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Learn about Ecuador, a country in northwestern South America with a diverse population and a rich cultural heritage. Find out about its history, geography, culture, economy, politics, and more from this comprehensive Wikipedia article.
- Quito
Quito (Spanish pronunciation: ⓘ; Quechua: Kitu), officially...
- Afro Ecuadorian
In Ecuador it is often said that Afro Ecuadorians live...
- History of Ecuador
History of Ecuador. The History of Ecuador covers human...
- President of Ecuador
The president of Ecuador (Spanish: Presidente del Ecuador),...
- Ecuadorian Sucre
The Sucre (Spanish pronunciation:) was the currency of...
- Military of Ecuador
The Ecuadorian Armed Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas del...
- Guillermo Lasso
Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza (Latin American...
- Ecuadorian Air Force
The FAE was officially created on October 27, 1920. However,...
- Ecuadorian People
Ecuadorians (Spanish: ecuatorianos) are people identified...
- Indigenous Peoples in Ecuador
Indigenous peoples in Ecuador, or Native Ecuadorians, are...
- Quito
Artículo sobre el país sudamericano, su historia, geografía, política, economía y cultura. Incluye datos, mapas, himno, bandera, escudo y enlaces a otras fuentes de información.
- Overview
- Relief
- Drainage
- Soils
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
Ecuador, country of northwestern South America. Ecuador is one of the most environmentally diverse countries in the world, and it has contributed notably to the environmental sciences. The first scientific expedition to measure the circumference of Earth, led by Charles-Marie de La Condamine of France, was based in Ecuador. Moreover, research in Ecuador by the renowned naturalists Alexander von Humboldt of Prussia and Charles Darwin of England helped establish basic theories of modern geography, ecology, and evolutionary biology. Ecuador has a rich cultural heritage. Much of what is now Ecuador came to be included in the Inca empire, the largest political unit of pre-Columbian America.
Economically, Ecuador became known for exporting Panama hats (straw hats so named because they were shipped to Panama in the mid-18th century and bought by traveling gold seekers and because they were worn by Panama Canal work crews in the early 19th century) and agricultural products, notably cacao (the source of cocoa beans), bananas, and flowers. It is a major exporter of petroleum and an increasingly important tourist destination. Its history has been marked by political and economic challenges, including long periods of military rule, boom-and-bust economic cycles, and inequitable distributions of wealth. Ecuador is unusual among Latin American countries in having two major centres of population and commerce, the vibrant port city of Guayaquil acting as a counterbalance to the capital, Quito, located in the Andean highlands in the north-central part of the country.
Ecuador straddles part of the Andes Mountains and occupies part of the Amazon basin. Situated on the Equator, from which its name derives, it borders Colombia to the north, Peru to the east and the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It includes the Pacific archipelago of the Galapagos Islands (Archipiélago de Colón).
The Ecuadoran mainland is divided into three main physical regions: the Costa (coastal region), the Sierra (highland region), and the Oriente (eastern region).
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The Costa is composed of lowlands that extend eastward from the Pacific Ocean to the western edge of the Andes and rise from sea level to an elevation of 1,650 feet (500 metres). Running north-south, small coastal mountain ranges—the Colonche, Chindul, and Mache mountains—rise to 2,600 feet (800 metres). Between these coastal ranges and the Andes, interior valleys are mantled with silt deposits left by rivers that largely drain into the Gulf of Guayaquil. Puná, in the gulf, is the major island.
The Sierra includes two high mountain chains and their western and eastern foothills. The western and central ranges of the Andes bordering the Sierra constitute the country’s highest and most continuous mountain chains. Many peaks are volcanic or snow-covered; these include Cayambe (18,996 feet [5,790 metres]), Antisana (18,714 feet [5,704 metres]), Cotopaxi, which is one of the world’s highest active volcanoes (19,347 feet [5,897 metres]), Chimborazo (20,702 feet [6,310 metres]), Altar (17,451 feet [5,319 metres]), and Sangay (17,158 feet [5,230 metres]). These are included in two ranges connected at intervals by transversal mountain chains, between which are large isolated valleys or basins, called hoyas.
Numerous rivers originate in the mountains, pass through the hoyas of the Sierra, and flow either west to the Pacific coast or east to the Amazon River. In the Sierra the rivers are torrential in their upper courses and become calmer in the plains areas but nonetheless remain unnavigable.
The main watercourse of the Costa is the Guayas River. Formed by the juncture of the Daule and Babahoyo rivers and their affluents, the Guayas River is navigable for the greater part of its course. Other rivers that flow to the ocean include the Cayapas, the Esmeraldas, the Naranjal, the Jubones, and the Santa Rosa.
Ecuador’s soils are among the most varied on Earth. Volcanic activity at higher elevations in the Andes has resulted in the formation of fertile volcanic and prairie soils, called andosols and mollisols, with dark surface layers rich in organic matter. However, the soils are typically underlain by a yellow hardpan, locally called cangahua, which is often exposed on eroded steeper slopes. The eroded topsoil accumulates on lower slopes and especially on flats, which form the most desirable locations for agriculture. Indigenous people, over thousands of years, developed effective methods for the fertilization of these soils, including the use of manure, the mounding of fertilizing muck from drainage ditches, the creation of raised fields, and the use of irrigation canals.
In the Costa the floodplains of the Guayas and other rivers have accumulated fertile silts from the highlands. These coastal soils are of great fertility but often consist of clays that are subject to shrinking and swelling and thus present problems for construction. The effectiveness of traditional methods of managing these soils has come to be more widely recognized, and such prehistoric techniques as embanked fields for runoff management (albarradas) and raised fields (artificially constructed earthen platforms built on shallow lakes or marshy areas) have been studied by development experts.
Learn about Ecuador, a country of northwestern South America with diverse natural and cultural features. Explore its geography, history, flag, capital, population, language, and more from Britannica.
Learn about the pre-Columbian, colonial and modern history of Ecuador, from ancient cultures to independence and beyond. Explore the diverse regions, cultures and influences that shaped the country's identity and development.
Learn about Ecuador, a small country in South America along the equator. Find out about its history, geography, population, provinces, and more.
Learn about the geography of Ecuador, a South American country that spans the Equator and has diverse natural formations and climates. Find out about its regions, cities, islands, rivers, mountains, and more.
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 ...
