According to localcollegeexplorer, the oldest Indian culture is Valdivia in Costa (3.5-2 thousand years BC). 14th-15th centuries – in the Sierra, the chiefdom (“kingdom”) Kitu with the capital Quito. 1463-1500 – Inca conquest. 1527 – Inca Atahualpa in the struggle for power relied on Quito. 1534 – Spanish conquest of the Sierra (S. de Benalcasar) and Indian resistance (Rumiñavi), the Spanish city of San Francisco de Quito (modern Quito) is founded on the ruins of Quito. 1563 – an audience (judicial council) was formed in Quito, the jurisdiction of which extended to the territory of the future Ecuador.
Quito in 1809–12 was the first hotbed of anti-colonial struggle in Latin America. October 1820 – Independence of Guayaquil. May 1822 – the victory of General A.Kh. Sucre under Pichincha: end of Spanish rule in the Sierra; the former audience of Quito, under the name of the Southern Region, became part of the state of Gran Colombia. August 1830 – The southern region declared independence under the name of Ecuador; 1st President of Ecuador – General J.H. Flores (1830-35 and 1839-45). 1835-39 – President V. Rocafuerte, reforms, later – the fight against Flores (1845 – the overthrow of his dictatorship). 1852 – the abolition of slavery. 1861-75 – G. Garcia Moreno’s dictatorship, Catholic fanaticism, Indian uprisings, the beginning of polytechnic education and the construction of railways. 1895 – “Liberal Revolution” by E. Alfaro, which undermined the power of the church and the latifundists of the Sierra; 1908 – The Guayaquil-Quito railway was built. 1912 – the assassination of Alfaro, the beginning of the “plutocracy” (the domination of the Guayaquil banks), overthrown in 1925 by the military. 1926 – the foundation of the Socialist Party, 1931 – the Communist Party of Ecuador.
1941 – the invasion of Peruvian troops in the southern regions of Ecuador. 1942 – “Protocol of Rio de Janeiro”: most of the Ecuadorian Oriente to the Amazon River, almost 1/2 of the territory of Ecuador (over 200 thousand km2) went to Peru. 1944-45 – after the democratic uprising, a temporary strengthening of the left. 1948-61 – formally democratic system. Since 1961 – instability, two military coups (1963, 1972). The military, in addition to repression (1963-66), tried to carry out reforms. The government of General G. Rodriguez Lara (1972–76) during the period of the “oil boom” strengthened the role of the state in the oil industry, created a significant public sector in the economy, and adopted a law on agrarian reform. The military triumvirate (1976–79) took a course towards a return to democratic institutions based on national consensus and political reform (“legal restructuring of the state”). 1978 – new Constitution (referendum). 1978-79 – two rounds of general elections, in which the majority of the population took part for the first time, incl. Indians.
During the 20 years of the Constitution of 1978, power passed to presidents either of a reformist orientation (J. Roldos, 1979–81; O. Hurtado, 1981–84; R. Borja, 1988–92), or of a conservative orientation (L. Febres Cordero, 1984–88; S. Duran Balien, 1992-96). The reaction to the economic course of these governments was the general strikes of the trade union centers and the Indian uprisings (civil disobedience campaigns with the blockade of communications).
1997 – impeachment of the parliament to the new president, populist leader A. Bukaram (Roldosist Party), interim president – F. Alarcon. 1998 – The National Assembly adopted a new Constitution, the victory of the Christian Democrats in the elections, President – J. Maouad. 2000 – the dollarization of the economy and the uprising against it of the Indians, who, with the participation of some officers, occupied the parliament. Maouad was dismissed, he was replaced by Vice President G. Noboa, continuing the course towards dollarization.
The end to the political alienation of Ecuador and Peru after the war of 1941 was put by the peace concluded on October 26, 1998 in Brasilia (Brazil).
2002 – Retired Colonel L. Gutierrez, a participant in the events of 2000, won the presidential election with the support of the Indians.
