History
Ancient History
Ecuador's first inhabitants migrated from Alaska some time around 12,000 years ago.
For 600 years these kinship groups subsisted on hunting and gathering.
Technologies developed, and agriculture came. Out of corn, yucca, potato, beans and
squash, villages emerged, such as Machalilla and Cotocollao, the Incan Empire rose,
and in 1531 the Spanish army invaded.
The Colony
Ecuador's colonial period is divided into three stages. The first stage, lasting
until 1580, saw civil and conquest wars ravage the native populations of the Andean region.
Quito was founded and became the administrative hub for the Spanish state in Ecuador.
Lasting until the end of the 17th century, the second stage brought an end to the wars,
stability to the territory and an economy booming on the production of textiles. Indigenous
villages became Spanish townships with municipal councils and Indian governors. Then the
third stage came, textile production declined, uprisings erupted, and Ecuador defeated
Spain in 1822.
Contemporary History
For nearly 200 years, Ecuador has suffered from uprisings, revolutions and its invasion by
Peru in 1941. The invasion gave power to the military, which in 1963 fought off Peru and
establish a military junta dictatorship in Ecuador, further oppressing the country's poor.
In 1979, Ecuador formed a constitutional democracy under Jaime Roldos, who brought social
reforms and modernization to a country deeply in need. His reforms were not enough, however,
and Ecuador has now become a country spiraling in foreign debt.
