Chronography of Ecuador
Page last modified 18 August
2023
Graphic of Latin America 2010-19 socio-political
10/2019, Steet protests that
disrupted the capital Quito were called off after the Government agreed to
restore fuel subsidies.
2/2018, Ecuadorians voted to
legally restrict a President from serving more than two terms, see 12/2015.
2/4/2017, Run-off presidential
elections in Ecuador produced a
narrow victory for the :Leftist candidate, Lenin Moreno (51%) over the 49% for the Rightist Lasso.
The narrow margin produced accusations of fraud from the Right. Assange,
who had been avoiding extradition to Sweden on rape charges (and on to the US on
espionage charges) by hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since August 2012, was relieved;
Lasso
had said he would evict him if he won. However on 11/4/2019 Assange was forced
to leave the Embassy,and go into UK prison custody,after a series of disputes
with the Embassy authorities.
4/2016, 400 dead and 2,500 injured
in a 7.8 magnitude earthquake affecting the coastal region of
Ecuador.
12/2015, The Ecuadorian Parliament
voted to remove a two-term limit on the President. However see 2/2018.
8/2013, President Correa authorised oil
prospecting in the Amazon rainforest, blaming wealthier nations for failing to
help his country with conservation.
6/2013, Ecuador created a
Government agency to regulate the media and broadcasting. The Oppositiion saw
it as a move to restrict reporting.
2/2013, President Rafael Correa won a
second 4-year term. Under the 2008 Constitution no President could serve more
than two terms.
6/2012, Julian Assange (Wikileaks
founder) sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy, London, to avoid extradition
to Sweden on rape charges, which he believed would have led on to his further
extraditin to the US on sedition charges which could have led to his facing the
death penalty. A police guard was immediately posted at the Embassy, preventing
his onward journey out of the UK, where Assange was to remain until
4/2019.
3/2012, Protests in Ecuador by
indigenous peoples, against mining activities.
4/2011, Ecuador expelled the
USAmbassador after Wikileaks publicised a diplomatic communication alleging
seruous corruption in the Ecuadorian police force.
7/2010, Ecuador passed legislation
giving the State total owmership of all oil and gas produced in its territory.
7/2009, Ecuador refused to extend
the US military use of Manta airfield for drug surveillance flights.
4/2009, President Correa won his 2nd
term as President; his first under the new 2008 Constitution.
12/2008, Ecuador threatened to
default on billions of US$ of whatit called �illegitimate� foreign debt.
8/2008, Ecudaor adopted new
Constitution, after it was approved in a referendum by 64% of voters.
3/2008, Diplomatic row with
Colombia after its forces crossed into Ecuador to kill a senior FARC member,
Raul Reyes.
2005, Guiterrez was removed by Congress; elections
in 11/2006 were won by Rafael Correa.
8/2005, Protestors in Ecuador
demanded that oil revenues be spent on improving local communities.
1/2003, Leftist Lucio
Guitierrez became President (elected 11/2002).
2002, Indigenous communities demanded that oil
revenue be spent on local communities.
21/1/2000, The President of Ecuador, Jamil Mahiad
Witt, was overthrown in a�
coup, when the Ecuadorian Army sided with Amerindian protestors. He was
replaced by Vice-President Gustavo Noboa Bejarano.
2000, The Ecuadorian Sucre was massively
devalued. It was replaced by the US Dollar.
1998, Jamil Mahuad, Popular Democratic Party, won
elections.
26/10/1998, Peru and Ecuador signed a
treaty demarcating the ;last 48 miles of common border.
1997, President Abdala Bucaram was deposed by
Congress after he begahn to implement popular reforms.
17/2/1995, Peru and Ecuador settled
their border dispute (see 26/1/1995).
26/1/1995, Heavy fighting began along the Peru-Ecuador
border. The dispute centred on an unmarked section of border in the
Cordillera del Condor mountains, where there were possibly reserves of gold,
uranium and oil. Peru claimed the border had been set by the 1942 Rio de
Janiero protocol, aftert Peru defeated Ecuador in a 10-day war ijn 1941.
However Ecuador had declared this Protocol null and void in 1960, before the
last 48 miles of the border had bene demarcated,
1992, Ecuador left OPEC in order to be able to
increase its oil output.
1992, Indigenous Amerindian peoples won land
awards, 10,000 square kilometres, in the Amazon basin.
1982, Falling world oil prices caused economic
recession, leading to demonstrations and a State of Emergency. Austerity
measures were introduced in 1983.
1981, Peru fought a border war
(until 1990) with Ecuador over the El
Oro region, an Amazonian region given to Peru by a 1942 treaty,which
Ecuador wanted as it would give it access to the Amazon basin.
1979, Civilian rule returned to Ecuador.
1972, Ecuador began producing oil. Ibarra
was toppled by a military coup.
1968, Velasco Ibarra was elected president, for the
5th time. He later took on absolute powers, when faced with dissent.
1965, Ecuador declared the Galapagos Islands a
National Park.
1963, Military rule in Ecuador, lasting until
1966.
1960, The Ecuadorian Government renounced the peace treaty that
ceded el Oro to Peru.
1955, Camilo Ponce Enriquez became the first
Conservative President in 60 years. He remained in office until 1960.
1952, Velasco Ibarra became President, promising
improvements to schools and roads.
1950s, Ecuador developed its banana industry.
1948, Galo Plaza became president, promising social
reforms. Growing banana trade was bringing in revenue.
28/8/1947, Ecuador's new dictator Carlos Mancheno
abolished the country's 1944 constitution and proclaimed himself President.
1942, Under the Rio Protocol, Ecuador ceded the mineral-rich
el Oro region to Peru, ca. 200,000 square kilometres, after
a period of border warfare. Ecuador� had
invaded this region in 1941.
1925, The Army was now the most powerful
political faction in the country, replacing the coastal banking interests,.
20/1/1911, Ecuador refused to
allow the Hague Tribunal to arbitrate in its boundary dispute with Peru.
3/6/1910, Ecuador
and Peru withdrew their troops from the border between the two nations as the
first step in the mediation of their dispute.
31/8/1901, In
Ecuador, General
Alfaro peacefully handed over power to his elected successor, General
Leonidas Plaza.
1850s, Political rivalry between the Conservatives, who supported the
entrenched elite and the Catholic Church, versus the radical Liberals,
who supported ecomnomic sand political reform.
1832, Ecuador attempted to take Popayan Province from Colombia,
but failed.
12/2/1832, General Jose
Villamil started a colony on Santa Maria island, Galapagos, with
political prisoners from Ecuador. Ecuador had formally annexed the Galapagos
Islands.
Ecuadorian independence
13/5/1830. The
Republic of Ecuador was created, as
Gran Colombia brioke up, with Juan Flores as President.� It was formerly the Presidency of Quito..
24/5/1822, The Battle
of Pinchincha, near Quito, Ecuador. Jose de Sucre decisively defeated a Spanish
army. Ecuador became part of Gran
Colombia.
10/8/1809, Ecuadorian middle class revolted against Spanish rule,but failed to gain
independence. This rebellion was crushed by 1812.
1597, The city of Ibarra was
founded by Alvaro
de Ibarra, President of Ecuador.
1535, Fray Tomas de Berlanga, Bishop
of Panama, became the first European to
set foot on the Galapagos Islands, when his ship, sailing from Panama to
Peru, was becalmed, then carried westwards to the islands by the strong
equatorial ocean currents.
1533, Sebastian de Benalcazar, a
lieutenant of Francisco
Pizarro,
claimed the Ecuador area for Spain. Spain first landed there in 1531, and had
conquered the region from the Incas by 1534.
1527, War of Succession in the
Inca Empire between Huascar in Cuzco and his younger brother Atahuallpa
in Quito. This intetrnecine was weakened the Inca Empire and allowed the Spanish
under Pizarro
to gain control in 1528.
1478, What is now Ecuador became
part of the Inca Empire under Topa Yupanqui.
1460, The Incas began the
conquest of the Cara Nation, which was centred on Quito.
Ca. 280 AD. Formation of the Cara
Nation, as a non-indogenous tribe (origina unknown) conquered the Quito valley,
then extended their terotory by war and alliances.