I want to thank all my sponsors for all of their amazing support, financially and otherwise. Without all of your generous contributions, both financially and of time, my work in Ecuador (which hasn't really started in earnest yet) would not be possible.
I thought that my first real post would be reflections on Vanderbilt as I prepare for a totally new chapter in life (which still may happen) or a post about how hard I have been practicing Spanish to prepare for next year. But something else struck my fancy instead. One of my many fabulous recent acquisitions at the Vanderbilt Library Used Book Sale was the book "South American Primer," by Katherine Carr Rodell. Published in 1941, and withdrawn from the library sometime in 1965 from the look of it, I expected it would be a little dated. But after a while, current events just become history, right?
I was a little disappointed that the chapter I was interested in was titled "Peru and Ecuador." It lacked the emphasis on Ecuador I was looking for. But I read on (mostly so I could get the book out of my room, I still am trying to unpack from Nashville). I've reproduced some key points here so you can learn with me, too
"Since the area involved in this quarrel is some one hundred thousand square miles, it is of considerable importance to Ecuador, which is the third smallest of the South American nations in both area and population. Ecuador, as a matter of fact, makes little sense as an independent state. It was a natural part of the Inca Empire, and later an equally logical part of the viceroyalty of Peru. Since it was remote from Lima, the audiencia established a Quito, the present capital, came, in colonial times, to be an important administrative unit whose relative independence provided an excuse for a separate nation after the wars with Spain...The country produces some cacao, a little coffee, the very best Panama hats, and, recently, under the agis of a British company, increasing amounts of Petroleum."
This paragraph is followed by another paragraph about speculating (and as you may have guessed, not positively) about what Ecuador would even do with the land in the Amazon basin if it won the dispute. And that is all 1941 had to say about Ecuador. Nothing more than a pointless offshoot of Peru. Have times changed? Well, I certainly believe so, and will be sure to let the readers know just how valuable I think Ecuador is to the international community as I learn more over the next year. But for now, lets check on the CIA World Factbook and compare "Ecuador's products."
Ecuador's industries currently include: petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals. Ecuador's agricultural products are: bananas, coffee, cocoa, rice, potatoes, manioc (tapioca), plantains, sugarcane; cattle, sheep, pigs, beef, pork, dairy products; balsa wood; fish, shrimp. Sadly, it seems Ecuador has lost its title of best Panama hat maker in the sands of time. These tidbits may not seem like much, but I'm hoping they will be pieces to the puzzle of Ecuadorian development. I guess we'll find out together.
Best,
Chet
Song of the Blog: "We didn't start the fire" by Billy Joel.
N.B.: I am going to try to keep the "song of the blog" as both a historical soundtrack to my life and something mildly topical to what I have blogged about.
