The Incomplete Nationalization of the Ecuadorian Amazon in the XIXth Century

Abstract

During the nineteenth century, cartography granted scientific prestige to the new States in America and at the sametime configured the body of the nation. In the case of Ecuador, the Amazonia posed a huge challenge to the differentmapping projects that addressed its representation within the national space from different epistemological assumptionsand socio-political interests. The first map of Ecuador (1858), prepared by the doctor from Quito ManuelVillavicencio, sought to provide Ecuador with an image of itself and also a guide for a delayed colonization of theAmazonia. In contrast, the German geologist Theodor Wolf reflected in his map (1892) specific scientific aspirationsand not necessarily a sense of territorial identity or ownership. His interest was to produce a map in accordancewith the canons of scientific geography of the time. In his map tvast Amazon region appears inside a small inset andwith a much-reduced scale. The State, which in the late nineteenth century required statistics, maps and knowledgeto operate, sponsored Wolf´s map, despite its silence regarding the Amazon, because having a scientific map wasnecessary not only for Ecuador´s reputation but for the exercise of power.