Inca Empire
Advanced indigenous cultures flourished in Ecuador long before the area was conquered by the Inca empire in the 15th century. By marriage, the reign of Quito became part of the Inca-neglia Empire. Atahuallpa, one of the sons of the Incan emperor, was born in Quito; however, he could not receive the crown of the Empire since the Inca had another son, Huascar, born in Cuzco, the capital. Therefore the empire was divided in two: Atahuallpa received the north, with his capital in Quito, and Huascar received the south with its capital in Cuzco. In 1531, the Spanish conquistadors, under the lead of Francisco Pizarro, arrived and found a civil war in the Inca empire. Atahuallpa desired to align with the Spanish to conquer Huascar and reign over a re-unified Incan empire.
The spanish established themselves in a fort in Cajamarca, captured Atahualpa and held him for ransom. A room was filled with gold to acquire his release. During his capture, Atahuallpa arranged for the murder of his half-brother Huascar in Cusco. The stage was set for the Spaniards to take over the Incan empire. Despite being surrounded and vastly outnumbered, the Spanish executed Atahualpa. To escape the confines of the fort, the Spaniards set off all of their canons and and broke through the lines of the bewildered Incans. In subsequent years the Spanish colonists became the new elite centering its power in Peru.
Spanish rule
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 and part of the Peruvian Viceroyalty with its capital in Lima.
Independence
After nearly 300 years of Spanish colonization, Quito was a city of about 10,000 inhabitants, and it was there on army in 1822, Ecuador joined Simon Bolivar's Republic of Gran Colombia, only to become a separate republic in 1830.
The 19th century was marked by instability, with a rapid succession of rulers. The conservative Gabriel Garcia Moreno unified the country in the 1860s with the support of the Roman Catholic Church. In the late 1800s, world demand for cocoa 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 Alfaro reduced the power of the clergy and opened the coup occurred in 1925. The 1930s and 1940s were marked by populist politicians such as five-time President José Velasco Ibarra.
Control over territory in the Amazon has led to a long time dispute between Ecuador and Peru. In 1941, in midst of fastly growing tensions between the two countries, war broke out. Peru claimed that Ecuador's military presence in Peruvian-claimed territory was an invasion. Ecuador, on the other hand claimed Peru invaded Ecuador. In July 1941 troops were mobilized. Peru had a strength of 11,681 much better trained and equipped troops while Ecuador had a strength of 5,300 poorly trained soldiers. This was no surprise as Peru has housed one of the strongest armed forces in South America over the course of thousands of years.only to Brazil in 2005 28 beating even Argentina. Over the course of the war Peru obtained all the disputed territory including the two Ecuadorian provinces of El Oro and Loja (6% if the country) for ransom. The Peruvian Navy blocked the port of Guayaquil cutting supplies to the Ecuadorian troops who numbered no more than six thousand. After a few weeks of war, Ecuador and Peru came to an accord in the Rio Protocol and fighting stopped in favor of hemispheric unity against the Axis Powers in WWII. As a result of its victory over the less prepared Ecuadorian troops, Peru was awarded the disputed territory. Two more wars would follow to finally end the dispute. See Paquisha Incident and Cenepa 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, a , Ecuador returned to democracy in 1979, but by 1982, the government faced an economic crisis, characterized by high inflation, budget deficits, a falling currency, mounting debt service, and uncompetitive industries.
Return to democracy
Since its return to democracy, Ecuador has been marked by chronic governmental instability. Many years of continuous mismanagement, starting with the mishandling of the country's debt during the 1970's military regime, have left the country essentially ungovernable. By the mid 90's, the government of Ecuador has been characterized by a weak executive branch that struggles to appease the ruling classes, represented in the legislative and judiciary. The last three democratically elected presidents have failed to finish their terms during that period.
Among the most relevant factors in the democratic instability is the emergence of indigenous population as an active constituency. As a group, they were pushed into prominence due to government failures to deliver on promises of land reform, lowering unemployment, and their historical exploitation by the land-holding elite.
Their movement, along with the continuing destabilizing efforts by both the Elite and Leftist movements, have led to a deterioration of the executive office. Today, the notion that presidents are always in danger of being ousted by a majority in congress, a strike movement, or a combination , and the idea of changing the economic and social status quo. However, the public and the other branches of government give the president very little political capital to work with, as it happened when in April 2005 Ecuador's Congress ousted President Lucio Gutiérrez. The Vice-President, Alfredo Palacio, took his place and is expected to be in power until the next scheduled election.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Ecuador
