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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 centuries) as well as the early years of independence (19th century). 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 bananas) 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 conditions 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 people, 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, a large numbers of Colombians have sought safety in northern Ecuador.
Icaza, George. Huasipungo (1934). Icaza's classic novel describes the continuing repression and explotaion of the Huasipungeros by the land owning Hacendados.
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