The History of Ecuador extends over a 9,000-year period. During this time a variety of cultures and territories influenced what has become the Republic of Ecuador. The history can be divided into five eras: Pre-Columbian, The Conquest, The Colonial Period, The War of Independence and the Republican Era. The beginning of the history is represented by a variety of cultures and finishes with the Incan invasion. The Incas were followed closely by the arrival of the conquistadors, the Spanish Conquests. The Spanish would found modern day Quito and Guayaquil as part of the political-administration era which lasted until the war of Independence, the rise of Gran Colombia and Simon Bolivar to the final separation of his vision into what is known today as the Republic of Ecuador.
Pre-Columbian Ecuador
The present Republic of Ecuador is at the heart of the region where a variety of civilizations developed for millennia. During pre-Inca period people lived in clans, which formed great tribes, some allied with each other to form powerful confederations, as the Confederation of Quito. But none of these confederations could resist the formidable momentum of the Tawantinsuyu. The invasion of the Inca in the fifteenth century was very painful and bloody. However, once occupied by the Quito hosts of Huayna Capac (1593-1595), the Incas developed an extensive administration and began the colonization of the region. The pre-Columbian era can be divided up into four eras
- Preceramic Period
- Formative Period
- Period of Regional Development
- Period of Integration and the Arrival of the Incas