The university and the emancipatory humanism:

A new periodization of Quito's colonial history

Abstract

Why was the city of Quito the pioneer, in South América, in supplanting the colonial government, at
the beginning of the 19th century? This text aims to investigate the leading role of the university
in the development of the colonial period and its decisive influence of the emancipatory process,
all based on an exhaustive documentary review of archives and libraries. To unravel the path
followed by the first cry for independence, we first analyze the Salamancan humanism that arrived
early in the city and which, over the centuries, underwent mutations that have been classified into
four periods. According to this new periodization, paternalistic, university, protestant and
emancipatory humanisms have been identified. Within the latter, the ideological lines,
personalities, bibliography and other motivations that invigorated the revolutionary spirit of the
Quito people have been identified. It has been demonstrated that the city was destined to lead the
emancipation process because, among other things, it suffered from the lack of attention from the
monarchy, the resulting dissatisfaction of its inhabitants, and because three universities operated
simultaneously there, favoring the awakening of a unique way of thinking, a local procerato, and
the training, of the leading cadres of the revolutionary process.