The Sucumbíos Triangle () is a territorial zone in Ecuador, located between the

Putumayo River The Putumayo River or Içá River (, ) is one of the tributaries of the Amazon River, southwest of and parallel to the Japurá River. Course The Putumayo River forms part of Colombia's border with Ecuador, as well as most of the border with Per ...

to the north and San Miguel River, to the south. It belonged to

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

as a ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

'' international

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

between 1922 and 1942, when it was ceded to

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

after the

Rio de Janeiro Protocol The Protocol of Peace, Friendship, and Boundaries between Peru and Ecuador, or Rio Protocol for short, was an international agreement signed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 29, 1942, by the foreign ministers of Peru and Ecuador, with the p ...

of 1942, and is now part of its border with

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

History

After the signing of the Salomón-Lozano Treaty in 1922,

and

officially established their borders and exchanged strategic territories. Colombia obtained an entrance to the Amazon River through the Amazon Trapeze, and Peru ''de jure'' obtained a strategic

between the Putumayo and the

San Miguel San Miguel, Spanish for Saint Michael, may refer to: Places Argentina *San Miguel Partido *San Miguel, Buenos Aires * San Miguel, Catamarca * San Miguel, Corrientes * San Miguel, La Rioja *San Miguel Arcángel, a Volga German colony in Adolfo Al ...

Rivers. Although it had ceded the territory to Colombia in 1916, the Ecuadorian government did not recognize the act since both signatory countries also had territorial disputes with Ecuador. After the Leticia incident of 1932 and the Colombia–Peru War, the Protocol of Rio de Janeiro of 1934 was negotiated in which Colombia and Peru smoothed over the rough edges and agreed that the borders would remain as had beenagreed in 1922. Colombia made it clear to Peru that it recognized Peruvian sovereignty over the Sucumbíos Triangle although Peru had not carried out serious colonization operations on its exclave. In 1933, after the failure of the only serious attempt to colonize the triangle, the Peruvian diplomats Víctor Manuel Maúrtua,

Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Diez Canseco (15 December 1883 – 14 December 1966) was a Peruvian diplomat, politician, philosopher and scholar. He chaired the 14th Session and the 4th Emergency Special Session of the President of the United Nations ...

, Alberto Ulloa Sotomayor and

Raúl Porras Barrenechea Raúl Porras Barrenechea (23 March 1897 – 27 September 1960) was a Peruvian diplomat, historian and politician. He was President of the Senate in 1957 and Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1958 and 1960. A well-known figure of the student m ...

took dvantage of the end of the Colombian-Peruvian War and of the lapse of the signing of the 1934 protocol and tried to reach an agreement with their Colombian counterparts so that the Sucumbíos Triangle would return to Colombian sovereignty and the Amazon Trapeze to Peruvian sovereignty. However, that did not happen, and Peru continued to possess the uncontrolled territory.

Rio de Janeiro Protocol

Peru and Ecuador still maintained a territorial conflict, which escalated into the

Ecuadorian–Peruvian War The Ecuadorian–Peruvian War, known locally as the War of '41 (), was a South American border war fought between 5–31 July 1941. It was the first of three military conflicts between Ecuador and Peru during the 20th century. During the war, ...

of 1941. During the conflict, Ecuador maintained control of the Sucumbíos Triangle, as well as the territories on its side of the ''de facto'' border of 1936. During the negotiations after the war for the

, Peru granted the triangle to Ecuador, in addition to other territorial claims in the upper

Napo River The Napo River () is a tributary to the Amazon River that rises in Ecuador on the flanks of the east Andean volcanoes of Antisana, Sincholagua and Cotopaxi. The total length is . The river drains an area of ca 103,000 km2. The mean annual dis ...

, in exchange for other territories, as well as recognition of Peruvian sovereignty in Tumbes, Jaén, and Maynas. The oil-rich region proved extremely beneficial to Ecuador in the long run, as it contributed to its economy and a national reconstruction program started after the war.

Notes

References

{{reflist States and territories established in 1922 States and territories disestablished in 1942 Borders of Peru Borders of Ecuador Borders of Colombia Ecuadorian–Peruvian War Territorial evolution of Peru

History

Rio de Janeiro Protocol

See also

Notes

References