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Cuenca
The news of Guayaquil's proclamation of independence spread rapidly to other cities in the Presidencia, and several towns followed the example in quick succession. Portoviejo declared its independence on October 18, 1820, and Cuenca -
The economic
the economic center of the southern highlands did the same on November 3, 1820. The stage was set for the campaign of the liberation of Quito. -
Bolivar
By that time, the tide of the wars of independence in South America had turned decisively against Spain: Simón Bolívar's victory at the Battle of Boyacá (August 7, 1819) -
Granada
had sealed the independence of the former Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada, while to the south, José de San Martín, after landing his Army on the Peruvian coast on September 8, 1820, was preparing the campaign for the independence of the Viceroyalty of Perú. -
Guayaquil
On October 9, 1820, the port city of Guayaquil proclaimed its independence after a brief and almost bloodless revolt against the local garrison -
Andes mountains
Was ready to begin its march up the Andes mountains. The first clash with a Royalist covering force was a success, occurring on November 9, 1820, at Camino Real, a strategic mountain pass along the road from Guayaquil to Guaranda. This victory opened the way into the inter-Andean highlands, and the capture of Guaranda soon followed. -
Republic of Ecuador
The war ended with the defeat of the Spanish forces at the Battle of Pichincha on May 24, 1822 -
ecuador independence
The Ecuadorian War of Independence was fought from 1820 to 1822 between several South American armies and Spain over control of the lands of the Royal Audience of Quito, -
The military
The military unit raised and financed in Guayaquil was given the name of Division Protectora de Quito Division for the Protection of Quito -
The Division
The Division, under the command of Colonels Luis Urdaneta and León Febres-Cordero, both of them ringleaders of the revolt in Guayaquil, began its advance out of the coastal plain towards the highlands, and by November 7, -
Ambato
Its immediate purpose was to advance on the cities of Guaranda and Ambato, in the central highlands, hoping to bring them to the independence movement, and cutting all road communication between Quito and the cities of Guayaquil and Cuenca, so as to forestall any Royalist countermove from the north. -
Latacunga and Riobamba
News of the presence of the patriot army in Guaranda had the intended effect: most of the towns in the highlands proclaimed their independence in quick succession, Latacunga and Riobamba doing so on November 11, and Ambato on November 12, 1820 -
Presidency of Quito
The Ecuadorian War of Independence is part of the Spanish American wars of independence fought during the first two decades of the 19th century -
Quito
Eugenio Espejo and Bishop Cuero y Caicedo. Luz de America was the nickname given to Quito; the city's call for independence was heard around the continent. -
Ecuador's capital Quito
Ecuador's capital Quito was a city of around ten thousand inhabitants. It was there, on August 10, 1809, that one of the first calls for independence from Spain was made in Latin America -
Light of America, the First Cry of Independence
Luz de América, el Primer Grito de la Independencia under the leadership of the city's criollos, including Carlos Montúfar -
Junta
set up a Junta de Gobierno and raised a military force with the purpose of defending the city and carrying the independence movement to the other provinces in the country. -
Spain strikes back
Hopes for a quick victory turned out to be premature and short-lived. Field-Marshal Melchor Aymerich, acting President and supreme commander of Royalist forces in the Presidencia de Quito, took swift action. An army of around 5,000 troops, under the command of veteran Spanish Colonel Francisco González, was dispatched south to deal with the 2,000-strong patriot army, stationed in Ambato. -
November
By the middle of November, Spanish rule over the Presidencia had been reduced to Quito and its surrounding areas in the northern highlands. It looked as if the liberation of the entire territory would be easier than expected. -
The War
The military campaign for the independence of the territory now known as Ecuador from Spanish rule could be said to have begun after nearly three hundred years of Spanish colonization.
