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Ecuador is the smallest of the four Pacific-coast Andean republics. The country is notable for the great diversity of climates and terraine. The country has a western tropical Pacific coast, the Andean highland (sierra), and eastern Amazonian lowlands. Native Americans make up a substantial share of the population and there are tribes in all three regions, many of which maintain their communal organizations and in some cases traditional life style. Here we see a Shuar boy. The Huaorani are another tribe. The country was the northern extent of the Inca Empire. After the colonial era, Ecudor has experienced a tumultous political life. Until recently, few presudents were able to serve out their term of offive. Military coups and new constitutions puncuated political life. Ecuador has fought wars with neighnoring Peru, primarily over the poorly defined Amazonian region. The economy is largely agricutural and geberally poor. Bananas are imprtant along the Pacific coast. Oil has pro\vided some export income. The Indian community have destinctive clothing. Staw hats are an important industry and the source of the hats often described as Panama hats. One of the most destinctibe clothing item is the woven poncho--an item evolving from Native American clothing and populr throughout the Andes. Children's clothing are largely American-European styles. Native American children may wear traditional clothing, but this is becoming less common.
Ecuador is the smallest of the four Pacific-coast Andean republics. The country's geography is notable for two reasons. First as indicated by its name, the eqator pases through the country. Second, the great diversity of climates and terraine in nsuch a small country. The country is divided into three climatic zomes. Ecuador has a western tropical Pacific coast, the temperate central Andean highland (sierra), and tropical eastern Amazonian lowlands. The country also possesses the Pacific Galapagos Islands. It is bordered by Columbia to the north and Peru to the east and south. To the west is the Pacific Ocean. The variations in elevations means that Ecuador despite being on the equator experiences a substantial variaties in climate. The coast include both tropical jungle and arid areas. Thee are The higher inland elevations have a cool, temperate climate with both lush well-watered areas in the north and mear desert conditions in the south. The sierra includes majectic white snowcaps. They are volcanic in origin, several stii active. The most impressive are: Cotopaxi, Pichincha, and Chimborazo. The tropical Amazonian areas receive approximately 0.5 meters of rainfall annually creating a dense, green tropical rain forest. Ecuador because of its geography Ecuador often is struck by floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides. At times Ecuador also is is struck by drought. Ecuador is located between luch coastal areas to the north (Colombia) and arid coastal areas to the south (Peru). South of Lima is the riest place on earth--the Atacana Desert.
Today there are increasing environmental issues caused by pollution, erosion, and deforestation. The sierra highlands consists of the Cordillera Central Range and the Cordillera Occidental (western) Range. The ranges are the cause of many basins and a deep valley alongside, which are ideal places for raising grazing animals. Productive agricultural areas are located next to the rivers that flow down from the sierra and at the foot of the mountains.
Ecuador like some other Andean republics has had a tumultuous hitory. The first thing that strikes one about Ecuador is the country's dramatic, diverse georaphy which has played an important role in the country's history. The expanding Inca Empire reached Ecuador (1460 AD). Inca Tupac-Yupanqui invaded the tribes in modern Ecuador. The Canari, the Quitu, and the Caras resisted the Inca army with some success. Pizarro using Cortez's tactics, seized Atahualpa at Cajamarca. He forced him to pay an enormous ransom in gold and silver and then killed him. A fiercely fought war commenced between the Inca and Spanish, but with more Spanish arriving, the Inca were defeated. Pizarro dispatched Benslcázar north into what is now Ecuador prevent Pedro de Alvarado from seizing the area (1533). Spain ruled Ecuador for about 300 years. It was not a separate colony, but the presidency of Quito, ruled as part of first the Viceroyalty Peru and later Colombia. Many Native Americans continued to speak Quechua and other indigenous languages. The Presidency of Quito did not have major mineral resources and thus was a minor pat of the vast Spanish colonial empire. With the Napoleonic Wars (1798-1815) in Europe, Spain was devestated and a weakened Spain gradually lost control of most of its overseas empire. Simon Bolívar, the Liberator of northern South America, decisively defeated the royalist army at Pichincha near Quito (1822). Ecuador's modern history has proven as tumultous as its early history. The vast majority of the new nation's wealth (primarily agricultural land) was held by a few families of European (Spanush) ancestry. They controlled large haciendas where agricultural workers of Native American ancestry worked as essential feudalserfs, known as Husaipungeros in Ecuador. Ecuador since achieving independence has had numerous elected and non-elected presidents. One source reported more than 90 changes of power. Few elected presidents served out their term of office, most lasting only about 2 years. In such chaotic circumstances, the country did not develop strong, stable institutions. And as a result, leaders have been unable to address the country's deep seaded social problems.
Ecuador has experienced many economic regimes. It was recently added to the Inca Empire at the time of the Spanish contact. The Inca economy was essentially a Communist economy and virtully the only communist society that actully worked. There are areas of the Andes that were never as productive as under the Inca. And the production was reasonbly well destributed. The Spanish colonial Empire which followed was very different. After the Pizarros destoyed the Inca Empire, Ecuador found itself located between the two viceroyalty centers (Lima and Bogotá). It first became part of the Viceroyalty of Peru and then later the the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada. The two Viceroyalties were similar in many ways. Agriculture and thus land ownership were the heart of the economy, centered primarily in the Sierra (Andes). Ecuador was different in one respect, especially from the Viceroyalty of Peru which proved to be the source of incredible amounts of silver. There was very little mining activity in Ecuador. The land was asigned to Spanish landlords-- the Conquistadores who had participated in the Spanish Conquest. The Spanish established a feudal system called encomiend with the Native Americans turned into serfs (landless peasantry) tied to the land. The
The serfs or encomenderos were called by various names. In Eduador a common term was husipungero. [Icaza]
The Sierra varied, but much of it was well watered and temperate, suitable for agriculture on the colonial hacendas. The major crops became grains imported by the Spanish (barley and wheat). Native American crops (corn and potatos) were also imprtant. The coast was less well watered, but cacao became very important. Other crops included sugarcane, coconuts, tobacco, and cotton. Only in the independence period did highly perishible babanas become important. Manufacturing was of minor importance, largely becaused of Spanish colonial regulations which sought to make the colonies a market for Spanish manufacture. There was some manufacture of textiles. There were obrajes (perhaps best described as sweatshops) in the Sierra (Riobamba and Latacunga) which produced textiles for export, both woolen and cotton fabrics. Ther was a shipyard in Guayaquil drawing on the availability of timber, in short supply in Spain. Sugar mills manufactured sugar, molasses, and rum made from the molasses. Sugar cane could not be shipped, it had to be converted to its product forms. The basic Spanih economic system continued with some changes after independence (1810s-20s). The major change was that trade was possible with ither coyntries besides Spain. The manufacture of hats became an important activity as a result of the Califirnia gold rush (1848-49). With imprivements in maritime transport, bananas became an important crop. The modern economy is largely agricutural and the country continues to be poor. The economy of Ecuador is based mostly on exports of oil, bananas, seaffood, gold, other primary agricultural products. Bananas are imprtant along the Pacific coast. Ecuador is the world's largest exporter of bananas and an imortant expoter of seafood (motly shrimp). Exports of non-traditional products such as flowers and canned fish have grown in recent years. There is very little industrialization The industry is not competitive in international markets. It is oriented to servicing the domestic market. Money transfers from nearly a million Ecuadorian emigrants employed abroad, primarily in the United States, has become a major source of revenue. Oil in recent years has provided important export income. The oil income pays a substantial portion of public-sector revenue and export earnings. The decline in oil prices (2014-15) has signifucantly reduced these earnings. The country ranks very poorly in terms of economic freedom, both in world wide terms, along with Bolivia, Argentina, Venezuela, and Cuba. Ecuador is part of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), led by Communist Venezuela, and has promoted relations with Iran and China. There have been some improvement in controling coruption, but has fallen in many other areas such as the rule of law.
Native Americans make up a substantial share of the population and there are tribes in all three regions, many of which maintain their communal organizations and in some cases traditional life style. Here we see a Shuar boy. The Shuar are the largest of the Jivaro group. They inhabit adjoining areas in Ecuador and Peru. The Ecuadorean Shuar are more assimilsted. The Huaorani are another tribe. The Spanish and modern Ecuadorians used to refer to Shuar as 'jívaros' or 'jíbaros' probably because of the 16th century Spanish spelling of shuar. Beyond Ecuador in Spanish speaking Latin Americar, jibaro has come to mean 'rustic' or small-scale farmer in hilly areas.
Ecuador like other Latin America counties was an agricultural country with some mining and very little industry. This contunued though most of the Spanish colonial wea (15th-18th cenuries) as well as the early yeats of independence (19th centurty). Much of the Native American population lived on large haciendas in the Sierra. Much of the land was owned by a small number of families. Conditions in these hacienda are described in the novel Huasipungo. [Icaza] This began to change after World War I with greater contacts with the outside world (1920s). More and more people living in abject poverty in the Sierra began to move into the cities, including coastal cities where jobs were available as well as coastal fruit (especially banaas) areas which exported to the United States. There jobs were available paying actual salaries unlike the haciendas in the Sierra. Not only were jobs available, but living conditiins were better in the cities. Over 60 percent of the population is now urbanized. Since the 1960s with changes in American immigration laws, substantial numbers of Ecuadorean have emigrated. Out of a population of 16 million peole, some 2-3 million peple live abroad, about 15 percent. It is a major source of income for the Ecuadorean economy. The largest group live in the United States, but there are substantial numbers in Spain and Italy as well. Because of la Violencia in Colombia, alarge numbers of Colombians have sought safety in northern Euador.
There was a wide thrigh the mid-20th century a wide range of clothing in Ecuador largely determined by social class. This was the case through much of the Andes. The Amer-Indian community have destinctive clothing. This varied. There were the primitive tribes of the Oriente (Amazonian Basin) and the descendents of the civilized tribes of the Sierra. The two groups dressed very differently. There were Amer-Indian who wore traditional garments or in the Andes outfits dating from colonial time. Mestizio connunities might wear a kind of mix of colonial and modern clothing. Headwear was especilly important. Straw hats are an important industry and the source of the hats often described as Panama hats. WE SEen yhese hats connony in Ecuadie, Further vsiuthuin Peru and Bolivia, English bowler hats were very popular. One of the most destinctibe clothing item is the woven poncho--an item evolving from Amer-Inian clothing before the arrval of thhev Spanish and popular throughout the Andes. The reltively small middle class dressed in modern Amrican-European fashions. Children's clothing are largely American-European styles. Many children through the 1960s wore heavily patched clothing. Native American children may wear traditional clothing, but this was becoming less common by the end of the century. Economic consitions have improved which of course affects clothing trends. Ecuador remains, however, a poor xountry depite the discovery of oil in the Oriente.
We have a little information on boyhood activities in Ecuador. We do not yet have much information about Ecuadorian schools yet. We notice boys wearing khaki uniforms at secondary schools in the 1960s, but the uniform was not strictly enforced at most schools. A private school in Guayaquil had a white sailor suit uniform in the 1970s. We note a mission school for Native American children in the Oriente. Religion has been an important factor in Ecuadorian society. The country as a result of the Conquista and Spanish colonial era is heavily Catholic. Many children do First Commununions. With independence, the role of the Church became van issie throughout Latin America. Catholicism was made the official religion (1869) making Catholics the only persons to be eligible for citizenship. However, in 1899 a liberal government led by President Alfaro Delgado established a new constitution that encouraged respect for all religions (1899). As in other Latin American countries, Protestants have made inroads in recent countries. Sport is very popular, but soccer is the only sport that is widely played. There are several popular holidays and local festivals.
Ecuador cam be neatly divided into three distinct regions with very different ecological chaacteristucs: the Lowlands, Highlamnds, and the Amazonian rain firest.
The Costa or coastal lowlands are the Pacifuc coast and the eastern-most region. (The Galapagos Islands Archipelago, some 1000 km off the coast, out in the Pacific might bbe consider a part of la Cota or a fourth region.) The Costa has a highly variable climate with both arid and rain forest areas. This includes the lower, western slopes of the Andes below 1,000 m elevation. The country's commercial center, Gusyaquil, is located in the Costa. The Costa is about 150 km wide from the base of the Andes to the Pacific coastline, but this varies north to south, especilly in El Oro, the southtrn-mpot province. The Cost is doimated by the Guyas River basin. The Guayas River empties into the Gulf of Guayaquil, the largest embayment along the Pcific coasst. .
The Sierra or Andean highlands to the east is the backbone of the country and like the coast runs north and south. The Andes are Ecuador's dominant topographic feature. The capital Quito is located here. The Sierra contains towering peaks, including active volcanos. And dspite the equatorial location there are bnow-covered vpersks. This is the elevatioms above 1,000 m and is the central part of the country. The Andes form two parallel chains: the Western Cordillera and the Eastern Cordillera. The Eastern cidillera is also known as the Cordillera Real. Between the two chains are a series of intermontane valleys. They are separated by a series of high, transverse east-west-trending ridges referred to as nudos (knots). Most of Ecuador's highland cities, including Quito, are located in the intermontane valleys. This was the most populated area, but in the 20th century population has flowed west into the Costa.
The Oriente is the Amazonian rainforest east of the Andes and very lightly populated. Ecuador claimed a huge area of the Amazonian basin, but lost much of it in a 1942 war with Peru. An important oil resource is located there. The Ecuadorian Oriente is the upper, western-most portion of the huge Amazon River basin. Ecuador occupies only about 2 percent of the Amazonin basin. The area of 'terra firme' between the major Amazonian tributaries is described as a peneplain with a complicated micro-topography of low, but mostly steep-sided hills. The major river is the Napo. North of the Napo, the Oriente is a basically flat plain. There are areas of poor drainage with swamps and oligotrophic black-water lakes.
Icaza, George. Huasipungo. Icaza's classic novel describes the continuing repression and explotaion of the Huasipungeros by the land owning Hacendados.
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