UNIVERSIDAD CASA GRANDE

Name: Arturo Tinoco

Ethnic Groups in Ecuador

In Ecuador, we are a representative democratic country in the northwestern part of South
America. The country has a population of more than 16 million people and a majority of
Ecuadorians can trace their ancestry to three major geographical origins of human migration
who inhabited South America. The three largest groups settled in Ecuador about 15,000 years
ago and they include the indigenous pre-Hispanic groups, Europeans mainly the Spaniards who
arrived five centuries after and colonized most of South America and the black Africans mainly
from the sub-Saharan part which the Spaniards imported as slave labors during their colonial
era. The result of mixing the two or three of the groups gave rise to new ethnic groups in
Ecuador. Ecuador has a Mestizo majority, with significant minorities of people with indigenous,
African, and European ancestries.

Mestizo
The Mestizos are multiracial people of mixed European and Amerindian bloodline. During the
Spanish colonial era in Ecuador, they invented a complicated system of distinguishing between
racial mixtures for purposes of racial profiling used for social control and a determinant of one's
position in society.

Montubio
The Montubio are an aboriginal mestizo group that originates from the coastal part of Ecuador.

African-Ecuadorian
African Ecuadorians are descendants of the African slaves that were imported into Ecuador by
the Spanish colonialists.

Native South American

The native South Americans are the first or original group of people to occupy what is present
day Ecuador. The native South Americans are said to have migrated from Asia while other
theories suggest that they migrated from Oceania through the Pacific Ocean and from Europe
through the Atlantic. The indigenous people of Ecuador were hunters and gatherers and
practiced agriculture. The native South American population in Ecuador drastically declined
during the Spanish colonial era following some wars and epidemic diseases such as cholera,
measles and smallpox. The native South Americans account for 7% of Ecuador's population.

White Ecuadorian
The White Ecuadorians originated from Europe in the 17th century they are mostly of Spanish
ancestry from the colonial era and locally born Spaniards also known as criollo.
 UNIVERSIDAD CASA GRANDE

Ethnic Groups Of Ecuador

Share of Population in
Rank Ethnic Group
Ecuador
1 Mestizo 72%
2 Montubio 7%
3 African Ecuadorian 7%
Native South
4 7%
American
5 White Ecuadorian 6%
  Other Ethnicities 1%

References
Ministerio de cultura; (http://www.forosecuador.ec/forum/ecuador/educaci%C3%B3n-y-
ciencia/81241-grupos-%C3%A9tnicos-del-ecuador-lista-de-etnias-del-ecuador-y-sus-caracter
%C3%ADsticas)

Jacome, S, 24 april, 2013; (http://nacionetnica1990.blogspot.com/)