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This Day in History
Ecuador Gains Independence from Gran Colombia (1830)
Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, Ecuador was controlled by the Inca empire. Francisco Pizarro's subordinate, Benalcazar, entered the area in 1533. Not finding the wealth of the mythical El Dorado, he and other conquistadors moved restlessly on, and the region became a colonial backwater. Ecuador remained under Spanish control until 1822, when it was joined to Gran Colombia. With the dissolution of that union in 1830, Ecuador gained its independence. Who was the country's first president?
My comment....
Funny to see this in Orbiter's Daily Soup!
Juan José Flores (a Venezuelan) was the first president of Ecuador, and remained so for a long time. However, it should have been the hero, Marshall (Mariscal) Antonio José de Sucre, victor of the Battle of Pichincha that liberated Quito from Spanish colonial rule, 8 years earlier. In Ecuador, there is a certain amount of - we might say - "shame" attached to the 13 May, for two reasons;
1. The favorite for the presidency of the new Republic (Sucre) had been assasinated and it was believed to have been on the "orders" of the person who actually became the first president (Flores), and;
2. The break up of the Gran Colombia and the resulting independence of the states was later regarded as a stab in the back of the great liberator, Simón Bolivar, visionary of a unified Gran Colombia.
Days that are celebrated instead are (chiefly);
10 August 1809 (First shout of Independence)
12 October 1820 (Independence of Guayaquil)
24 May 1822 (Battle of Pichincha).
Consequently, here in Ecuador, the 13 of May is not even acknowledged as a day of historical significance, even though it really should!
Ecuador Gains Independence from Gran Colombia (1830)Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, Ecuador was controlled by the Inca empire. Francisco Pizarro's subordinate, Benalcazar, entered the area in 1533. Not finding the wealth of the mythical El Dorado, he and other conquistadors moved restlessly on, and the region became a colonial backwater. Ecuador remained under Spanish control until 1822, when it was joined to Gran Colombia. With the dissolution of that union in 1830, Ecuador gained its independence. Who was the country's first president?
My comment....
Funny to see this in Orbiter's Daily Soup!
Juan José Flores (a Venezuelan) was the first president of Ecuador, and remained so for a long time. However, it should have been the hero, Marshall (Mariscal) Antonio José de Sucre, victor of the Battle of Pichincha that liberated Quito from Spanish colonial rule, 8 years earlier. In Ecuador, there is a certain amount of - we might say - "shame" attached to the 13 May, for two reasons;
1. The favorite for the presidency of the new Republic (Sucre) had been assasinated and it was believed to have been on the "orders" of the person who actually became the first president (Flores), and;
2. The break up of the Gran Colombia and the resulting independence of the states was later regarded as a stab in the back of the great liberator, Simón Bolivar, visionary of a unified Gran Colombia.
Days that are celebrated instead are (chiefly);
10 August 1809 (First shout of Independence)
12 October 1820 (Independence of Guayaquil)
24 May 1822 (Battle of Pichincha).
Consequently, here in Ecuador, the 13 of May is not even acknowledged as a day of historical significance, even though it really should!
