Introduction - Adventure Guide to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands - page 11

The Audencia de Quito was incorporated into Bolívar's vision of the
Federation of Grán Colombia, which also included Colombia, Pan-
ama, and Venezuela. The Ecuadorians, however, were not as recep-
tive to being subjected to yet another external power. The “state” of
Ecuador was established and the federation quickly disintegrated.
New boundaries were delineated in 1830, with Ecuador insisting on
the same borders as the Audencia de Quito. Peru, to the south, argued
that the new state could not claim such frontier demarcations. Thus
began a long border dispute between Ecuador and Peru, although
many believe it dates back much further, to the rivalry between the
Inca brothers Atahualpa and Huascar.
Internal Strife & the
Political Economy
Ecuador officially gained its independence in 1830 after it seceded
from Grán Colombia. The country's troubles, however, were just be-
ginning. Sharp political and economic divisions existed. In the north-
central Sierras, the views of the conservative RomanCatholic Church
and land-owning criollos conflicted with those of the agro-exporting
middle class based inGuayaquil. The latter was heavily influenced by
its contact with the outside world, and therefore adopted themore lib-
eral views of the West. The different socioeconomic structures of the
two groups - a colonial system of landlords and protectionism in the
Sierras pitted against free trade and exports along the coast - made
conflict inevitable. Meanwhile, the indigenous people were caught in
the middle and lived under even worse conditions with their new
landlords than under the Spanish crown.
By the 19th century, Ecuadorians were fed up with the ultra-
conservative regime of the Old World. José María Urbina came to
power in 1851 through a coup d'état as the voice of the liberal trade-
bearing front and indigenous rights. Although he was influential for
some time, the teeter-totter shifted back toward the conservative
front as the country was on the verge of crumbling and unification
seemed impossible. From 1860 to 1895, in fact, a period of ultra-
conservatism and Roman Catholic “theocracy,” founded by Urbina's
nemesis GarcíaMoreno, reigned supreme. This was a major period in
Ecuador's history, when puppet presidents where raised to maintain
control and “elections” were rigged. Moreno pushed the development
of Ecuador's economic integration internally as well as abroad. Mean-
while, the economic power of coastal Guayaquil, spearheading the
Liberal front, continued to grow. In 1875 Moreno met his end by ma-