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Ecuador, migration 19th century to present

  1. Alicia P. Torres

Published Online: 4 FEB 2013

DOI: 10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm193

The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration

The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration

How to Cite

Torres, A. P. 2013. Ecuador, migration 19th century to present. The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration.

Publication History

  1. Published Online: 4 FEB 2013

During the 20th and 21st centuries, Ecuador's migration flows consisted of (sometimes simultaneous) processes of emigration, immigration, and internal migration at different scales and in varying intensities. This article describes those processes since the beginning of the 19th century, and especially at the beginning of this century when the number of emigrants increased considerably, establishing a landmark in Ecuador's migratory history. Migratory movements have coincided with the cycles of an economic model based primarily on agro-exports and, subsequently, oil exports. The fluctuations in the economy produced by the application of this model could be linked to migratory movements in Ecuador showing that these have been related to global socioeconomic processes and dynamics and, at the same time, that the model and its global insertion is reconfigured by the sociohistorical and political dynamics of individual countries.

Keywords: regional development; South America; demography and population studies; indigenous peoples