ABSTRACT
The formal creation of the state of Ecuador brought with it certain modifications in the dependency situation to which the former Audiencia of Quito had been subjected. Independence in Guayaquil in October 1820 ushered in a period of agricultural development and economic prosperity on the Littoral that manifested itself in a notable increase in exports stemming from free-trade policies implemented by the provisional government of Guayaquil. To reiterate what was said in the discussion on politicocultural dependency, the cultural dependency of Ecuador and its progressive incorporation into the North American sphere of influence after World War I had a decisively alienating and "denationalizing" effect on the country, a circumstance that has characterized Ecuadorean national culture to the present. The decade of the 1860s witnessed two major developments that were destined to have a decisive impact on the economic future of Ecuador: the assumption of power by Gabriel Garcia Moreno and a marked revival of foreign trade.
