PUBLICATIONS
October 2000 Issue
The Geographical Review
October 2000, Vol. 90 (4), pp. 511-535
URBAN-SYSTEM EVOLUTION ON THE FRONTIER OF THE ECUADORIAN AMAZON
ROY RYDER and LAWRENCE A. BROWN
Keywords: Amazon, boom towns, Ecuador, frontier regions, regional development.
ABSTRACT:
Like the North American frontier, Ecuador's Amazonian margin has advanced in
periodic waves. But the impetus has been extremely varied, interlacing periods of socioeconomic
crisis with times of prosperity. Recent events in eastern Ecuador confirm that urbanization
is a fundamental component of frontier development in South America. The
urbanization process is not a sign, however, of regional economic strength. Capital gains at
the periphery are transferred to the nation's core region. Even the larger boom towns display
little functional specialization; they are, instead, precariously dependent on employment in
the public-service sector. Nonetheless, urban centers in the Ecuadorian Amazon continue to
grow and to drain surrounding rural areas of younger and more educated individuals.
Keywords: Amazon, boom towns, Ecuador, frontier regions, regional development.
ABSTRACT:
Like the North American frontier, Ecuador's Amazonian margin has advanced in periodic waves. But the impetus has been extremely varied, interlacing periods of socioeconomic crisis with times of prosperity. Recent events in eastern Ecuador confirm that urbanization is a fundamental component of frontier development in South America. The urbanization process is not a sign, however, of regional economic strength. Capital gains at the periphery are transferred to the nation's core region. Even the larger boom towns display little functional specialization; they are, instead, precariously dependent on employment in the public-service sector. Nonetheless, urban centers in the Ecuadorian Amazon continue to grow and to drain surrounding rural areas of younger and more educated individuals.