History1

By: Beth Delie  WIKI SPACES MAKE ME MAD!!! Anyhow... Ecuador's history mirrors that of the rest of the continent's. They faced conquerering after conquerering. In the 1400's, Incans conquered what is now Ecuador, making it part of the vast Incan Empire. When they did so, many different tribes lived in the land. In about 50 years, the Incans had united these tribes under their government and taught the people the language of the Incans, Quechua (1). .In 1534, the Spanish defeated the local rulers and conquered Ecuador. The Spaniards settled in the Andes and built many churches and haciendas. Then forced the natives to work for them. The Spanish controlled Ecuador and several other countries for a few hundred years. Then Napoleon conquered Spain and the colonies under Spain's control saw the opportunity to fight for their freedom. In 1822, the Battle of Pichincha was waged against the Spanish, led by General Antonio Jose de Sucre, Ecuadoreans, successfully fought for their freedom. This battled ended Spanish rule in Ecuador (1). Soon after, Ecuador joined a confederation of other South American countries, called //Gran Colombia//. The confederation also included Panama, Colombia and Venezuela (1). It was during this time that Ecuador adopted it's national flag (2). Symbolism plays a large part in Ecuador's history. The colors of the flag each stand for a greater meaning. Yellow for the sun, for natural abundance; red for the blood spilt in effort to create a free country; blue is for the sky. The coat of arms also has significance. The coat of arms features the union of the Coast and Sierra regions, and sitting above the coat of arms is the country's national bird- the condor. Eight years after joining the confederation, Ecuador again parted ways with a higher authoriy; finally declaring independence in 1830 (1). Through the years, many rival powers fought for power within the new nation. Presidents, dictators, and juntas (groups of rulers) took power, then were quickly removed from office. Within the rising and falling powers, most of them didn't care about the people and proceeded to ignore their needs and rights. A man named Gabriel Garcia Moreno became president in 1861. He was a conservative who ruled with the support of the Roman Catholic Chruch and wealthy land owners. Garcia did much good for Ecuador. He planned roads and railways as well as developing agriculture and industry. He also encouranged international trade. However, Garcia was later assassinated in 1875. While other conservatives followed into the office none had the power to follow- through on any of Garcia's plans or policies (1). Twenty- six years after Garcia's assassination, a member of the liberal party, by the name of General Eloy Alfaro took control of the government. He was mainly supported by businessmen and the military. Alfaro ended the power of the Roman Catholic Church in Ecuador's government and finished the road and railways plans Garcia had made. He also attempted to modernize the government, while ignoring the most basic of social and economic problems- such as poverty among his people (1). With the unresolved problems in society and the economy, Ecuador was left in a state of governmental dissatisfaction. "Ecuador had 22 presidents or chiefs of state from 1925 to 1948. None of these leaders served a complete term." (1) That averages about one new president a year- no wonder nothing got done. Then, Ecuador and Peru broke into war in 1941 over a border dispute. The dispute encompassed land that Ecuador had claimed in the Amazon Basin. In the same year, Latin- American leaders intervened to try and end the dispute. They gave most of the disputed land to Peru, obviously, this didn't solve the problem. Ecuador did not relinquish its claim and fighting broke out between the countries several more time. Finally, in 1998 (57 years later!), the dispute was settled by a treaty that permanently placed the border down, thus ending the fighting and bickering (1). After 1948 Ecuador settled into a political calm, resulting from allowing the country's people to vote and elected presidents staying in office for full terms. All the elected presidents worked for development in the economy and better distribution of wealth and land (1). Beginning with President Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra, the military began interfering with how the country was run and who ran it. In 1963, the military removed Velasco from his presidency, claiming that they did so "to prevent a communist take-over." (1) From then on, if the military didn't like a leader, they simply removed him. In 1976, Ecuador's military again removed a president and proceeded to take full control of the government. In 1979, it was decided that a new civilian government should be established- cue elections. After 1979, elections were held reguarlary. Politically, things went well for nearly three decades. In 1997, Ecuador's legislature removed President Abdala Bucaram Ortiz from office, stating he was unfit to serve as Ecuador's president. Then a temporary president was put in place until the people again elected another president in 1998, Jamil Mahuad (1).

RECENTLY: In 1999 and 2000, Ecuador encountered a severe economic crisis. Ecuador had failed to pay back loans from international organizations and its currency value fell drastically. In Jan. 2000, military leaders forced Mahuad out of the office, allowing the vice president, Gustavo Noboa Bejarano, to become president. Then in March, the government attempted economic reform, which included a plan to make the official currency of Ecuador--- the U.S. dollar (1). In 2005, between April and November, Ecuador had no judges for its Supreme Court. Finally, in November, the problem was resolved with a selection panal appointing 31 new judges to the Courts (1). In 2006, thousands of Ecuadoreans showed up to protest a suggested free- trade deal with the U.S. "The protesters demanded a referendum on the trade agreement." (1) Such as referendum was held in April 2007, trying to decide whether or not it was necessary to form a national assembly to reform the constitution. Many Ecuadoreans voted in favor of the assembly, so they then elected 130 assembly members in September 2007. In November of the same year the assembly suspended the National Congress and the assembly said "it would take over the legislative duties until a new constitution was approved." (1) Every leader of Ecuador has stated "that Ecuador is very difficult to govern, or that governability is impossible." (2)

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