This conflict established a precedent for the long-running Ecuador–Peru territorial dispute over Amazonian lands that persisted into the 20th century.
Key Facts
- Duration
- 1857 to 1860
- Trigger
- Ecuador attempted to sell Amazon land to settle British debt
- Key treaty
- Treaty of Mapasingue, signed January 1860
- Peruvian action
- Naval blockade of Ecuadorian ports
- Battle ending conflict
- Battle of Guayaquil, September 1860
- Treaty outcome
- Disavowed by both sides, reopening territorial dispute
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Ecuador attempted to sell land in the Amazon basin, territories also claimed by Peru, to British creditors in order to settle outstanding debts. Peru viewed this as an infringement on its territorial claims and, after diplomatic relations collapsed and Ecuador fragmented into competing factions, the Peruvian government ordered a naval blockade of Ecuadorian ports.
Peruvian President Ramón Castilla arrived at Guayaquil in October 1859 with several thousand soldiers and negotiated the Treaty of Mapasingue with Ecuadorian General Guillermo Franco in January 1860. The treaty required Ecuador to comply with all Peruvian demands, including cancellation of the land sale and acknowledgment of Peruvian ownership of the disputed territories. No direct military engagement between the two nations occurred beyond the temporary occupation.
In September 1860, forces loyal to the provisional Quito government under Gabriel García Moreno and General Juan José Flores defeated Franco at the Battle of Guayaquil, ending Ecuador's civil war. The new Ecuadorian government promptly disavowed the Treaty of Mapasingue, and Peru followed suit, leaving the territorial dispute unresolved and setting the stage for future conflicts between the two nations.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Ramón Castilla.
Side B
2 belligerents
Guillermo Franco, Gabriel García Moreno, Juan José Flores.