HISTORY. The history of Ecuador up to the coming of the Spaniards is involved in obscu rity. Whatever there was among the natives in the way of writings and reeords which dealt with their earlier experienees the fanatical mis sionaries converted into ashes. There is, how ever, among the Indians the tradition that cen turies prior to the coming of the Euroilealis there had existed a strong kingdom in what is now Ecuador. called Quito, which in the tenth century was overthrown by a coast people known as the Caras. The kings of the Cams oc•upied the throne until 1475, when, after a long and desperate resistance, they succumbed to the Inca armies of Peru, led by Huayna Capae the Great, who added Ecuador to his dominions, establishing his capital at Quito. At his death his territories were divided between his two sons, Ithasear, who held Peru. and Atahualpa, who reigned at Quito. They soon fell out. prosecuting war after war against each other, the former being at last overthrown in 1532. It was at this juncture that Pizarro. having, with a handful of men, embarked upon the conquest of the realm of the limas. arrived on the scene. lie seized Atahualpa at Cajamarca, and in 1533 lie put him to death. The vast territories of the unfortunate Inca were added to the Spanish Em pire. They were erected into a presidency. with Quito as capital. and subordinate to the Viceroy of Peru. It. remained thus until the outbreak of the great revolution which freed South America from Spanish rule.
The defeat of the Spaniards in the battle of Piehineha, in 1S22, liberated the Province of Quito. which now constituted part of the Republic of Colombia, organized under the auspices of Bolivar. In IS29 Venezuela withdrew from the confederation, and in I530 the independent. Republic of Ecuador was constituted. Then there followed a number of struggles between rival political leaders, of whom the chief were Flores and Roca fuerte, which demoralized the country, destroying all security of person and fortunes, The Ecuadorians, however, were not content with 1171001g among themselves—they interspersed their local outbreaks wars against their neighbors, Peru and Colombia. In
IS-15 Vicente Roca became President, and one of the distinguishing nets of his ri"igime was the convention with England for the abolition of slavery.
From /850 the struggle between the Clerical and Liberal parties became bitter. In that year Diego Noboa, of the Clerical Party, having seized the Presidency, was overthrown by the Liberals under General Urbino. The power rested with the latter party till I400. When there OcclIrred a general breaking up. with several leaders claiming the Presidency. The Clericals finally triumphed, and, under .\ toren°. carried things with a high hand. until the latter was assassinated in 18.75. In 1895-90 a IICW civil war broke out between the two parties. resulting in a Liberal triumph. General Altar° became President, and since that time the situation of the country has generally improved. A Clerical uprising in 1899 led to troubles with Colombia; but a new Liberal Presi dent was peacefully inaugurated August 31, 1901.
liotmoifitmom Cevallos, Geografia del Ecua dor (Lima. 1888) : Child, 7 be Spanish-A mcri can R, publics ( \• fork, 1S.91) ; Wolf, Geo.arafia y geologia del Ecuador (Leipzig, 1892) ; id., Viages rientificox por la reiniblica del Ecuador (Guayaquil, 1879) : Wappfins, in Stein. Handbuch. der Geographic ( Leipzig, 1871) Reiss and Stiibel, Hoehgcbirye der Republik Ecuador (Berlin, 1892-98) ; llas saurek, Four Years Among Spanish Americans (Cincinnati, 1881) ; Simson, Travels in thc of Ecuador (London, 1887) ; Alonnier, Des Andes au Pard SIRD ; Whymper, Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator ( London, 1892) ; kolberg, Narh Ecuador (Frei burg. 1897) : Cevallos, Rcsionen dc la historic dcl Ecuador (Guayaquil, 1886).