Ecuador << EHK wuh dawr >> is one of South America’s smallest countries in land area. It lies on the west coast of the continent between Colombia and Peru. The equator crosses Ecuador and gives the country its name. Ecuador is the Spanish word for equator.
The Andes Mountains rise through much of central Ecuador. About half of Ecuador’s people live in the valleys and on the plateaus of the Andes. Quito, Ecuador’s capital, lies more than 9,000 feet (2,700 meters) above sea level on an Andean plateau.
A flat, tropical plain extends west of the Andes along the Pacific Ocean. This coastal plain is developing faster than any other part of the country. Since the mid-1900’s, many people have moved to the coastal plain to farm its rich soil. Others have moved to the coastal city of Guayaquil to find jobs. Guayaquil is Ecuador’s largest city. It is also the country’s leading commercial center and chief seaport. East of the Andes Mountains is a large tropical rain forest called the Oriente.
Ecuador has important petroleum deposits, and oil ranks as the country’s leading export. However, the work of oil companies has caused environmental problems, particularly in the Oriente. Service industries and agriculture are also important to the country’s economy.
The Galapagos Islands, a group of islands about 600 miles (970 kilometers) off the coast, belong to Ecuador. These islands are known for their unique animals and plants. The British biologist Charles R. Darwin studied the varieties of plant and animal life on the islands before writing The Origin of Species (1859). This book presented Darwin’s theory of evolution (gradual change).
Much of what is now Ecuador once made up part of the Inca Empire. Spanish conquerors overthrew the empire in 1534 and ruled the country for almost 300 years. Ecuador gained independence in 1830.
Government
Ecuador is a republic. The people elect a president to a four-year term. The president appoints a Cabinet to help carry out the functions of government. The Asamblea Nacional (National Assembly) is the country’s legislature. The people elect National Assembly members to four-year terms. However, the president may dissolve the National Assembly and call new elections within the first three years of the legislature’s term.
Ecuador has 24 provinces. The president appoints a governor to each province except Pichincha Province, which does not have a governor. The highest courts in Ecuador are the Constitutional Court and the National Court of Justice.
Ecuador has had 20 constitutions since it gained independence from Spain. Most of these constitutions have provided for an elected legislature. However, until 1979, people who were illiterate (unable to read and write) were barred by law from voting. Leaders of the Ecuadorean government have at times suspended or replaced the country’s constitution to stay in office or to increase their power. Many of Ecuador’s rulers have been military leaders or have had the support of the armed forces.
Loading the player...Ecuador's national anthem
Ecuador has had many political parties. The parties generally have been based on individual personalities rather than on specific sets of ideas.
People
Over 75 percent of Ecuador’s people identify themselves as mestizos. Mestizos have mixed ancestry, typically Indigenous (native) and European. About 8 percent of the people identify as montubios (mestizos who live on the coast); 8 percent as Indigenous; 5 percent as Afro-Ecuadorean; and 2 percent as white. Afro-Ecuadoreans include Black people of African descent; people of mixed African and Indigenous ancestry; and people of mixed African and European ancestry. White people of European ancestry make up the wealthiest and most powerful group in Ecuador. Indigenous people and people with African ancestry are the poorest and often experience the effects of racial discrimination.
Spanish is Ecuador’s official language. In predominantly Indigenous areas, Indigenous languages may be used as the official language. Most Ecuadoreans belong to the Roman Catholic Church, but evangelical and Pentecostal churches have gained followers.
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Ecuadorean folk music
Way of life.
Most Ecuadoreans live in cities, which have people of different backgrounds and cultures. Social inequalities are striking. In general, social class corresponds with ethnicity. A few wealthy people, mostly white people and light-skinned mestizos, enjoy a standard of living like that of upper middle-class North Americans. Most white people work in business, government, or trade, or as professionals in specialized fields. Some white people in Quito and other Andean cities own haciendas (large estates or farms) that produce crops for the domestic market and for export. Many white people who live on the Pacific coast own plantations that produce such export crops as bananas; cacao, which is used to make chocolate; and coffee. Others own fish farms.
Mestizos generally make more money and have better educational opportunities than Afro-Ecuadoreans and Indigenous people. Some mestizos own small businesses or work in cities as civil servants. Others work as laborers on plantations.
Most Afro-Ecuadoreans live in urban areas and hold relatively low-paying jobs. Many work as maids or security guards or sell goods on the street. A small number of Afro-Ecuadoreans work as teachers, lawyers, and government employees. Rural Black people generally own plots of land that are small or of poor quality, and they often move to the cities in search of a better living. The Afro-Ecuadorean population is largest in the Chota Valley of the northern highlands, the coastal province of Esmeraldas, and the cities of Guayaquil and Quito.
Most Indigenous Ecuadoreans are poor. In the past, they lived mainly in the Andean countryside and worked on haciendas. Since the 1950’s, however, many have moved to urban areas. In the countryside, Indigenous Ecuadoreans farm small plots of their own land or work on haciendas. In the cities, they mainly perform low-paying jobs. A small number of Indigenous people belong to the middle class, working as artisans, merchants, and government employees. Some Indigenous people travel between Ecuador, Europe, and the United States as merchants or musicians.
Since the 1960’s, a number of organizations have worked to promote the rights of Ecuador’s Indigenous people and people with African ancestry. These groups have had some success. For example, they have worked with the government on development projects and have helped Indigenous people acquire land.
Education.
The Ecuadorean government requires all children from ages 6 to 14 to go to school. However, rural schools have limited resources, and many rural children do not attend school. Ecuador has a number of public and private universities and technical schools.
Most Ecuadorean adults can read and write. However, a higher percentage of white people and mestizos are literate than Indigenous people and Afro-Ecuadoreans. In general, white people and mestizos also get more years of formal schooling than Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorean people. Among the Indigenous population, men are more likely to receive formal schooling than women are.
The land
The mainland of Ecuador has three regions: (1) the Coastal Lowland, (2) the Andes Highland, and (3) the Eastern Lowland. The Galapagos Islands also belong to Ecuador.
The Coastal Lowland
is a flat plain along Ecuador’s Pacific coast. It was formed by mud and sand that was carried down the mountains by rivers and deposited along the shore. The plain ranges from 12 to 100 miles (19 to 160 kilometers) wide and covers about a fourth of the country. In the north, the plain is wet and swampy. In the south, near Peru, it is a desert. In between, tropical forests cover much of the Coastal Lowland. The trees have been cleared in some places, and the people farm the land. The Coastal Lowland has several rivers, including the Esmeraldas and the Guayas.
The Andes Highland,
often called the Sierra, also makes up about a fourth of Ecuador. Two parallel ridges of the Andes Mountains extend the length of the country from north to south. A series of high plateaus lies between them. The mountain peaks rise over 20,000 feet (6,100 meters). Cotopaxi, a volcano in northern Ecuador, is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. It rises to a height of 19,347 feet (5,897 meters).
The Eastern Lowland,
or the Oriente, covers almost half the country. The Eastern Lowland is a region of thick tropical forests in the eastern foothills of the Andes and in part of the Amazon River Basin. Many rivers, including the Napo and the Pastaza, flow through the Eastern Lowland. They make up part of the Amazon River system. Little of the region has been developed, and its people travel mostly by boat on the rivers.
The Galapagos Islands
cover about 3,000 square miles (7,800 square kilometers) in the Pacific Ocean. Most of the islands are the peaks of volcanoes. Some of them rise 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) high. See Galapagos Islands.
Climate
Ecuador’s climate varies according to the altitude. The Coastal Lowland and the Eastern Lowland are hot and humid. The Peru Current cools the Coastal Lowland slightly. The temperature in the lowlands averages about 75 °F (24 °C). The Peru Current also cools the tropical climate of the Galapagos Islands.
In the Andes Highland, the plateaus have springlike weather all year and an average temperature of 57 °F (14 °C). The climate is colder at higher altitudes. Snow covers the Andes from an altitude of about 16,000 feet (4,880 meters) up.
An average of 55 inches (140 centimeters) of rain falls in Ecuador every year. Heavy rainfall occurs in the Eastern Lowland and in the northern part of the Coastal Lowland. The southern part of the Coastal Lowland and the Galapagos Islands receive light rainfall.
Economy
Service industries
account for about half of Ecuador’s gross domestic product (GDP)—that is, the total value of goods and services produced in the country each year. Hotels, restaurants, and shops benefit from the approximately 1.5 million tourists who visit Ecuador each year. Many of these tourists come from Colombia, Peru, the United States, and Venezuela.
Agriculture and fishing.
Agriculture employs about 20 percent of the people in Ecuador. Most of the nation’s bananas, cacao, coffee, and sugar cane are raised on plantations in the Coastal Lowland. Oranges and rice are also grown in many coastal areas. 
Most of the food for Ecuador’s urban population comes from haciendas in the Andes Highland. Crops grown in the Andes Highland include barley, corn, potatoes, and wheat. Farmers raise cattle for meat and for dairy products. The Andes Highland also produces such export crops as broccoli and flowers.
Ecuador ranks as the world’s leading producer of balsa wood, which grows in the Coastal Lowland. Forests in the Eastern Lowland yield such tropical hardwoods as mahogany.
Ecuador’s coastal waters are rich in fish. Ecuadoreans catch anchovies, mackerel, and tuna along the coast. Shrimp and tilapia are raised in ponds.
Manufacturing and mining
are also important to Ecuador’s economy. Most of Ecuador’s manufacturing takes place in the Guayaquil and Quito areas. The nation’s manufactured products include cement, chemicals, Panama hats, processed foods, refined petroleum, textiles, and wood products. 
Mining in Ecuador has become increasingly important since the nation began exporting petroleum in the early 1970’s. Petroleum—by far the country’s leading mined product—is mined in the northern part of the Eastern Lowland. Other mined products include gold, limestone, sand, and silver.
International trade.
Ecuador imports cars and trucks, machinery, and petroleum products. Crude oil is the country’s chief export. Other major exports include bananas, cocoa, cut flowers, and shrimp. Ecuador’s leading trading partners include China, Colombia, Panama, Peru, and the United States.
Transportation.
The lack of all-weather roads between the Andes Highland and the Coastal and Eastern lowlands held back economic development in Ecuador for many years. New roads have helped Ecuador’s people move from the thickly populated highland plateaus to the less crowded Coastal Lowland. The Pan American Highway runs through Ecuador from north to south. The country’s railroads are in poor condition. Guayaquil and Quito have international airports.
Communication.
Ecuador has dozens of daily newspapers. The daily newspapers with the largest circulations include El Universo, published in Guayaquil, and El Comercio, published in Quito. Radio and television stations are both government-owned and privately owned. Cell phone usage has increased dramatically since the early 2000’s.
History
Indigenous period.
During the late 1400’s, Inca people from Peru conquered much of what is now Ecuador. At that time, many different Indigenous groups lived in Ecuador. In less than 50 years, the Inca united many of these groups under a single government and taught the people the Inca language, Quechua.
Spanish rule.
In 1534, Spanish conquerors defeated the local rulers and took control of Ecuador. Some Indigenous groups that had resented the Inca joined the Spaniards in the conquest. Most of the Spaniards settled in the Andes Highland. They made Quito their capital and built many beautiful churches and public buildings there. The Spaniards set up large haciendas and forced the Indigenous people to work on them. Some Spaniards established plantations in the Coastal Lowland and enslaved Africans to work on them. Many Spanish men married Indigenous women, and their children became Ecuador’s first mestizos.
The French emperor Napoleon I invaded and conquered Spain in the early 1800’s. The rulers of the Spanish colonies in Latin America took advantage of Spain’s weakness to demand independence. In 1822, General Antonio José de Sucre defeated the Spaniards at the Battle of Pichincha, near Quito, and ended Spanish rule in Ecuador. Ecuador then joined in a confederation called Gran Colombia, which included what are now Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela. In 1830, Ecuador became independent.
Independence.
Rival leaders fought for power in the early years of the new nation. Presidents, dictators, and juntas rose and fell. A junta is a small group, usually of military officers, that takes over a government and rules by decree. Most of Ecuador’s early rulers ignored the rights and needs of the people.
In 1861, Gabriel García Moreno became president. García, a member of the Conservative Party, governed with the support of the Roman Catholic Church and the landowners of the Andes Highland. His government planned roads and railroads, developed agriculture and industry, and encouraged international trade. García was assassinated in 1875. Other Conservatives followed him in office, but none had enough power to continue his plans and policies.
In 1896, General Eloy Alfaro of the Liberal Party seized control of the government. The Liberals drew support from business executives in Guayaquil and from military leaders. They ended the Church’s power over the government, finished the railroad connecting Quito and Guayaquil, and tried to modernize the government. But they did little to solve such basic social problems as the poverty of the Indigenous people. The Liberals also used electoral fraud to stay in power.
The 1900’s.
By 1925, the government’s failure to solve Ecuador’s economic and social problems had led to widespread dissatisfaction. As a result, new political parties, workers’ and peasants’ unions, and state employees’ federations formed. Ecuador had 22 presidents or chiefs of state from 1925 to 1948. None of these leaders served a complete term.
In the 1930’s, José María Velasco Ibarra emerged as a leading political figure. He criticized traditional political parties and sought to appeal to the poor and oppressed. His followers regarded him as a symbol for honest and free election. Although Velasco was elected president five times from the 1930’s to the 1960’s, he had difficulty maintaining his hold on power. He finished just one of his terms.
A border dispute between Ecuador and Peru led to war in 1941. That year, Peru seized territory that Ecuador had claimed in the Amazon River Basin. Latin American leaders met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and worked out a settlement that gave most of the disputed territory to Peru. However, Ecuador still claimed the land, and fighting broke out between the two countries several times. It was not until 1998 that Ecuador and Peru signed a treaty that set the border and ended the dispute.
Ecuador experienced political calm and progress from 1948 to 1960. More and more people were permitted to vote, and they elected presidents who served full terms. Galo Plaza Lasso, a Liberal Party candidate, won election to the presidency in 1948 and served until 1952. Former president Velasco, a political independent, followed him. Velasco, who claimed a special interest in helping the poor, enjoyed widespread popularity. Camilo Ponce Enríquez, a conservative politician, became president in 1956 and served until 1960.
In 1960, Velasco won another term as president. However, he was forced out of office after trying to levy new taxes. Vice President Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy replaced him. In 1963, the armed forces overthrew Arosemena and suspended the Constitution. The armed forces’ leaders, who said they had acted to prevent a Communist take-over, had the support of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). A military junta began to make land and tax reforms, but the people soon demanded an end to military rule.
In 1966, military leaders named Clemente Yerovi Indaburu as temporary civilian president. Yerovi called a constitutional convention. The convention wrote a new constitution and chose Otto Arosemena Gómez to serve as president until an election could be held. Velasco was elected president once again in 1968. In 1970, he suspended the Constitution and began to govern as a dictator. Military leaders overthrew Velasco in 1972, and General Guillermo Rodríguez Lara took power. In 1976, military commanders removed Rodríguez from office and took over the government.
In 1979, Ecuador adopted a new constitution, and elections were held to establish a new civilian government. In the decades that followed, the country held elections regularly.
León Febres Cordero served as president from 1984 to 1988. He emphasized free enterprise—that is, the operation of business with little government regulation. However, his economic policies became unpopular, and his government was accused of corruption.
In 1996, Abdalá Bucaram Ortiz, a former Olympic runner, became president. Bucaram was a populist—that is, a supporter of the common people. He viewed the upper classes as the source of all ills. Bucaram’s policies raised the price of basic services. He also became known for his strange behavior. For example, he shaved off his mustache on live television and released a music album called “A Crazy Man Who Loves.” Six months after Bucaram’s election, the National Congress (now called the National Assembly) forced him from office, claiming that he was mentally unfit to serve.
During the presidency of Jamil Mahuad, who was elected in 1998, Ecuador suffered an economic crisis. Many banks closed, and many people lost their jobs and their savings. In 2000, an alliance of young military officers and Indigenous activists forced Mahuad out of office. Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez, a leader of the revolt, became president in 2003.
Gutiérrez initially had the support of Indigenous groups and leftists (political liberals or radicals). To secure his hold on power, Gutiérrez formed an alliance with populist parties in the National Congress and reorganized the Supreme Court. However, his government soon became linked with corruption. Public protests erupted in Quito. The legislature, with the backing of the military, removed Gutiérrez from office in 2005.
The 2000’s.
Rafael Correa of the left-wing political organization Alianza País was elected as president in 2006. Under Correa’s leadership, Ecuador’s political system began a transformation. Political parties that had dominated politics in the late 1900’s declined, and the Alianza País became the dominant organization. Correa’s government emphasized state planning, nationalism, government intervention in the economy, and a new commitment to social justice.
In 2008, Ecuadoreans approved a new constitution by means of a referendum—that is, a vote by the people on a proposed measure. The Constitution expanded civil and social rights and included measures to protect the natural environment. Correa was reelected in 2009 and 2013.
In 2016, a powerful earthquake struck Ecuador’s coastal region. More than 650 people were killed, and thousands were injured and displaced. Lenín Moreno of the Alianza País was elected president in 2017.
The COVID-19 pandemic (worldwide outbreak of a disease) that began in 2020 greatly impacted Ecuador’s public health. COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus. In early 2020, parts of Ecuador experienced an overwhelming increase in the overall death rate. Such areas included Guayas province and the port city of Guayaquil. As of early 2023, there had been more than 1 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Ecuador, and more than 35,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19. By then, however, most Ecuadoreans had received some protection in the form of COVID-19 vaccines.
Right-wing (conservative) politician Guillermo Lasso was elected president of Ecuador in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. He faced the challenge of reviving a struggling economy. In 2023, Lasso lawfully dissolved the National Assembly. At the time, he faced impeachment by the legislature over accusations of embezzlement. The government then held elections for a new president and legislators to finish the government’s four-year term. Former center-right legislator Daniel Noboa was elected president.
