The History of Ecuador

George M. Lauderbaugh

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780313362507
• eBook ISBN: 9780313362514
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean History
• Index: History

This handbook provides an unmatched, comprehensive political history of Ecuador written in English. Ecuador is a nation of over 13 million people, its area between that of the states of Wyoming and Colorado. Like the United States, Ecuador's government features a democratically elected President serving for a four-year term. The Galápagos Islands, well known as the birthplace of Darwin's Theory of Evolution, are part of a province of Ecuador. The History of Ecuador focuses primarily on the political history of Ecuador and how these past events impact the nation today. This text examines the traditions established by Ecuador's great caudillos (strong men) such as Juan José Flores, Gabriel García Moreno, and Eloy Alfaro, and documents the attempts of liberal leaders to modernize Ecuador by following the example of the United States. This book also discusses three economic booms in Ecuador's history: the Cacao Boom 1890–1914; the Banana Boom 1948–1960; and the Oil Boom 1972–1992.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Series Foreword
• Preface
• Timeline of Historical Events
• 1 Ecuador Today
• 2 Ecuador’s Indigenous and Colonial Past
• 3 Independence and the Early Republic, 1795–1859
• 4 Conservative Modernization, 1860–95
• 5 The Liberal Revolution
• 6 Revolution, Reform, Chaos, and War, 1925–48
• 7 Ecuador, 1948–72: Bananas, Democracy, Populism, and Juntas
• 8 The Oil Boom, Military Reformers, and a Second Democratic Parenthesis, 1972–96
• 9 Populism, Political Instability, and the Citizen’s Revolution
• Notable People in the History of Ecuador
• Selected Bibliography
• Index