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Advanced indigenous cultures flourished in Ecuador long before the area was conquered by the Inca empire in the 15th century.
In 1534, the Spanish arrived and defeated the Inca armies, and Spanish colonists became the new elite. The indigenous population was decimated by disease in the first decades of Spanish rule — a time when the natives also were forced into the " encomienda" labor system for Spanish landlords. In 1563, Quito became the seat of a royal "audiencia" (administrative district) of Spain.
After independence forces defeated the royalist army in 1822, Ecuador joined Simón Bolívar's Republic of Gran Colombia, only to become a separate republic on May 13, 1830. The 19th century was marked by instability, with a rapid succession of rulers. The conservative Gabriel García Moreno unified the country in the 1860s with the support of the Catholic Church. In the late 1800s, world demand for cocoaThis article is about "cocoa", the food. For information about "Cocoa", the API and programming environment for the Mac OS X operating system, see Cocoa (software). For information about the city in Florida, see Cocoa, Florida. Cocoa may refer to either t tied the economy to commodity exports and led to migrations from the highlands to the agricultural frontier on the coast.
A coastal-based liberal revolution in 1895 under Eloy AlfaroEloy Alfaro Delgado ( June 25, 1842- January 28, 1912) was president of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911. As a young man, Alfaro participated in two failed revolts against the reactionary, pro-clerical regime of Gabriel Garcia Moreno ( 1865 reduced the power of the clergy and opened the way for capitalist development. The end of the cocoa boom produced renewed political instability and a military coup in 1925. The 1930s and 1940s were marked by populist politicians, such as five-time president José María Velasco IbarraJose Maria Velasco Ibarra ( 1893 1979) was an Ecuadorian political figure. He served as the president of Ecuador between 1934 and 1935, again from 1944 to 1947, for a third time between 1952 and 1956, penultimately from 1960 and 1961, and finally between. In January 1942, Ecuador signed the Río Protocol to end a brief war with Peru the year before. Ecuador agreed to a border that conceded to PeruFor other uses, see Peru (disambiguation The Republic of Per ( Spanish: Per Quechua, Aymara: Piruw is a country in western South America, bordering with Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the east, south-east and south, Chil much territory Ecuador previously had claimed in the Amazon basin.
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.
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 IbarraJose Maria Velasco Ibarra ( 1893 1979) was an Ecuadorian political figure. He served as the president of Ecuador between 1934 and 1935, again from 1944 to 1947, for a third time between 1952 and 1956, penultimately from 1960 and 1961, and finally between 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 Asaad 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 GuayaquilSantiago de Guayaquil or just Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador, as well as that nation's principle sea port. Guayaquil is located around the mouth of the Guayas river, where it flows into the Gulf of Guayaquil, a sheltered natural port on the Paci-based Ecuadorean Roldosísta Party (PRE) was founded in 1982. During the year 1981, the country experienced another episode (named the Ecuador-Peru conflict of 1981 , and also Paquisha , after a territory in the surrounding area) of the recurring conflicts it has had throughout its history with the republic of PeruFor other uses, see Peru (disambiguation The Republic of Per ( Spanish: Per Quechua, Aymara: Piruw is a country in western South America, bordering with Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the east, south-east and south, Chil.
By the end of the year 1981, Vice President Osvaldo Hurtado Larrea of the Popular Democracy (DP) party succeeded Roldós after Roldós's airplane crashed over the Ecuadorean section of the Amazonian jungles, instantly killing him. 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.
The 1984 presidential elections were narrowly won by León Febres Cordero Rivadeneira of the PSC. During the first years of his administration, Febres Cordero introduced free-market economic policies, took strong stands 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 earthquakeAn earthquake is a trembling or shaking movement of the Earth's surface. Earthquakes typically result from the movement of faults, quasi-planar zones of deformation within its uppermost layers. The word earthquake is also widely used to indicate the sourc in March 1987 interrupted oil exports and worsened the country's economic problems.
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!" However, continuing economic problems undermined the popularity of the ID, and opposition parties gained control of Congress in 1990.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.
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