Equador: Difference between revisions

=== Equador in the 19th Century ===

==== The Roraima border dispute ====

A decade after Equador independence, expedition missions started to be made to the interior of the nation. At that time, the deep Amazon was little known, and the Equadorian government was interested in finding new resources in its territory. In the late mid to late 1880s, explorers arrived in the northern tip of the Roraima region, and to their surprise, the place was already explored by the British.

Since the 1840s, missionaries and explorers from the colony of Guiana traveled south searching for resources and converting natives. Due to the uncertainties about the border in the region, a territorial dispute started.

In 1888, the government of Equador sent a direct message to York demanding which to order the dismantling of the operations in Roraima. The demands were denied in a letter sent to Belém a few weeks later. In response to the denial, Equador started to build military outposts in the region claimed by Britain. This move raised the tension in the region. In 1889, Guiana started to arm its outposts as well. In the same year, a letter explaining the situation was sent to Britain. Not willing to deal with a minor dispute, the British government agreed to discuss the problem with Equadorian envoys in London. In may of 1890, was decided to end the dispute by dividing the region under litigation into two almost equal sized areas, therefore drawing the border officially.

==== The Amapá border dispute ====

=== Equador in the 20th century ===

==== The rubber economic boom ====

The industrial revolution in Europe and North America was responsible for turning natural rubber, made from latex extracted from rubber trees in the amazon, a highly important material exported in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century, especially by Equador, Colombia and Peru.

In Equador, where the rubber trees were found the most, the opportunity to raise income attracted many to move from the east of the country to the interior of the amazon, this way starting to construct villages that later became cities near the extractivism areas. The profit from obtained by the export of rubber made a temporary sensation of ascension in the world scale for the amazonic nation, but this rapid growth didn't last long.

For some decades, these three nations were capable of holding a monopoly over the rubber, but in the early 20th century, seeds of rubber trees were already obtained by foreign powers such as Britain and France. These nations created plantations in their holdings in Guiana, Asia and Oceania, and when the trees became mature enough to produce latex, the South American monopoly over the rubber crumbled.

==== Participation in the Second Colombian-Peruvian War ====

In 1917, Equador had secret talks with the Peruvian government about attacking Colombia. At that time, the rubber economic boom was already over, the country faced the rubber prices going down due to the overproduction, therefore reducing the profit, unemployment and many political turmoils. With popularity on the down bottom, the Equadorian government appealed to patriotism to gain support, this way agreeing to join Peru.

In 1917, Equador attacked Colombia through the Upper Rio Negro region, taking a few villages on the Amazon. But a year later, Colombia managed to turn the situation in its favor and took the occupied territories back. In 1919, after many losses and a manpower shortage, Equador asked for peace. In July of the same year, alongside Peru and Colombia, Equador signed the Treaty of Leonabelle, reestablishing peace in the region.

Equador didn’t lose territories like Peru, but needed to pay war reparations to Colombia. Prior to the conflict, the country's economic situation wasn’t already any good, the conflict only made the economy fall even more, and the popularity of the government was at its lowest.