Editing History of Ecuador (section)

===Gran Colombia (1822-1830) ===
{{main|Gran Colombia}}
[[File:AGHRC (1890) - Carta XI - División política de Colombia, 1824.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Map of the former [[Gran Colombia]] in 1824 (named in its time as Colombia), Gran Colombia included all shaded areas.]]
These were years in which warfare dominated the affairs of Ecuador. First, the country found itself on the front lines of Gran Colombia's efforts to liberate Peru from Spanish rule between 1822 and 1825; afterward, in 1828 and 1829, Ecuador was in the middle of an armed [[Gran Colombia–Peru War|struggle between Peru and Gran Colombia]] over the location of their common border. After a campaign that included the near destruction of Guayaquil, the forces of Gran Colombia, under the leadership of Sucre and Venezuelan General [[Juan José Flores]], proved victorious. The Treaty of 1829 fixed the border on the line that had divided the Quito audiencia and the [[Viceroyalty of Peru]] before independence.

The population of Ecuador was divided during these years among three segments: those favoring the status quo, those supporting union with Peru, and those advocating independence for the former audiencia. The latter group was to prevail following Venezuela's withdrawal from Gran Colombia at the very moment that an 1830 constitutional congress had been called in an ultimately futile effort to stem the growing separatist tendencies throughout the country.<br> 
In May of that year, a group of Quito notables met to dissolve the union with Gran Colombia, and in August, a constituent assembly drew up a constitution for the State of Ecuador, so named for its geographic proximity to the equator, and placed General Flores in charge of political and military affairs. He remained the dominant political figure during Ecuador's first 15 years of independence.