LA CORRESPONDENCIA DIPLOMÁTICA ECUATORIANA ACERCA DE LA SEGUNDA MISIÓN GEODÉSICA FRANCESA

Abstract

When verifying that there is little Ecuadorian bibliography on the Second French Geodetic Mission in Ecuador, the undersigned, in collaboration with analyst 2 Fanny Santos, investigated in the His- torical Archive “Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco” of the Ministry of For- eign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador. Then, at the initiative of the Directorate of Cultural, Heritage and Tourism Affairs of the Ecuadorian Chancellery, in collaboration with the National Academy of History of Ecuador and the Embassy of France in Quito, these in- stitutions, on October 7, 2020 at the same Academy, formed a Com- mittee of celebrations of the 120 years of the arrival of this Mission to Ecuador (2021–2026).

We selected a hundred diplomatic documents for the edition of a digital publication to be carried out by this Ministry, entitled: “Commemoration, 120 years since the arrival of the 2nd French Ge- odetic Mission in Ecuador.” This correspondence includes the fol- lowing material: diplomatic notes from the Legations of Ecuador and France: 1894–1926, Reports to the Nation: 1899–1936, Official Re- cords: 1902–1948 and nine photographs from this period.

Finally, the author of this study presents a summary of this re- search, carried out from September 2020 to April 2021 and which emphasizes a little-studied topic: Ecuadorian and French institutions and the Second French Geodesic Mission.