular support for their cause. As loyalist troops approached Quito, therefore, they peacefully turned power back to the crown authorities. Despite assurances against reprisals, the returning Spanish authorities (Bonaparte's men) proved to be merciless with the rebels and, in the process of ferreting out participants in the Quito revolt, jailed and abused many innocent citizens. They actions, in turn, bred popular resentment among Quiteños, who, after several days of street fighting in August 1810, won an agreement to be governed by a junta to be dominated by Creoles, although with the president of the Audiencia of Quito acting as its figurehead leader.

In spite of widespread opposition within the rest of the Audience of Quito, the junta called for a congress in December 1811 in which it declared the entire area of the Audience to be independent. Two months later, the junta approved a constitution for the state of Quito that provided for democratic governing institutions but also granted recognition to the authority of Ferdinand should he return to the Spanish throne. Shortly thereafter, the junta elected to launch a military offensive against the Spanish, but the poorly trained and badly equipped troops were no match for those of the viceroy of Peru, which finally crushed the Quiteño rebellion in December 1812. Democracy is a form of government under which the power to alter the laws and structures of government lies, ultimately, with the citizenry. ... Offensive may relate to In sports or combat, the team which is attacking, pitching or moving forwards In language or morals, terms and concepts which are unacceptable to some people, such as swearing and profanity. ... A viceroy is a royal official who governs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. ...

The second chapter in Ecuador's struggle for emancipation from Spanish colonial rule began in Guayaquil, where independence was proclaimed in October 1820 by a local patriotic junta under the leadership of the poet José Joaquín de Olmedo. By this time, the forces of independence had grown continental in scope and were organized into two principal armies, one under the Venezuelan Simón Bolívar Palacios in the north and the other under the Argentine José de San Martín in the south. Unlike the hapless Quito junta, the Guayaquil patriots were able to appeal to foreign allies, Argentina and Venezuela, each of whom soon responded by sending sizable contingents to Ecuador. Antonio José de Sucre Alcalá, the brilliant young lieutenant of Bolívar who arrived in Guayaquil in May 1821, was to become the key figure in the ensuing military struggle against the royalist forces. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... José Joaquín de Olmedo (1780 1847) was President of Ecuador from June 6, 1845, to June 18, 1845, and a second time from June 18, 1845, to December 8, 1845. ... Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (July 24, 1783 – December 17, 1830) was a South American revolutionary leader. ... José Francisco de San Martín Matorras, commonly known as José de San Martín (25 February 1778 – 17 August 1850) was an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South Americas successful struggle for independence from Spain. ... Antonio Jos de Sucre (1795-1830) was a South American independence leader, one of Sim n Bol vars closest friends. ... Lieutenant is a military, paramilitary, fire service or police officer rank. ... Look up Royalist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

After a number of initial successes, Sucre's army was defeated at Ambato in the central Sierra and he appealed for assistance from San Martín, whose army was by now in Peru. With the arrival from the south of 1,400 fresh soldiers under the command of Andrés de Santa Cruz Calahumana, the fortunes of the patriotic army were again reversed. San Juan de Ambato is a city in the centre of Ecuador near the Ambato River. ... Categories: People stubs | 1792 births | 1865 deaths | Bolivian presidents ...

A string of victories culminated in the decisive Battle of Pichincha, on the slopes of the volcano of that name on the western outskirts of Quito, on May 24, 1822. A few hours after the victory by the patriots, the last president of the Audience of Quito signed a formal capitulation of his forces before Marshal Sucre. The provinces of the former Audience of Quito joined Simón Bolívar's Republic of Colombia. The province of Guayaquil, which had attained independence on October 9, 1820, remained adamant to the prospect of relinquishing its status of Free Province, and had to be annexed manu militari by Bolivar in July 1822. Combatants Combined Patriot Forces Spain Commanders Antonio José de Sucre Melchor Aymerich Strength 2,971 men 1,894 men Casualties 200 killed 140 wounded 400 killed 190 wounded 1,260 prisoners The Battle of Pichincha took place on 24 May 1822, on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, 3,500... May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). ... 1822 (MDCCCXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Surrender is when soldiers give up fighting and become prisoners of war, either as individuals or when ordered to by their officers. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

They were years in which warfare dominated the affairs of Ecuador. First, the country found itself on the front lines of Bolívar's war to liberate Peru from Spanish rule between 1822 and 1825; afterward, in 1828 and 1829, Ecuador was in the middle of an armed struggle between Peru and the Great Colombia over the location of their common border. After a campaign that included the near destruction of Guayaquil, the forces of Great Colombia, under the leadership of Sucre and Venezuelan General Juan José Flores, proved victorious. The Treaty of 1829 fixed the border on the line that had divided the Quito audiencia and the Viceroyalty of Peru before independence. Capital Bogotá Created December 1819 Dissolved November 1831 Demonym Colombian Departments of the Republic Great Colombia is the name given to the Republic of Colombia of 1819, was a short-lived republic in South America consisting of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru. ... Juan José Flores (July 19, 1800–October 1, 1864), called The founder of the Republic, was a military general who became the first president of Ecuador in 1830, and later served two more terms, from 1839 to 1843 and from 1843 to 1845. ...

The population of Ecuador was divided during these years among three segments: those favoring the status quo, those supporting union with Peru, and those advocating autonomous independence for the former audiencia. The latter group was to prevail following Venezuela's withdrawal from the confederation during an 1830 constitutional congress that had been called in Bogotá in a futile effort to combat growing separatist tendencies throughout Gran Colombia. In May of that year, a group of Quito notables met to dissolve the union with Gran Colombia, and in August, a constituent assembly drew up a constitution for the State of Ecuador, so named for its geographic proximity to the equator, and placed General Flores in charge of political and military affairs. He remained the dominant political figure during Ecuador's first fifteen years of independence. Status Quo are an English rock band whose music is charcterised by a strong boogie line. ... Nickname: Athens of Latin America Motto: Bogotá, 2600 metros más cerca de las estrellas Bogotá, 2600 metres closer to the stars Municipalities of Bogotá Country Colombia Department Bogotá, D.C.* Foundation August 6, 1538 Mayor Luís Eduardo Garzón, PDA Area    - City 1,732 km² Elevation 2,640... The Equator is an imaginary circle drawn around a planet (or other astronomical object) at a distance halfway between the poles. ...

Ecuador under Gran Columbia

Liberal Revolution in Ecuador

García Moreno's conservative reign arguably gave the Roman Catholic Church more power in Ecuador during the nineteenth century than it had in any other country in the world. This would all change with the rise of Eloy Alfaro and Radical Liberal Party. Alfaro was the antithesis of Moreno, and their differences were further accentuated by their historical juxtaposition.

The Roman Catholic Church and its conservative allies did not give up their power gracefully. Ecuador suffered a bloody civil war in which Catholic Church regularly urged its faithful masses to rise in rebellion against the Liberals. Oddly, a prolonged war was avoided largely because of the efforts of Catholic Archbishop Federico González Suárez, who urged the Church stay out of politics.

Religious paintings adorned all public buildings during Moreno's rule, but were largely replaced with secular art after Alfaro took power. Ecuador's political situation remained tumultuous even after the defeat of the conservatives, as a result of political infighting within the PLR. Most remember Alfaro as the central figure in the Liberal Revolution, though, in reality, he grudgingly shared control of the PLR with General Leónidas Plaza Gutiérrez and the two vied for the party's leadership until Alfaro's death at the hands of a Plaza-instigated mob.

After Alfaro's murder, Plaza served a second presidential term, however, by this point the coastal agricultural and banking interests, popularly known as la Argolla ("the Ring"), controlled the PLR more than Plaza did. And though la Argolla publicly advocated the Liberal cause, in practice it did little more than use the PLR and the Government to line its own pockets. La Argolla's abuse of power combined with the decline in world demand for Ecuadorian products pitched the country into a severe economic depression. Ecuador's worsening economic situation and the popular unrest it manifested set the stage for a bloodless coup d'état in July 1925 that officially marked the end of Liberal rule.

Church turned factory during the transition from Conservatism to Liberalism. After the Liberal Revolution and thirty years of Liberal rule, the Catholic Church lost much of its hold on Ecuador. For example, Roman Catholicism was no longer the constitutionally mandated state religion, education was secularized, and civil marriage and divorce were legalized. In addition to tethering the Catholic Church, the era of Liberal rule sparked the development of Ecuador's infrastructure and economy. Alfaro and subsequent Liberal Administrations completed a number of important public projects such as the Quito-Guayaquil Rail

After World War II

After World War II, a recovery in the market for agricultural commodities and the growth of the banana industry helped restore prosperity and political peace. From 1948-60, three presidents - beginning with Galo Plaza Lasso - were freely elected and completed their terms. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Species Hybrid origin; see text Banana is the common name used for herbaceous plants in the genus Musa, which because of their size and structure, are often mistaken for trees. ...

Recession and popular unrest led to a return to populist politics and domestic military interventions in the 1960s, while with the discovery of oil in the 1970s foreign companies started to develop oil resources in the Ecuadorean Amazon. In 1972, a nationalist military regime overthrew José María Velasco Ibarra for the last time and used the new oil wealth and foreign borrowing to pay for a program of industrialization, land reform, and subsidies for urban consumers. With the oil boom fading, Ecuador returned to democracy in 1979, under the first Ecuadorean president of the 1979 constitution, Jaime Roldós Aguilera who, with his Popular Forces' Concentration (CFP) party, won a decisive victory against Sixto Durán Ballén of the Social Christian Party (PSC). After a leadership disagreement with Assad Bucaram, the then leader of the CFP, Roldós left the above-mentioned party to found his own along with his wife. This Roldós-founded party, called "People, Change and Democracy" (PCD), would become an unimportant third-runner in Ecuadorean politics when Abdalá Bucaram Ortiz's Guayaquil-based Ecuadorean Roldosísta Party (PRE) was founded in 1982. In January 1981, the country went through yet another episode in its long-standing border dispute with Peru (see History of the Ecuadorian-Peruvian territorial dispute, during the so-called Paquisha Incident, which saw Peruvian troops expelling Ecuadorian soldiers from three outposts located in the disputed and undemarcated zone. Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Ignacy Łukasiewicz - inventor of the refining of kerosene from crude oil. ... ~~José Maria Velasco Ibarra (1893 - 1979) was an Ecuadorian political figure. ... Jaime Roldós Aguilera (b. ... Sixto Durán-Ballén Cordovez (born July 14, 1921 in Boston) was an Ecuadorian (U.S.-born) political figure and architect. ... Abdalá Bucaram Ortiz (born 1952 in Guayaquil) is an Ecuadorian lawyer and politician, 1972 Olympic-team sprinter, former police chief of Guayas, former Guayaquil mayor, founder and member of the Partido Roldosista Ecuatoriano (PRE), former president of Ecuador (1996–1997), and former president of a soccer team in Guayaquil called... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The border dispute between Ecuador and Peru was until recently the most persistent and seemingly most resistant to resolution of any in the Western Hemisphere. ... Combatants Republic of Peru Republic of Ecuador Commanders Fernando Belaúnde Terry Jaime Roldós Aguilera The Paquisha Incident, also known as Paquisha War in Ecuador, and as Falso Paquisha War in Peru, was a brief 7-days military clash that took place in 1981. ...

By the end of the year 1981, Vice President Osvaldo Hurtado Larrea, member of the Popular Democracy Party, (DP) succeeded Roldós after the President died in a plane crash. Due to the economic pressure of war and over-reliance in commodity (particularly oil) exporting for its economic needs, the government of Osvaldo Hurtado faced a chronic economic crisis in 1982, including inflation, budget deficits, a falling currency, mounting debt service, and uncompetitive industries. Osvaldo Hurtado Larrea (born June 26, 1939) was President of Ecuador from 24 May 1981 to 10 August 1984. ...

The 1984 presidential elections were narrowly won by León Febres Cordero Rivadeneira, of the Social Christian Party (PSC). During the first years of his administration, Febres-Cordero introduced free-market economic policies, took a strong stand against drug trafficking and terrorism, and pursued close relations with the United States. His tenure was marred by bitter wrangling with other branches of Government and his own brief kidnapping by elements of the military. A devastating earthquake in March 1987 interrupted oil exports and worsened the country's economic problems. León Febres Cordero (born March 9, 1931) was President of Ecuador for a four-year term 10 August 1984 to 10 August 1988. ... Retail selling Street selling is the bottom of the chain and can be accomplished through purchasing from prostitutes, through cloaked retail stores or refuse houses for users in the act located in red-light districts which often also deal in paraphernalia, dealers marketing merriment at night clubs and other events... Terrorist redirects here. ... An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy in the crust that propagates seismic waves. ...

Rodrigo Borja Cevallos of the Democratic Left (ID) party won the presidency in 1988, running in the runoff election against Abdalá Bucaram of the PRE. 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, "¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!" ("Alfaro Lives, Dammit!") named after Eloy Alfaro. However, continuing economic problems undermined the popularity of the ID, and opposition parties gained control of Congress in 1990. Rodrigo Borja Cevallos (born 19 June 1935) was President of Ecuador from 10 August 1988 to 10 August 1992. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... ¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo! (roughly translated Alfaro Lives, Dammit! and named after Eloy Alfaro) was a clandestine leftwing group in Ecuador founded on August 12, 1983. ... Eloy Alfaro Eloy Alfaro Delgado (June 25, 1842-January 28, 1912) was president of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911. ...

Modernization and Economic Crisis

President Sixto Durán Ballén succeeded Borja in 1992. The Durán Ballén administration took further steps to stabilize and modernize Ecuador's economy. In January 1995, several crises, including the military confrontation with Peru, known as the Cenepa Incident, hurt the nation's economy and delayed further reform. Despite its lack of popularity, the Durán-Ballén Administration can be credited with pushing several unpopular yet important modernization initiatives through Congress, as well as beginning the negotiations that would end in a final settlement of the territorial dispute with Peru.

In 1996, Abdalá Bucaram, from the populist Ecuadorian Roldosista Party, won the presidency on a platform that promised populist economic and social reforms. Almost from the start, Bucaram's administration languished amidst widespread allegations of corruption. Empowered by the Presidents unpopularity with organized labor, business, and professional organizations alike, Congress unseated Bucaram in February 1997 on grounds of mental incompetence. The Congress replaced Bucaram with Interim President Fabián Alarcón.

In May 1997, following the demonstrations that led to the ousting of Bucaram and appointment of Alarcón, the people of Ecuador called for a National Assembly to reform the Constitution and the country's political structure. After a little more than a year, the National Assembly produced a new Constitution.

Fall of Mahuad and Dollarization

In August 1998, on the same day Ecuador's new Constitution took effect, former Quito Mayor Jamil Mahuad began his presidential term. In January 2000, the wretched state of Ecuador's economy along with plans to cut many government subsidies as well as a plan to dollarize the economy, prompted widespread street protests which culminated in Mahuad being forced from office. Under Mahuad Ecuador's recession-plagued economy shrunk significantly and inflation reached levels of up to 60%.

On January 22, 2000, the Ecuadorian National Congress rejected a break in the constitutional order and ratified the procedure of presidential succession and affirmed Noboa's assumption of the office of the President. Noboa will head the State for the remainder of the period for which Mahuad was elected, though the same Indian leaders that ousted Muhuad have threatened to depose Noboa unless he solves the country's economic problems quickly.

In 1992, Sixto Durán Ballén won in his third run for the presidency. His tough macroeconomic adjustment measures were unpopular, but he succeeded in pushing a limited number of modernization initiatives through Congress. Durán Ballén's vice president, Alberto Dahík, was the architect of the administration's economic policies, but in 1995, Dahík fled the country to avoid prosecution on corruption charges following a heated political battle with the opposition. A war with Peru (named the Cenepa War, after a river located in the area) erupted in January-February 1995 in a small, remote region, where the boundary prescribed by the 1942 Río Protocol was in dispute. Macroeconomics is the economics sub-field of study that considers aggregate behavior, and the study of the sum of individual economic decisions. ... The Cenepa War (January 26-February 28, 1995), also known as Alto Cenepa War, was a brief and localized military conflict between Ecuador and Peru, fought over the control of a disputed area on the border between the two countries. ...

Congressional and first-round presidential elections were held on May 31, 1998. No presidential candidate obtained a majority, so a run-off election between the top two candidates - Quito Mayor Jamil Mahuad of the DP and Social Christian Álvaro Noboa Pontón - was held on July 12, 1998. Mahuad won by a narrow margin. He took office on August 10, 1998. On the same day, Ecuador's new constitution came into effect. May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining. ... Jamil Mahuad Witt (born 1949) was President of Ecuador from August 10, 1998 to January 21, 2000. ... July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... August 10 is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

Mahuad concluded a well-received peace with Peru on October 26, 1998, but increasing economic, fiscal, and financial difficulties drove his popularity steadily lower. However, the coup de grace for Mahuad's administration was Mahuad's decision to make the indigenous currency, the sucre (named after a Venezuelan hero of the revolutionary war against Spain), obsolete and replace it with the U.S. dollar (a policy called dollarization). This caused massive unrest as the lower classes struggled to convert their now useless sucres to U.S. dollars and lost wealth, while the upper classes (whose members already had their wealth invested in U.S. dollars) gained wealth in turn. October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia Prefecture Building Sucre Sucre (population 190,000) is the constitutional capital of Bolivia, seat of the Supreme Court (Corte Suprema de Justicia), and capital of the Chuquisaca department. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... Dollarization occurs when the inhabitants of a country use foreign currency in parallel to or instead of the domestic currency. ...

Recent History

On January 21, 2000, during demonstrations in Quito by indigenous groups, the military and police refused to enforce public order. Demonstrators entered the National Assembly building and declared, in a move that resembled the coups d'etat endemic to Ecuadorean history, a three-person "junta" in charge of the country. Field-grade military officers declared their support for the concept. During a night of confusion and failed negotiations President Mahuad was forced to flee the presidential palace for his own safety. Vice President Gustavo Noboa took charge by vice-presidential decree; Mahuad went on national television in the morning to endorse Noboa as his successor. The military triumvirate that was effectively running the country also endorsed Noboa. The Ecuadorean Congress then met in an emergency session in Guayaquil on the same day, January 22, and ratified Noboa as President of the Republic in constitutional succession to Mahuad. Although Ecuador began to improve economically, the government of Noboa came under heavy fire for the continuation of the dollarization policy, its disregard for social problems and other important issues in Ecuadorean politics. January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... A coup détat, or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ... In modern usage, junta (pronounced as in Spanish HUN-ta or HOON-ta) typically refers to a military dictatorship, especially in Latin America, which is officially run by a committee of high-ranking military officers. ... Gustavo Noboa Bejarano (born 21 August 1937) was the President of Ecuador (22 January 2000 to 15 January 2003) and was notable for being accused of mishandling the countrys foreign debt [1] by former president, León Febres Cordero. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... January 22 is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Dollarization occurs when the inhabitants of a country use foreign currency in parallel to or instead of the domestic currency. ...

On January 15, 2003, retired Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez, a member of the military junta that overthrew president Jamil Mahuad in 2000, assumed the presidency of Ecuador. He campaigned against corruption. Gutierrez's Patriotic Society Party had a small fraction of the seats in Congress and therefore depended on the support of other parties in Congress to pass legislation. In April 2005, President Lucio Gutiérrez was overthrown following weeks of public protests resulting from his unconstitutional dissolution and appointment of new judges to the Supreme Court in December 2004. This move was generally seen as a kickback to deposed ex-President Bucarám whose political party (the PRE) had sided with Gutiérrez and helped derail attempts to impeach him in late 2004. The new Supreme Court dropped charges of corruption pending against the exiled Bucarám, who soon returned to the politically unstable country. The corruption evident in these maneuvers finally led the middle classes of Quito to seek the ousting of Gutiérrez in April. Amid the chaos, the Ecuadorian Armed Forces declared that it "withdrew its support" for the President, and Gutiérrez fled from the country. Vice President Palacio assumed the Presidency and vowed to complete the term of office and hold elections in 2006. January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lucio Gutiérrez Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa (born March 23, 1957), Ecuadorian soldier and politician. ... The Patriotic Society Party 21 January (Partido Sociedad Patriótica 21 de Enero) is a political party in Ecuador. ... Lucio Gutiérrez Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa (born March 23, 1957), Ecuadorian soldier and politician. ...

See also

Ecuador Portal

• Ecuador
• Ecuadorian War of Independence
• History of the Ecuadorian-Peruvian territorial dispute
• Cenepa War
• History of South America

Image File history File links Portal. ... Combatants Patriot Armies Spain Commanders Antonio José de Sucre Melchor Aymerich The Ecuadorian War of Independence was fought from 1820 to 1822 between several South American patriot armies and Spain over control of the lands of the Presidencia de Quito, a Spanish colonial administrative jurisdiction from which would eventually emerge... The border dispute between Ecuador and Peru was until recently the most persistent and seemingly most resistant to resolution of any in the Western Hemisphere. ... The Cenepa War (January 26-February 28, 1995), also known as Alto Cenepa War, was a brief and localized military conflict between Ecuador and Peru, fought over the control of a disputed area on the border between the two countries. ... While perhaps the last continent--except Antarctica to be inhabited by humans, the history of South America spans the full range of human cultural and civilizational forms. ...

External links

• U.S. State Department Background Note: Ecuador