Ecuador
... is the smallest country of the Andes. It is named after the
equator line running 15 kilometres north of the capital, Quito,
which was measured there in 1736 by a French expedition.
Because of its geographic features, Ecuador is located “en la mitad
del mundo”, in the “middle of the world”. 12.1 million
people live in an area of 283 560 square kilometres, which is a little
larger than Great Britain.
The state stretches from the Pacific coast 600 kilometres further
inland to the tributaries of the Amazon, the Rio Napo and the
Rio Putumayo. It shares borders with Columbia in the north, Peru
in the south and east,
and the Pacific Ocean in the west. For many years, there was
a political dispute about whether a large part of the Amazon’s rainforest at
the border to Peru should belong to Ecuador or Peru. This dispute was
finally settled in October 1988, when a peace treaty between the two countries
was signed.
The Andes divide the country into three different regions:
the coastal plain (Costa), the alpine mountain range of the Andes
(Sierra), and the area of the Amazon (Oriente). These areas
differ in climate, forms
of landscape, kinds of production, landed property and population.
The highest elevation of the country is the Cimborazo (6310 metres).
The Galápagos Islands, 1000 kilometres west of the mainland, also
belong to Ecuador. They are famous for their unique diversity of rare
animals. As impressive as the geographic diversity of the country is,
it also hampers the economic and political integration of the Ecuadorian
nation.
By administration, the country is divided into 21 provinces,
many of them named after mountains (Pichincha and Chimborazo)
or rivers (Guayas, Napo). The provinces are subdivided into
districts (cantones),
each district consisting of municipalities (parroquias urbanes
y rurales).
The three biggest cities are Quayaquil (about 2 million inhabitants),
which is the economic centre of the country; the capital Quito
(about 1 million inhabitants) is the political centre, and
Cuenca (about 500
000 inhabitants) is often called the cultural heart of the
country.
Source: http://www.inwent.org/v-ez/lis/ecuador/seite1.htm
