Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador) is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean on the west. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands (Archipiélago de Colón) in the Pacific, about 965 kilometers (600 miles) west of the mainland. Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name, and has an area of 256,370 square kilometers (98,985 mi²). Its capital city is Quito; its largest city is Guayaquil.
HistoryIndigenous people lived in Ecuador long before the area was mostly conquered by the Spanish. Through a succession of wars and marriages with the different nations that inhabited the valley, the region became part of the Inca Empire. Atahualpa, one of the sons of the Inca emperor Huayna Capac, was born in the jungle. However, he could not receive the crown of the Empire since the emperor had another son, Huascar, born in Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire. Upon Huayna Capac's death, the empire was divided in two: Atahualpa received the north, with his capital in Quito, and Huascar received the south with its capital in Cusco. Barely a week later, in 1531, the Spanish conquistadors, under Francisco Pizarro, arrived in an Inca empire torn by civil war. Atahualpa wanted to defeat Huascar and reign over a re-unified Incan empire.
The Spanish, however, had conquest intentions and established themselves in a fort in Cajamarca, captured Atahualpa during the Battle of Cajamarca and held him for ransom. A room was filled with gold and two with silver to secure his release. During his capture, Atahualpa arranged for the murder of his half-brother Huascar in Cusco. The stage was set for the Spaniards to take over the Inca empire. Despite being surrounded and vastly outnumbered, the Spanish executed Atahualpa. To escape the confines of the fort, the Spaniards fired all their cannons and broke through the lines of the bewildered Incans. In subsequent years the Spanish colonists became the new elite centering their power in the Vice-Royalties of Peru and Nueva Granada.
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 Vice-Royalty of Peru with its capital in Lima.
After nearly three hundred years of Spanish colonization, Quito was a city of around ten thousand inhabitants. It was there, on August 10, 1809 (the national holiday) that the first call for independence from Spain was made in Latin America ("Primer Grito de la Independencia"), under the leadership of the city's criollos like Carlos Montúfar, Eugenio Espejo and Bishop Cuero y Caicedo. Quito's nickname, "Luz de América" ("Light of America") comes from the inspiration that this first attempt produced in the rest of Spanish America, creating a domino effect that would ultimately lead to the expulsion of Spain from the continent. It was also near Quito, at the Battle of Pichincha in 1822 that Ecuador, under the leadership of Antonio José de Sucre, joined Simón Bolívar's Republic of Gran Colombia, only to become a separate republic in 1830.
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador) is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean on the west. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands (Archipiélago de Colón) in the Pacific, about 965 kilometers (600 miles) west of the mainland. Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name, and has an area of 256,370 square kilometers (98,985 mi²). Its capital city is Quito; its largest city is Guayaquil.
HistoryIndigenous people lived in Ecuador long before the area was mostly conquered by the Spanish. Through a succession of wars and marriages with the different nations that inhabited the valley, the region became part of the Inca Empire. Atahualpa, one of the sons of the Inca emperor Huayna Capac, was born in the jungle. However, he could not receive the crown of the Empire since the emperor had another son, Huascar, born in Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire. Upon Huayna Capac's death, the empire was divided in two: Atahualpa received the north, with his capital in Quito, and Huascar received the south with its capital in Cusco. Barely a week later, in 1531, the Spanish conquistadors, under Francisco Pizarro, arrived in an Inca empire torn by civil war. Atahualpa wanted to defeat Huascar and reign over a re-unified Incan empire.
The Spanish, however, had conquest intentions and established themselves in a fort in Cajamarca, captured Atahualpa during the Battle of Cajamarca and held him for ransom. A room was filled with gold and two with silver to secure his release. During his capture, Atahualpa arranged for the murder of his half-brother Huascar in Cusco. The stage was set for the Spaniards to take over the Inca empire. Despite being surrounded and vastly outnumbered, the Spanish executed Atahualpa. To escape the confines of the fort, the Spaniards fired all their cannons and broke through the lines of the bewildered Incans. In subsequent years the Spanish colonists became the new elite centering their power in the Vice-Royalties of Peru and Nueva Granada.
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 Vice-Royalty of Peru with its capital in Lima.
After nearly three hundred years of Spanish colonization, Quito was a city of around ten thousand inhabitants. It was there, on August 10, 1809 (the national holiday) that the first call for independence from Spain was made in Latin America ("Primer Grito de la Independencia"), under the leadership of the city's criollos like Carlos Montúfar, Eugenio Espejo and Bishop Cuero y Caicedo. Quito's nickname, "Luz de América" ("Light of America") comes from the inspiration that this first attempt produced in the rest of Spanish America, creating a domino effect that would ultimately lead to the expulsion of Spain from the continent. It was also near Quito, at the Battle of Pichincha in 1822 that Ecuador, under the leadership of Antonio José de Sucre, joined Simón Bolívar's Republic of Gran Colombia, only to become a separate republic in 1830.
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