|
|
|
|
 |
The Mitad del Mundo, or the middle of the world, is located in Ecuador, the Spanish word for equator. Containing the point of 0 0' 0" latitude, Ecuador is a destination where seasons are defined more by rainfall than temperature. In Ecuador, a warm, rainy season lasts from January to April. May through December is characterized by a cooler, drier period- ideal timing for a summer trip. And although Ecuador is the smallest of the Andean nations, the country is just packed with geographic diversity.
Residing within Ecuador's 105,000 square miles, are the rainforests of the Amazonian Orient, miles of Pacific coastline, and the volcanic peaks and mountains of the northern Andes. Because of this, Ecuador is regarded by many as a kind of microcosm of South America, containing not only the natural, but also the colonial and indigenous elements that have drawn travelers to the continent for centuries.
Both the Incas and Spaniards invaded and ruled Ecuador, leaving their indelible marks on the culture and the people. The Inca originated in a pocket of Peru and were a dynamic, rapidly advancing society that established a vast empire within a century. Constructing massive cities across their lands, the Incas laid highways thousands of miles long to communicate between them. Chains of messengers passed each other records of the empire's status, coded in a system of knots along a rope. The Incas were defeated by Francisco Pizarro's armed contingent in 1532, marking the beginning of Spanish occupation.
Spanish governors ruled Ecuador for nearly 300 years, instituting their language, religion and architecture upon the land. Independence was won in 1822, when forces led by the famed South American liberator Simon Bolivar won a decisive victory over Spain at the Battle of Pichincha. And although Bolivar's vision of a united South American constitutional republic did not come to fruition, Ecuador has overcome a history of military dictatorships and internal disputes to establish a democratically elected government.
Ecuador's inhabitants are descendants of the various indigenous populations that first inhabited Ecuador's territory, of the Incas who colonized these lands in the late fifteenth century, of the Spaniards who conquered the Inca empire in the 1530s, and of the African slaves brought by the Spanish colonists. Although the mixing of blood over many centuries has resulted in a largely mestizo (mixed European and Native) population, the indigenous component also remains very strong. Like much of South America, Ecuadorian culture blends the influences of Spanish colonialism with the resilient traditions of pre-Columbian peoples.
|
 |
|
|
){kind=link}