Ecuador

Ecuador stamps for sale at Io Collezionista. The former Spanish colony, whose conquest was begun in the 16th century by Francisco Pizarro, gained independence in 1822 thanks to the decisive victory of Antonio Jose de Sucre, lieutenant to Simon Bolivar, at the battle of Pichincha. In 1830, after the separation from Gran Colombia, the state that took in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama, the official name of the new born state was settled as the Republic of Ecuador, a reference to the line of the Equator that crosses the whole territory and passes a short distance from the capital Quito. The first links between Ecuador and the Equator date to the 18th century and appear in the travel accounts of Antonio de Ulloa and Jorge Juan, respectively a scientist and a mathematician, scientist and officer of the Spanish navy.