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The Andean Paradigm
Ecuador (like Peru and Bolivia) is a fundamentally Andean country. Not only do the Andes dominate the Ecuadorian landscape, they dominate the country's history as well. Today's Ecuador stood at the northern tip of the Inca Empire. A string of high Andean valleys were home to the brunt of the Ecuadorian population from Inca times down to the 1960s, and the Incan language, called Quichua (rather than Quechua) in modern Ecuador, is still widely spoken there today. Geographically, the Andes divide Ecuador into three parts: the highlands, with the ancient capital Quito in the center of the country; the Amazonian lowlands to the east; and the Pacific coastal region to the west.
The Amazonian lowlands of Ecuador were long sparsely populated, lying on the margin of national life. In the late twentieth century, migration from the highlands, exploitation of petroleum deposits beneath the rainforest, and spillover from guerrilla conflict in neighboring Colombia have drawn increased attention to the eastern lowlands of Ecuador. Since colonial times, however, the port of Guayaquil on Ecuador's Pacific coast has been the second city in size and economic weight, not to mention political importance. While highland Quito is the perpetual center of conservative power, Guayaquil has perennially been its liberal, populist challenger. In recent decades, migration from the highlands to the coast has made that region the highland's equal in population terms for the first time in Ecuador's history.
Topics:
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- What bound places on the edge of the Inca empire, like today's Ecuador, to the empire's center of power?
- How did independence play out differently in Ecuador's distinct regions?
- What factors have sparked the recent migration from the highlands to the coast, and what has been its impact?
Country Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places.)
** Linke, Lilo. Ecuador: Country of Contrasts, 3rd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1960.
Although almost half a century old, this remains the most complete English-language introduction to twentieth-century Ecuador. Linke first takes the reader from geographical characteristics to demographic patterns. A brief chapter titled "History" covers pre-Columbian Ecuador all the way up to twentieth-century politics. The rest of the book is divided into short chapters on topics such as political parties, the "Indian Problem," literature and art, economic production, and, among others, foreign relations. Students will find the book readable but should recall its age. Maps, a bibliography, and an index are included.
Von Hagen, Victor Wolfgang. Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands. Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1949.
Another of the few books in English on Ecuadorian history per se, this book is even more out of date than the preceding one. Indeed, it is most interesting as an example of older scholarship on Latin America.
Maps:
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