Ecuador Colonial Andes : Ecuador  

Ecuador Colonial Andes - Travel guide

Ecuador

Ecuador Colonial Andes

Spanish settlement, was at first mostly limited to coastal regions and along navigable rivers. It later expanded to some basins and valleys in the Andes, where better climatic conditions prevailed and where coveted resources (mainly precious metals) and local labor were more readily available. Gold and silver mining attracted Spanish settlers to Colombia and Peru. These countries were the most important sources of both metals during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Other colonialists seized areas of agricultural land in the Andes and established large estates, using forced local labor. Where native Indians did not meet the labor requirements of the colonialists (mainly in the northern and northeastern areas) large numbers of African slaves were imported.

Disease and oppression brought by colonial rule and immigration greatly reduced the indigenous Indian population in large part of the continent and mainly in the Andes; in some parts Indians almost disappeared. The number of European who settled in South America during the colonial period (1500-1800) was, according to some estimates 200,00 to 300,000 including missionaries, army personnel, and government and church officials. These settlers were to a large extent Spanish and Portuguese, as colonial authorities admitted only small numbers of other European countries.

The division of South America between Spain and Portugal was originally based on the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) between those countries. It gave Portugal the right to take possession of the northeastern and eastern coast of Brazil. Spanish possessions extended from the northwestern coast of South America till the south. Lima was for over two centuries the main Spanish administrative center, as capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which extended over all Spanish possessions. During the eighteenth century this entity was divided into three main administrative units: the Viceroyalty of New Granada, established in 1717 (Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador); the Viceroyalty of Peru, in 1542 (Peru and Chile); and the Viceroyalty of La Plata, in 1776 (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia). This division remained until the end of the colonial period.