INFORMATION ABOUT ECUADOR AND THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
Facts and Figures
Name: Ecuador
Area: 256370 Km2
Capital: Quito
Official languages: Spanish and Kichwa
Currency: US dollars
Country code: +593
GEOGRAPHY
Ecuador is located in northwestern of South America exactly on the equator, where its name comes from. Ecuador borders Colombia to the north, Peru to the east and south, and the Pacific to the west. Galapagos is located about 1000 km off the mainland coast.
The two ranges of the Andes from north to south with the Chimborazo (6310 m) as highest mountain and the capital Quito in the north form the region Sierra
West of the Sierra, the up to 200 km wide tropical coastal belt of the Costa is located, which also includes Guayaquil as the largest city in the country.
East of the Andes extends the Amazon basin and sparsely populated tropical rainforest, the well-known Selva Amazónica. The fourth of the most diverse regions of the country is the Insulated Archipelago of Galapagos with 123 islands totaling 7000 km2 of land in a vast marine reserve of 130000 km2. Ecuador’s topography of extremes in a relatively small space leads to complicated climatic conditions and to the greatest biodiversity in the world.
The eventful history of Ecuador can be divided into eight periods. The region was inhabited by several independent people until the 15th century. For about a century, the Incas ruled the area. Between the 1530s and the 1820s, Ecuador was a Spanish colony. Between 1810 and 1830, the country experienced the Revolutionary War and became part of Gran Colombia and then independent state. From the mid-19th century to the 1920s, the country was marked by clashes between “conservative” forces from the Sierra and “liberal” factions from the Costa, with the export boom of Cacao providing a dominant position for the latter. From 1947 to the 1960s, the country experienced an economic boom thanks to the cultivation of bananas and initial attempts at industrialization. Since 1973, oil production has been central to the economic and political stability of the country.
