Relatively few students of the late colonial and independence periods have focused on Ecuador, although recent contributions by Kenneth J. Andrien, Martin Minchom, and Anthony McFarlane have made the colonial kingdom’s history more accessible. Marqueses, cacaoteros y vecinos de Portoviejo adds to this literature with a perceptive and reasonably detailed examination of three Ecuadorian regions.
This version of a 1992 University of Florida dissertation titled “The Political Culture of Quito at Independence: A Regional Comparison,” provides a comparative analysis of the political culture of the aristocracy in Quito, the merchants and planters in Guayaquil, and the inhabitants of the province of Portoviejo, which is located roughly north of Guayaquil and southwest of Quito. The book examines each region in turn, considering its economy, society, tensions, and participation in the independence movements. In addition, the author gives particular attention to the different language each region’s inhabitants employed in their political discourse....
