Name of the country above, stylized image of the globe with the equator passing through Ecuador, and rays emanating from Ecuador, inscription "Light of America" below.

The military campaign for the independence of the territory now known as Ecuador from Spanish rule begun after nearly three hundred years of Spanish colonization. Ecuador's capital Quito was a city of around ten thousand inhabitants. It was there, on August 10, 1809 that one of the first calls for independence from Spain was made in Latin America ("Luz de América, el Primer Grito de la Independencia"), under the leadership of the city's criollos, including Carlos Montúfar, Eugenio Espejo and Bishop Cuero y Caicedo. Luz de America (Light of America) was the nickname given to Quito. The nickname served the urge for the call of independence that was heard around the continent.

Denomination in digits and in words, year of issue, name of the Central Bank of Ecuador above.