Ecuador tourist information

Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador is a country in northwestern South America, bounded 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 (Archipelago de Colón) in the Pacific, about 965 kilometers (600 miles) west of the mainland. Named after 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.

Places to go in Ecuador ...

Cotacachi Cuenca Esmeraldas Guayaquil Manta Puerto Ayora Quito Salinas

Ecuador has three main geographic regions, plus an insular region in the Pacific Ocean.

The Costa comprises the low-lying littoral lying in the western part of the country. Its coastlines are on the Pacific.
The Sierra region is the mountainous, high-altitude vertical belt running along the centre of the country. This region's topography is as a result of the Andes mountain range running along it.
The Oriente (literally "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.
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 Costa. Cotopaxi, which is located just south of Quito, in the neighbouring province of that same name, is often wrongly claimed to be the world's highest active volcano, but several peaks in northern Chile and southern Peru are higher and (at least currently) more active.

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Cuisine ^*

The food in Ecuador is very diverse, varying with altitude as do the agricultural conditions. Cuy (roasted guinea pig) is popular in the mountain regions. There is a great variety of fresh fruit available, particularly at lower altitudes.

Seafood is popular at the coast, particularly corvina and prawns. Shrimp is very popular and is very fresh in Ecuador. A street food in Ecuador is potatoes served with roasted pig. Fanesca is also a dish that has been made famous in Ecuador, it is a soup made during the time of lent and it contains dry cod fish, it also contains milk and is composed by different numerous styles of beans, i.e. green beans, lima beans, chochos.

History The "Republic of the Equator" was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Colombia and Venezuela). Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors. A border war with Peru that flared in 1995 was resolved in 1999. Although Ecuador marked 25 years of civilian governance in 2004, the period has been marred by political instability. Nine presidents have governed Ecuador since 1996.

Transportation

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Culture

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 largely integrated into that mainstream culture to varying degrees, but some may also practise their own autochthonous cultures, particularly the more remote indigenous communities of the Amazon basin.

Terrain Coastal plain (costa), inter-Andean central highlands (sierra), and flat to rolling eastern jungle (oriente).

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Languages Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua)

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Ethnic Groups mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 65%, Amerindian 25%, Spanish and others 7%, black 3%

Weather Tropical along coast, becoming cooler inland at higher elevations; tropical in Amazonian jungle lowlands.

Religion Roman Catholic 95%

Currency Us Dollar (USD)

More countries in South America ...

Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador French Guiana Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela

* This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Source wikipedia.