Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0117/01176.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 21KB | 338 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01176}
$Pretitle{252}
$Title{Ecuador
Chapter 1.    General Character of the Society}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Thomas E. Weil}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{political
sierra
costa
country
new
century
government
society
indians
life}
$Date{1973}
$Log{}
Country:     Ecuador
Book:        Ecuador, A Country Study
Author:      Thomas E. Weil
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1973

Chapter 1.    General Character of the Society

     The Republic of Ecuador, lying across the equator on the northwest coast
of South America, is bounded by Colombia on the north and by Peru on the south
and east. The history of the country has been profoundly influenced by the
existence of three major geographical regions-the Costa, lowlands on the
Pacific coast; the Sierra, highlands between two Andean ranges; and the
Oriente, jungle lowlands in the Amazon Basin. Although the country lies
entirely in the tropical zone, there are striking variations in climate and in
plant and animal life. On the coast and in the lowlands east of the Andes,
temperatures are high throughout the year, but in the highlands they range
from moderate to cold.

     Even within geographic regions there is a diversity of climate,
topography, and vegetation. In its northern half the Costa is covered by dense
rain forest-part of a system that runs in an unbroken band northward through
Colombia and into Central America. In the southern half of the Costa the
landscape changes to semiarid scrubland, merging near the Peruvian border with
the great coastal desert that extends the length of Peru and into Chile. In
the Sierra the basins between the Andean ranges, most of them containing
productive farmlands, range in altitude from less than 6,000 feet to more than
10,000 feet above sea level.

     For more than four centuries Ecuador's economy has been predominantly
agrarian. Virtually any tropical or temperate crop can be grown in one or
another of the various regions. Since colonial times the principal products of
the Sierra have been grains, livestock, and root crops for domestic
consumption; and the planters of the Costa, which became a significant
contributor to the economy only in the mid-nineteenth century, have
specialized in the cultivation of tropical produce-notably cacao, coffee, and,
in the twentieth century, bananas-for export. A major source of foreign
exchange during the first half of the twentieth century has derived from the
rich offshore fishing grounds. In 1972 potential income from petroleum exports
promised an even greater inflow of foreign exchange.

     Until the first half of the twentieth century communications between the
three regions were poorly developed. As late as 1900 the journey between Quito
and Guayaquil entailed a two-week trek on muleback across mountains and
through thick forests. By the middle of the century, however, railroads
connected Quito with Guayaquil and with San Lorenzo on the north coast; roads
ran from the Sierra to many points on the coast and to some points in the
Oriente; and the Pan American Highway traversed the country. Likewise,
domestic air services facilitated travel to points that in the past had been
virtually inaccessible.

     The population of more than 6 million occupies a territory of a little
more than 100,000 square miles, constituting one of the smallest countries in
Latin America. The great bulk of the population is made up of Indians and
mestizos. Whites, most of them descended from Spanish settlers, constitute
between 10 and 15 percent of the total and have exercised political and
economic power since the conquest of the country by the Spaniards early in the
sixteenth century. A relatively small number of Negroes, whose ancestors were
brought to the country as slaves, have been largely assimilated into the lower
socioeconomic levels. In 1972 the populations of the Sierra and of the Costa
were about equal, and the lowlands of the Oriente were sparsely populated,
principally by Indians.

     The population dynamics of the country have been characterized by
considerable internal migration and a significant growth rate, which in 1972
was one of the highest in Latin America. Until the early part of the twentieth
century most Ecuadorians lived in the Sierra, but as conditions in the Costa
improved-largely as a result of the control of tropical diseases-increasing
numbers of people migrated to the coastal lowlands. In the 1960s, when
exploitation of newly discovered oilfields began, small numbers of people
moved into the Oriente.

     In 1972 approximately half of the country's labor force was employed in
agriculture and related occupations, and about half of these people lived in
the Sierra. The tendency to migrate to the Costa, however, persisted, and the
migrants continued to seek employment in the commercial, industrial, and
services sectors.

     Although the diverse groups making up the population have lived in the
same territory under common rule for more than four centuries, they have not
formed a single people with a single language and a shared way of life. The
dominant tone is set by the Hispanic heritage-the Spanish language, Hispanic
cultural traditions, and Roman Catholicism, but large number of Indians still
speak their native languages, chiefly Quechua. Roman Catholicism is the
religion of the great majority of Ecuadorians, and the influence of the church
is especially strong in the Sierra. Religious freedom is guaranteed by the
constitution.

     Shortly before the arrival of the Spaniards a portion of the Costa and
all of the Sierra had been conquered by the Incas, who governed a great Indian
empire from their capital in southern Peru. The Incas imposed a unified rule
over the conquered area and introduced the Inca language-Quechua. When the
Spaniards arrived linguistic and cultural differences among the tribal groups
persisted. Common to all, however, was the practice of sedentary agriculture.

     Ecuador's history as a Spanish colony began in 1532. The newly conquered
territory was incorporated into the Viceroyalty of Peru as an administrative
division called an audiencia (see Glossary). The seat of the new political
unit was established as Quito; and although it remained subordinate to the
Viceroyalty of Peru, and later to that of New Granada, with its capital at
Santa Fe de Bogota (in what is now Colombia), the Audiencia of Quito was
sufficiently distant from both Lima and Bogota to develop considerable
autonomy. The consequent tradition of autonomy later provided the basis for
independent nationhood.

     Like the Incas before them the Spaniards settled almost exclusively in
the temperate basins of the Sierra, where there was a docile population to
provide them with labor. At the end of the colonial period less than 10
percent of the population lived in the Costa. Except for converting the native
peoples to Christianity, the Spaniards did little to change the old ways of
life. Indian life remained essentially the same, and the Spaniards were
careful to preserve the essentials of their own way of life. At the apex of
the social structure was a small elite, composed of descendants of the
conquerors, which controlled the government, owned most of the wealth, and
constituted the educated class. A large Spanish-speaking lower class consisted
of mestizos, descendants of Spaniards and Indians, who had moved to cities and
towns and worked as artisans, domestics, petty merchants, minor functionaries,
and overseers. At the bottom of the social structure were the Indians, who
existed mainly as a source of tribute and enforced labor. The Indians were
joined at the lower level of society by a small number of Negro slaves brought
in to work in the few areas of the Costa that had been settled by the
Spaniards.

     Liberation from Spanish rule was won in 1822, in the Battle of Pichincha,
by armed forces under the command of Antonio Jose de Sucre, chief lieutenant
of the Venezuelan liberator, Simon Bolivar. For eight years the