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The first stage in the history of Ecuador comes from the Indian civilizations, approximately 15 to 20,0000 BC. These groups of people had their own social organization, beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies. Their economy was mainly based on agriculture. Remnants of their existence can still be found in different places around the country, principally in the ceremonial centers and archeological sites that have been discovered. These people lived and thrived until the XVI century, when the Spanish “Conquistadores” - conquerors arrived. Scientists and archeologists have divided these historic stages of civilization into four periods: Paleo-Indian or Pre-ceramic, Formative, Regional Development, Integration, and Incaico.
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| Precolombian Period |
| Year |
Event |
Detail |
| 10000 - 3600 a.C |
Preceramic |
Human beings hunted, fished and recollected fruits. |
| 3600 - 1800 a. C |
Early Formative |
Human beings hunted, fished, recollected fruits, and had a precarious agriculture. |
| 1800 - 1500 a. C |
Medium Formative |
Agriculture had a higher development. |
| 1500 - 500 a. C |
Late Formative |
Agriculture was established, and the economy was based mostly on it. ‘ |
| 500 a.C - 500 d.C |
Regional Development |
The agriculture is fortified, and the urbanism is expanded. |
| 500 - 1500 d.C |
Integration |
Was the time of agriculture boom. Society became more complex. |
| Inca Period |
| 1450 |
Organization and expansion |
Tupac Yupanqui started the north Andean conquer. |
| 1485 |
Tupac-Yupanqui died
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Huayna-Cápac was proclaimed Inca |
| 1525 |
Huayna-Cápac died |
Tahuantinsuyo is divided between Atahualpa and Huáscar. |
| The Conquest |
| 1534 |
Conquest of Quito |
Sebastián de Benalcázar iniciated the conquest of Quito. |
| 1563 |
“Real Audiencia de Quito” |
Felipe II issued a royal document to create an organism called “Real Audiencia de Quito”. |
| Independence |
| 1809 - 1812 |
Quitean Revolution |
Independence was proclaimed even though it was not reached. |
| 1820 - 1822 |
Independence: final stage |
Patriotic forces finally reached independence. |
| 1822 |
Great Colombia: formation
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Under the name of South District, Ecuador started to be part of the Great Colombia. |
| 1830 |
Great Colombia: disolution |
Se forma el Estado independiente llamado Ecuador. Se inicia la vida republicana del país. |
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Incas Organization (1.000 a.C.)
The Central Andean Mountain Range was the place of the Inca Empire. Its extension surpassed 4,000 Km2, from the South of Colombia up to the North of Chile, within a territory called Tahuantinsuyo. The population has a great ethnic diversity, because groups with different languages, costumes, and economies based on agriculture, were part of the Tahuantinsuyo. In Ecuador, this people was expanded within the Andean region, as well as some sites of the Coast region. They had a big influenced on Quito.
 Spaniards arrival and the end of the Tahuantinsuyo (1532)
The end of Tahuantinsuyo started in 1532 when Atahualpa was put in prison. There were big fights between the Europeans and the Incas, who resisted for not to be conquered. For Spaniards, America was a territory full of treasures, and they wanted to take advantage of them in the name of the royal crown. Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro were the principal protagonists of this stage. They conquered the Incas in a violent way. There were also other strategies used by the Europeans, such as religion teaching and making the Indians chief to become rivals.
 “Audiencia de Quito” in the colony
The “Real Audiencia de Quito” was established in 1563, as an administrative dependence of the Spanish Royal Crown. Its territory embraced, in the north up to Pasto, Popayan, Cali, Buenaventura, and Buga, in the current Colombian land; in the south until Piura, Peru. The first president was the Spaniard Hernando de Santillan. From the beginning, and until the XVIII century, the “Real Audiencia de Quito” was part of the “Vierreinato de Peru”. Then, it became part of the “Virreinato de la Nueva Granada”, having Santa Fe as a major city, but this entity was suppressed, and it became a dependence of the “Virreinato de Peru”. Later, the King Felipe V re-established “Virreinato Nueva Granada”, and determined that “Real Audiencia de Quito” was to be part of it, and follow its law and social rules.
Political and administrative situation at the end of XVIII century
The mistrust was part of the colonial society due to the ambiguous situation in the “Audiencia de Quito”. The Marquis of “Selva Alegre” (1753) centralized the power and established an alcohol and tobacco monopoly. Because of this, an Indian insurrection called “Estancos rebellion”, and other revolts had place. Then, an administrative reorganization lead to higher fiscal incomes. Luis Francisco Hector, Baron of Carondelet, was the president of the “Audiencia de Quito” at the end of the XVIII century. He empowered the entity by taking control of the agricultural superintendence, and by creating a general captaincy.
The rupture of the colony and the independence
The social decadence was accelerated during the second half of the XVIII century. The historians attribute the colonial system decline to several factors. One of them, the end of the silver production in Potosí. The textile manufacture was reduced notoriously. The reforms also limited the power of the private elites. The independence was reached between the end of the XVIII century and the first decades of the XIX century. Its causes had external and internal origins. One of them, the influence of the French Revolution in the region.
The Great Colombia
After the independence was reached, the three most important cities in the country, Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca, were incorporated to the Great Colombia, in 1822. Bolivar assumed the presidency of this new nation, which was also integrated by Venezuela and Nueva Granada. Because of administrative organization purposes, the territory was divided into departments: Venezuela, Cundinamarca and Quito. Nevertheless the integration of this nations generated resistances and problems due to interests and particular ambitions that emerged during the process; these factors contributed to the Great Colombia disintegration.
Republican State formation
After the Great Colombia failure, the Republic of Ecuador was created in 1830. The political fights has been the characteristic of the republican life ever since. The new state didn’t reach the different regions integration. The Andean and the Cost regions took different paths of development. Autonomous local powers that manage their own resources got in conflict with the State. There was not a sole currency, and this seriously affected the existence of a central power. |
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