Ecuador The new Andean Republics : Ecuador  

Ecuador The new Andean Republics - Travel guide

Ecuador

Ecuador The new Andean Republics

The immediate cause of the revolt against Spanish rule in the Andean region was the Napoleonic conquest of Spain, the "motherland" in 1808 and its consequences. However, the ideas emanating from the French Revolution and the declaration of Independence in the United States had a strong impact in the political aspirations of those who led the struggles for independence in Andean Viceroyalties: Simon Bolivar in New Granada and Jose de San Martin in La Plata. The Independence wars lasted from 1808 till 1824, when after the Spanish defeat, seven countries were established in the Andes and adjacent regions: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

All the new states became formal republics, with constitutions similar, in most cases, to that of the United States; they were headed by a President with wide executive powers and had a legislature composed of two chambers. Most states were throughout the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century subject to internal instability and strife between rival political and economic groups or regions. The strict restriction of foreign immigration and trade which prevailed trough out the colonial period was lifted following he attainment of Independence. It took however, several decades before the region attracted immigrants on a much larger scale than before and also for the volume of foreign trade to increase substantially. The Andean countries attracted comparatively fewer European immigrants than the Atlantic states of the continent (Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil).

The rapid population growth of Andean countries from the beginning of the twentieth century and especially since the 1930s was to a large extent due to natural increase, which was for many years higher than that of any other part of the continent and the world. Substantial progress toward industrialization began in some countries only after World War I and had been accelerated in most only after World War II. Industrial production plays an important role in the economy of all the Andean countries, where only in recent years democratic regimes have gain control and there are clear indications of advanced toward a more progressive social and political order.