Gran Colombia
Ecuador, 1819–1831. Draft, not yet reviewed
Gran Colombia was the Colombian state that encompassed much of northern South America and parts of Central America from 1819 to 1831. The Audiencia of Quito was liberated again in 1822 and joined the territories of what is today Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama to form the Republic of Gran Colombia. On 13 May 1830 the departments of Ecuador, Guayaquil, and Azuay separated from La Gran Colombia to form a new nation called Ecuador with Juan José Flores as its first president, who tried to incorporate the Department of Cauca, but to no avail. Gran Colombia was dissolved in 1831 due to the political differences that existed between supporters of federalism and centralism, as well as regional tensions among the peoples that made up the republic.
Seat of power: Bogotá
Rulers
Simón Bolívar
President of Colombia, 1819–1830
The Congress of Cúcuta ratified the formation of Gran Colombia and elected Bolívar as president and Santander as vice president. On 27 August he assumed supreme power as the "president-liberator" of Colombia and abolished the office of the vice president.
Portrait of Simón Bolívar: Luis Enrique Toro Moreno (1897-1933), Public domain, file
Domingo Caycedo
President of Colombia, 1830–1831
He served as acting President of Colombia a total of eleven times, the most terms any president has served to date. He is also credited for creating the Republic of New Granada after the division of Venezuela and Ecuador.
Portrait of Domingo Caycedo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Culture
- As part of Gran Colombia, the territories of Quito were divided up into districts, departments, and provinces on 25 June 1824 by the Subdivisions of Gran Colombia. The Audiencia de Quito was divided into 4 departments: Ecuador Department, Guayaquil Department, Azuay Department, and Cauca Department.
- The total population of Gran Colombia after independence was 2,583,799, lower than the 2,900,000 population of the territory before independence.
Picture
Guayaquil was the first Ecuadorian city to definitively achieve its independence from Spain, on October 9, 1820, and later served as the capital of the Free Province of Guayaquil, which was annexed to Gran Colombia.
Image: Padaguan, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.