Ecuador"s History
The history of Ecuador is as diverse as the country it’s self. Starting as far back as 10,000 BC where archaeologists have traced the first inhabitants of Ecuador, hunters and gatherers established settlements in the southern coastal areas as well as the central highlands. Around 3,200 BC three groups of agricultural-based civilizations had evolved and started producing some of the hemisphere's oldest known pottery. These civilizations developed trade routes with their closest neighbors Peru and Brazil, and also with some of the Amazonian tribes. The cultures continued to thrive and prosper and by 500 BC large villages had been established along the coast. The people had learned and developed sophisticated metalworking techniques and navigational skills and they started trading with Mexico's Maya.
In 1460 AD, the Inca, a people originated in a pocket of Peru, decided to invade Ecuador from the south., however three major and powerful tribes, the Canari, the Quitu, and the Caras stood up to defend Ecuador. Thought the Inca were a dynamic, rapidly advancing society, the tribes were able to hold off the Inca and their ruler Tupac-Yupanqui but proved less successful against his son, Huayna Capac. He conquer Ecuador and indoctrinated the tribes to Quechua, the language of the Incas, which is still widely spoken in Ecuador. To celebrate his victory, Huayna Capac ordered a great city to be built at Tomebamba, near Cuenca Ecuador. Upon his death in 1526, Huayna Capac divided the empire between his two sons, Atahualpa and Huascar. Atahualpa ruled the northern reaches from Tombebamba, while Huascar held court over the south from Cuzco. In the same year the first Spaniards arrived. Francisco Pizarro landed in Ecuador in 1532, accompanied by 180 fully armed men and an equally strong lust for gold. On the eve of Pizarro's expedition into the empire, the brothers entered into a civil war for complete control. It was noted that Several years earlier, Pizarro had made a peaceful visit to the coast, where he heard rumors of inland cities of incredible wealth. This time, he intended to conquer the Incas and take it. The timing could not have been better. Atahualpa had only recently won the war against his brother when Pizarro arrived, and the empire was still unstable. Pizarro ambushed the ruler, forced him to collect an enormous ransom, and then executed him. Although the Incas mounted considerable resistance to Pizarro, they soon lost.
Spanish governors ruled Ecuador for nearly 300 years, first from Lima, Peru, then later from the viceroyalty of Colombia. The Spanish introduced Roman Catholicism, colonial architecture, and today's national language.
However as fate will have it, the famed South American liberator Simon Bolivar defeated a Spanish army at the Battle of Pichincha and independence was won in 1822. Bolivar’s plan was to eventually unite all of South America as a constitutional republic. He united Ecuador with Colombia and Venezuela, forming the state of Gran Colombia but shortly this membership was dissolved and the separate countries went there separate ways.
Ecuador's modern history has had its problems also. A long-standing, internal dispute between the conservative city of Quito and the liberal Guayaquil has at times boiled over into violence. Near the turn of the century, leaders on both sides were assassinated, and military dictators have ruled the country for most of its recent history. Ecuador returned to democracy though in 1979, and free elections have continued since. A border dispute with Peru exists to this day, and some skirmishes recently flared in the Amazon, and with Columbia because of a cross border raid killing FARC members inside of Ecuador, though fighting has subsided for the time being.
