Gran Colombia and Peru signed the Treaty of Guayaquil (Larrea–Gual Treaty), formally ending the 1828–1829 war and leaving unresolved border issues that would later affect the Southern District (Quito/Guayaquil/Azuay) as Gran Colombia destabilized.
Venezuela’s move toward separation (commonly dated to 1830) intensified the breakdown of Gran Colombia’s central authority and helped set the stage for Quito’s political elites and military commanders in the Southern District to pursue their own secession.
An assembly of local notables in Quito met and initiated the formal process of separating the Southern District from Gran Colombia, a step that directly paved the way for declaring the new State of Ecuador under military leadership.
On this date, the Southern District (centered on Quito) declared separation from Gran Colombia and formed the State of Ecuador. The Quito assembly elevated General Juan José Flores as supreme/interim head of government, giving him broad authority to organize the new state.
Following Quito’s declaration, the Department of Guayaquil separated from Gran Colombia and aligned with the emergent State of Ecuador, strengthening Flores’s ability to claim a multi-department southern state rather than a Quito-only breakaway.
The Department of Azuay followed Guayaquil’s example and separated from Gran Colombia, completing the core territorial coalition (Quito/Ecuador, Guayaquil, Azuay) that the 1830 constitution would later define as the State of Ecuador.
Acting as civil and military authority, Flores issued a decree calling a Constituent Assembly to draft a political constitution for the new state, aiming to legitimize the break from Gran Colombia through constitutional government.
Marshal Antonio José de Sucre—a key independence leader and prominent figure in Ecuador and Gran Colombia—was assassinated at Berruecos. His death removed a major potential rival to Flores and further destabilized the collapsing Gran Colombian political order.
The Constituent Congress convened in Riobamba to draft Ecuador’s first constitution. Although originally called for earlier, the congress effectively began work with assembled deputies on this date, marking the transition from military-led separation to institution-building.
The Riobamba constituent body adopted Ecuador’s first constitution, defining national institutions and providing the legal framework for the post-Gran Colombia polity built around the former southern departments.
After constitutional approval, the constituent assembly chose Juan José Flores as president and José Joaquín de Olmedo as vice president (indirectly elected within the assembly framework), formalizing executive leadership for the new state.
The first Ecuadorian constitution was promulgated, declaring the union of Azuay, Guayaquil, and Ecuador (Quito) as a single independent entity named the State of Ecuador, while also reflecting contemporary ideas of confederation with the remaining Colombian states.
Secession of Ecuador and formation of the State of Ecuador under Juan José Flores (1829–1830)
