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Ecuador
Capital: Quito
Location: 00°9′S 78°21′W
Largest city: Guayaquil
Official language: Spanish[1]
Government: Republic
Independence: - from Spain: May 24, 1822 - from Gran Colombia: May 13, 1830
Area: 72nd in the World
Total: 256,370 km² (98,985 sq mi)
Water (%): 8.8
Population: July 2005 estimate 13,228,000 (67th)
Density: 47 /km² (122 /sq mi) (147th)
GDP (PPP) : 2005 estimate
- Total: $57.04 billion (70th)
- Per capita: $4,316 (113th)
HDI (2003) : 0.765 (medium) (83rd)
Currency: U.S. dollar[2] (USD)
Time zone UTC -5 4
Calling code: +593
Internet TLD: .ec
Member of: UN, OAS, BID, WB, IMF, CAN, FLAR, CAF, CSN, MERCOSUR[4]
1 Kichwa and other Amerindian languages spoken by indigenous communities.
2 Sucre until 2000, followed by the U.S. dollar and Ecuadorian centavo coins
3 Galápagos Islands.
4 Associated
About Ecuador
Ecuador (Spanish: Ecuador), officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador) is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean on the west. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands (Archipiélago de Colón) in the Pacific, about 965 kilometers (600 miles) west of the mainland. Ecuador is the Spanish word for equator. Ecuador straddles the equator and has an area of 256,370 square kilometers (98,985 mi²). Its capital city is Quito, however its largest city is Guayaquil.
History of Ecuador
Indigenous people flourished in Ecuador long before the area was mostly conquered by the Inca empire in the fifteenth century. Through a succession of wars and marriages with the different nations that inhabited the Interandean valley, the region became part of the Inca Empire. Atahualpa, one of the sons of the Inca emperor Huayna Capac, was born in Quito. However, he could not receive the crown of the Empire since the emperor had another son, Huascar, born in Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire. Therefore, upon Huayna Capac's death, the empire was divided in two: Atahualpa received the north, with his capital in Quito, and Huascar received the south with its capital in Cusco. Barely a week later, in 1531, the Spanish conquistadors, under Francisco Pizarro, arrived in an Inca empire torn by civil war. Atahualpa wanted to defeat Huascar and reign over a re-unified Incan empire.
The Spanish, however, had conquest intentions and established themselves in a fort in Cajamarca, captured Atahualpa during the Battle of Cajamarca and held him for ransom. A room was filled with gold and two with silver to secure his release. During his capture, Atahualpa arranged for the murder of his half-brother Huascar in Cusco. The stage was set for the Spaniards to take over the Inca empire. Despite being surrounded and vastly outnumbered, the Spanish executed Atahualpa. To escape the confines of the fort, the Spaniards fired all their cannons and broke through the lines of the bewildered Incans. In subsequent years the Spanish colonists became the new elite centering their power in the Vice-Royalties of Peru and Nueva Granada.
The indigenous population was decimated by disease in the first decades of Spanish rule — a time when the natives also were forced into the "encomienda" labor system for Spanish landlords. In 1563, Quito became the seat of a royal "audiencia" (administrative district) of Spain and part of the Vice-Royalty of Peru with its capital in Lima.
After nearly three hundred years of Spanish colonization, Quito was a city of around ten thousand inhabitants, and it was there, in the Battle of Pichincha in 1822 that Ecuador joined Simón Bolívar's Republic of Gran Colombia, only to become a separate republic in 1830.
The nineteenth century was marked by instability, with a rapid succession of rulers. The conservative Gabriel Garcia Moreno unified the country in the 1860s with the support of the Roman Catholic Church. In the late nineteenth century, world demand for cocoa tied the economy to commodity exports and led to migrations from the highlands to the agricultural frontier on the coast.
A coastal-based liberal revolution in 1895 under Eloy Alfaro reduced the power of the clergy and the conservative land-owners of the highlands, and this liberal wing retained power until the military "Julian Revolution" of 1925. The 1930s and 1940s were marked by instability and populist politicians, such as five-time President José María Velasco Ibarra.
Control over territory in the Amazon basin led to a long-lasting dispute between Ecuador and Peru. In 1941, in the midst of fast-growing tensions between the two countries, war broke out. Peru claimed that Ecuador's military presence in Peruvian-claimed territory was an invasion while Ecuador, on the other hand, claimed Peru invaded Ecuador. In July 1941, troops were mobilized. Peru had an army of 11,681 troops, facing a poorly supplied and badly armed Ecuadorian force of 5,300 soldiers, of which a little over 1,300 were deployed in the southern provinces of the country. Hostilities broke on July 5, 1941, when Peruvian forces crossed the Zarumilla river on several spots, testing the strength and disposition of the Ecuadorian border troops. Finally, on July 23, 1941, the Peruvians launched a major invasion, crossing the Zarumilla river in force and advancing into the Ecuadorian province of El Oro. Over the course of the war Peru gained control over all the disputed territory and occupied the Ecuadorian province of El Oro and some parts of the province of Loja (some 6% of the country), demanding that the Ecuadorian government give up their territorial claims. The Peruvian Navy blocked the port of Guayaquil, cutting supplies to the Ecuadorian troops. After a few weeks of war and under pressure by the U.S and several Latin American nations, all fighting came to a stop. Ecuador and Peru came to an accord formalised in the Rio Protocol, signed on January 29, 1942, in favor of hemispheric unity against the Axis Powers in World War II. As a result of its victory, Peru was awarded the disputed territory. Two more wars, and a peace agreement reached in 1999, would follow to finally end the dispute. Both wars were undeclared. The Ecuadorians, with the help of Chile, managed to overcome the Peruvian troops. (See Paquisha Incident and Cenepa War.)
Recession and popular unrest led to a return to populist politics and domestic military interventions in the 1960s, while foreign companies developed oil resources in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In 1972, the construction of the Andean pipeline, which brought oil from the east to the coast was completed, making Ecuador South America's second largest oil exporter. That same year a "revolutionary and nationalist" military junta overthrew the government, remaining in power until 1979, when elections were held under a new Constitution. Jaime Roldós Aguilera was elected President, and he governed until May 24, 1981, when he died in a plane crash. By 1982, the government of Osvaldo Hurtado faced an economic crisis.
Geography of Ecuador
Ecuador has three main geographic regions, plus an insular region in the Pacific Ocean:
1. La Costa, or the coast, comprises the low-lying littoral in the western part of the country, including the Pacific coastline.
2. La Sierra ("the highlands") is the high-altitude belt running north to south along the center of the country, its mountainous terrain dominated by the Andes mountain range.
3. El Oriente ("the east") comprises the Amazon rainforest areas in the eastern part of the country, accounting for just under half of the country's total surface area, though populated by under 5% of the population.
4. Finally, the Región Insular is the region comprising the Galápagos Islands, some 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) west of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.
Ecuador's capital is Quito, and is located in the province of Pichincha in the Sierra region. Its largest city is Guayaquil, located in the province of Guayas in the Coast. Cotopaxi, which is located just south of Quito, in the neighbouring province of that same name, is one of the world's highest active volcanoes. Mount Chimborazo (6,310 meters) is considered to be the most distant point from the center of the Earth, given the ovoidal shape of the Earth, which is widest at the equator.
Provinces of Ecuador
Ecuador is divided into twenty-two provinces, each with its own administrative capital:
Province Capital
Azuay Cuenca
Bolívar Guaranda
Cañar Azogues
Carchi Tulcán
Chimborazo Riobamba
Cotopaxi Latacunga
El Oro Machala
Esmeraldas Esmeraldas
Galápagos Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
Guayas Guayaquil
Imbabura Ibarra
Loja Loja
Los Ríos Babahoyo
Manabí Portoviejo
Morona-Santiago Macas
Napo Tena
Orellana Puerto Francisco de Orellana
Pastaza Province Puyo
Pichincha Quito
Sucumbíos Nueva Loja
Tungurahua Ambato
Zamora-Chinchipe Zamora
Economy of Ecuador
Ecuador has substantial petroleum resources and rich agricultural areas. Because the country exports primary products such as oil, bananas, flowers and shrimp, fluctuations in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. Industry is largely oriented to servicing the domestic market, and some exports to the Andean Common market. Deteriorating economic performance in 1997-98 culminated in a severe economic and financial crisis in 1999. The crisis was precipitated by a number of external shocks, including the El Niño weather phenomenon in 1997, a sharp drop in global oil prices in 1997-98, and international emerging market instability in 1997-98. These factors highlighted the Government of Ecuador's unsustainable economic policy mix of large fiscal deficits and expansionary money policy and resulted in an 7.3% contraction of GDP, annual year-on-year inflation of 52.2% and a 65% devaluation of the national currency in 1999, which helped precipitate a default on external loans later that year.
On January 9, 2000, the administration of President Jamil Mahuad announced its intention to adopt the U.S. dollar as the official currency of Ecuador to address the ongoing economic crisis. The formal adoption of the dollar as currency on September 10, 2000, as opposed to pegging the local currency to it, as Argentina has done, theoretically meant that the benefits of seigniorage would accrue to the U.S. economy. Subsequent protest related to the economic and financial crises led to the removal of Mahuad from office and the elevation of Vice President Gustavo Noboa to the presidency.
However, the Noboa government confirmed its commitment to dollarize as the centerpiece of its economic recovery strategy. The government also entered into negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), culminating in the negotiation of a twelve-month stand-by arrangement with the Fund. Additional policy initiatives include efforts to reduce the government's fiscal deficit, implement structural reforms to strengthen the banking system and regain access to private capital markets.
Buoyed by high oil prices, the Ecuadorian economy experienced a modest recovery in 2000, with GDP rising 1.9%. However, 70% of the population was estimated to live below the poverty line that year, more than double the rate in 1995.
Demographics of Ecuador
Ecuador's population is ethnically diverse. The largest ethnic group is comprised of Mestizos, the mixed descendants of Spanish colonists and indigenous Native Americans, who constitute 65% of the population. Amerindians are second in numbers and account for 25% of the current population. Whites, mainly criollos, the unmixed descendants of early Spanish colonists, as well as immigrants from other European and Latin American countries, and account for some 7%. The small Afro-Ecuadorian minority, including Mulattos and zambos, and largely based in Esmeraldas and Imbabura provinces, make up 3%.
There are sizeable expatriate Ecuadorian communities in Spain and Italy, as well across Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan. It is estimated that 700,000 people emigrated from Ecuador following the 1999 economic crisis, and in total the expatriate Ecuadorian population is approximately 2.5 million.
The tropical forest region to the east of the mountains remains sparsely populated and contains only about 3% of the population.
The public education system is tuition-free, and attendance is mandatory from ages five to fourteen. However, the Ministry of Education reports that only 76% of children finish six years of schooling. In rural areas, only 10% of the children go on to high school. Ministry statistics give the mean number of years completed as 6.7. Ecuador has sixty-one universities, many of which now offer graduate degrees, although only 87% of the faculty in public universities possess graduate degrees. 300 Higher Institutes offer two to three years of post-secondary vocational or technical training.
Religion in Ecuador
Approximately 95% of Ecuadorians are Roman Catholic. Much of the population is practicing and attends Mass regularly. In the rural parts of Ecuador, indigenous beliefs and Christianity are sometimes syncretized. There is also a growing number of Protestant denominations.
There is a small Muslim minority numbering in the low thousands. The Jewish community numbers just over one thousand and is mostly of German and Italian origin. There are also Sephardic Jews (Judeo-Spanish Jews).
Culture of Ecuador
Ecuador's mainstream culture is defined by Ecuador's mestizo majority and, like their ancestry, is a mixture of European and Amerindian influences infused with African elements inherited from slave ancestors. Ecuador's indigenous communities are integrated into that mainstream culture to varying degrees, but some may also practice their own autochthonous cultures, particularly the more remote indigenous communities of the Amazon basin. African-Ecuadoreans, much less integrated into the mainstream majority, are victims of high-unemployment and racism.
Sports in Ecuador
The most popular sport in Ecuador, as in most South American countries, is fútbol (soccer). Some of its best known professional teams include Barcelona S.C. and C.S. Emelec, from Guayaquil, Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito, Deportivo Quito and El Nacional (the Ecuadorian Armed Forces team) from Quito, Olmedo from Riobamba, and Deportivo Cuenca, from Cuenca. The matches of the Ecuadorian national fútbol team are the most watched sports events in the country. Ecuador qualified for the final rounds of both the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. Ecuador finished ahead of Poland and Costa Rica to come second to Germany in Group A in the 2006 World Cup and qualify for the second round for the first time in their history, where they lost 1-0 to England.
There is considerable interest in tennis in the middle and upper classes in the Ecuadorian society, and several Ecuadorian professional players have attained considerable international fame, including Francisco Segura, Andrés Gómez and Nicolas Lapentti. Basketball also has a high profile, while Ecuador's specialities include Ecuavolley, a 3-person variation of volleyball. Bullfighting is practiced at a professional level only in Quito, during the annual festivities which commemorate the Spanish foundation of the city, although bloodless variations of this sport, called rodeos montubios are practiced in many rural areas during local festivities.
Olympic sports are also popular especially since Ecuador obtained its first Olympic gold medal in Atlanta's 1996 Olympic Games, through Jefferson Pérez, on the 20km race-walk. There is flourishing activity in non-traditional sports such as mountainbiking, motorbiking, surfing, and paintball.
Food in Ecuador
The food in Ecuador is very diverse, varying with altitude as do the agricultural conditions. Pork, chicken, meat or “cuy” (guinea pig) are popular in the mountain regions served with an immense variety of cereals, potatoes or rice. A street food in mountain regions of Ecuador is potatoes served with roasted pig (hornado). Fanesca is also a dish that has been made famous in Ecuador, it is a soup made during the time of Lent and is made with 12 types of bean (i.e. green beans, lima beans, lupini beans, fava beans, etc.) and milk and is usually served with codfish.
There is a great variety of fresh fruit available, particularly at lower altitudes. Seafood is popular at the coast, particularly prawns. Shrimp and lobster are key parts of the coastal diet as well. Plantain and peanut based dishes and foods are the basis of most coastal meals, which in general are served in two courses: a "caldo", or soup, which may be "aguado" (a thin soup, usually with meat), or "caldo de leche", a cream vegetable soup. The second course might typically include rice, some meat or fish in a "menestra" (stew), and salad or vegetables. Patacones are popular side dishes with most coastal meals.
Some of the typical dishes in the coastal region are: ceviche, pan de almidón, corviche, guatita, encebollado and empanadas; in the mountain region: hornado, fritada, humitas, tamales, llapingachos, lomo saltado, churrasco, etc.
In the rainforest, a dietary staple is the yuca, a root (elsewhere called cassava). The starchy root is peeled and boiled, fried, or used in a variety of other dishes. Many fruits are also available in this region.
Art in Ecuador
There are many outstanding contemporary Ecuadorian writers, including the novelist Jorge Enrique Adoum, the poet Jorge Carrera Andrade, the essayist Benjamín Carrión, the poet Fanny Carrión de Fierro, the novelist Enrique Gil Gilbert, the novelist Jorge Icaza (author of the novel Huasipungo, translated to many languages), the short story author Pablo Palacio, the novelist Alicia Yanez Cossio.
Some of the most renowned painters of the indigenist movement also are from Ecuador, including Oswaldo Guayasamín and Eduardo Kingman.
Transportation in Ecuador
Ecuador has a network of national highways maintained by the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Comunicaciones (Ministry of Public Works and Communication) government agency. The Pan-American Highway connects the northern and southern portions of the country as well as connecting Ecuador with Colombia to the north and Peru to the south. The quality of roads, even on trunk routes, is highly variable. There is an extensive network of inter city busses on these highways.
Biodiversity and Ecology in Ecuador
Ecuador is one the planet’s top 17 most biologically diverse nations. The nation’s drastic geographic and climatic variations have led to evolution of thousands of species of flora and fauna, most of which thrive in habitats protected by the State and by private organizations. Despite its tiny size, Ecuador is home to rain forests, jungles, mountains, islands, deserts, valleys, and snowcapped peaks. One of its main attractions is the Galapagos Archipelago and its marine reserve, which contain endemic species unique to the area.
Flora
Ecuador is home to ten percent of the world’s plant species, the majority of which grow in the northeastern Amazon, where an estimated 10,000 species thrive. The diversity of the climate here has given rise to more than 25,000 species of trees. Moreover, the Andes is home to an estimated 8,200 plant and vegetable species. In the orchid family alone, 2,725 species have been identified in the area. In the Galapagos, there are about 600 native species and 250 more which were introduced by man. Three of the twelve key biodiversity zones identified by the naturalist Norman Myers can be found on the Ecuadorian mainland.
Fauna
Ecuador is home to 8 percent of the world’s animal species and 18 percent of the planet’s birds. Around 3,800 species of vertebrates have been identified in Ecuador as well as 1,550 species of mammals, 350 reptile species, 375 species of amphibians, 800 fresh water fish species, and 450 salt water fish species. Ecuador is also home to 15 percent of the world’s endemic bird species. Moreover, there are more than a million species of insects and 4,500 species of butterflies that live in Ecuador.
Ecosystems
The ecosystems which exist in the country go from sea level to an altitude of around 6400 metres. Its total area is 14,583,227 hectares, including the highlands, the coast and the Amazon region. There are 46 ecosystems which are made up of paramo, woods, valleys and the Pacific Ocean, located in different climate zones. One of the richest ecosystems in terms of biodiversity is the tropical rain forest, it hosts large trees of different and numerous species and an abundance of plants, flowers, mammals, reptiles, birds, invertebrates, fish and amphibians.
Natural Parks and Reserves
There are 10 national parks, 14 natural reserves, a wild life refuge and a recreation area which are considered natural heritage and protected by the State. They cover an area of around 4,669,871 hectares of land and 14,110,000 of water, divided into four regions. The biodiversity is the main wealth of these areas, although there are also a number of communities in the urban sector as well as indigenous and country people in the rural area.
Climate of Ecuador
Due to geographic differences in altitude, longitude and latitude, and the climatic effects of the Pacific Ocean, the Amazon, and the Andes, the various regions and sub regions of Ecuador have very different climates and microclimates. The Pacific coast has a rainy season between December and May and a dry one from June to November. The temperature oscillates between 23 and 26 degrees centigrade. The Highlands, on the other hand, has a rainy, cold climate from November to April and a dry one from May to October. The temperature here is between 13 and 18 degrees centigrade. In the Amazon, the climate is rainy and humid between January and September, with temperatures between 23 and 36 degrees centigrade, and it is dry between October and December. The Galapagos has a temperate climate with temperatures ranging between 22 and 32 degrees centigrade.
Tourism in Ecuador by Regions
Straddling the equator in western South America, Ecuador has territories in both the Northern and the Southern hemispheres. It borders Colombia to the north and shares a border Peru to the south and to the east. The Pacific Ocean is Ecuador’s western border. Ecuador, 256,370 square kilometers in size, is geographically divided into four regions (the Amazon, the Highlands, the Coast, and the Galapagos Islands) and is politically split into 22 provinces, which, in turn, are split into 205 cantons. The coastal provinces (from north to south) are Esmeraldas, Manabí, Los Ríos, Guayas, and El Oro. Highlands provinces are Imbabura, Pichincha, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua and Chimborazo, in the north, and Bolívar, Cañar, Azuay and Loja, in the south. The Amazon is comprised of the provinces (from north to south) of Sucumbíos, Napo, Pastaza, Orellana, Morona-Santiago and Zamora-Chinchipe. Ecuador’s 22nd province the Galapagos Islands.
Pacific Coast
Ecuador’s coastal region (a.k.a. the western lowlands) is made up of fertile plains, rolling hills, and sedimentary basins traversed by a plethora of rivers that rush from the heights of the Andes to the Pacific Ocean. All five coastal provinces, encompassing 640 kilometers of coastline between them, have attractive beaches and plenty of hotels and resorts for tourists. Crisscrossed by an expansive network of rivers and home to the nation’s most spectacular beaches, the provinces of Esmeraldas, Manabí, and Guayas quite impressive destinations frequented by tourists from all over the world. Geographically speaking, much of this area is part of the Guayas River Basin, which has at least twelve major tributaries located primarily near the communities of Daule, Babahoyo, Macul, Puca, Paján, and Colimes.
The Highlands - The Andes & the Austro
The Andes Mountain Range crosses the country from north to south. The Occidental and the Oriental Ranges are born from this mountain system as it divides in the province of Loja, forming plains and valleys along the Andean Corridor. Between the two ranges there is a plateau which reaches heights of three thousand meters. The Highlands Regions, commonly referred to as La Sierra, is made up of ten provinces, each of which have important peaks such as Chimborazo, the Illinizas, Cotopaxi, Cayambe, and Antisana.
Chimborazo: 6,310 m
Cotopaxi: 5,897 m
Cayambe: 5,790 m
Antisana: 5,758 m
Altar: 5,320 m
Illiniza: 5,248 m
Tungurahua: 5,023 m
Cotacahi: 4,944 m
The highest peaks are found in central and northern Ecuador. From Riobamba towards the south there is a decrease in altitude and an increase in the width of the mountain range, forming a kind of plateau known as the Austro.
The Amazon Region
The Amazon Region and its five provinces can be geographically divided into two sub regions: the High Amazon and the Amazon Lowlands. The Highlands is comprised of the Andean foothills which slowly descend towards the Amazon River Basin. Here, you’ll find the Napo, Galeras, Cutucú, and Cóndor ranges. The most impressive elevated regions of this area are in the north and include Volcano Sumaco. The Lowlands, found further to east, are home to some of the nation’s most beautiful and important rivers: the Putumayo, the Napo, and the Pastaza.
Galapagos
The Archipelago of Colón (commonly known as the Galapagos Islands) is made up of 13 main islands, 17 islets, and dozens of ancient rock formations ( table: map of the islands). The volcanically formed islands, encompassing an area of 8,000 kilometers in all, lies roughly 1,000 kilometers off the coast of the Ecuadorian mainland. Apart from its beautiful beaches and unique and varied ecosystems, the Galapagos Islands are home to towering active volcanoes that reach altitudes up to 1,600 meters.
Useful Links
Government Sites
Presidency of Ecuador: http://www.presidencia.gov.ec/
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador: http://www.mmrree.gov.ec/
Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador: http://www.vivecuador.com/html2/eng/home.htm
Main Newspapers in Ecuador
El Comercio: http://elcomercio.terra.com.ec/
El Universo: http://www.eluniverso.com/
El Expreso de Guayaquil: http://www.expreso.ec/
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