Ecuador
Edited by:
Massimo Martini
Access
Ecuador can be reached from Europe by air with stopovers in the United States or other Latin American cities, to either Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito or JosĂ© JoaquĂn de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil. Quito is located at 2,850m above sea level: acclimatisation to altitude is necessary before embarking on high mountain activities. Overland from Colombia you enter at the Rumichaca-Ipiales pass; from Peru at La Balsa-Zumba to the east or Macará-La Tina to the west. The Carretera Panamericana crosses Ecuador from north to south along the Avenida de los Volcanes, the "Way of the Volcanoes" one of the most scenic routes in the Andes. The intercity bus network is extensive. For access to the volcanoes, the main departure centres are Latacunga (Cotopaxi), Riobamba (Chimborazo) and Quito (Pichincha). The Galápagos Islands, 1,000 km off the Pacific, are accessible by air from Quito or Guayaquil to the airports of Baltra or San CristĂłbal
.Introduction
Ecuador occupies the north-western part of South America, with an equatorial position that gives it extraordinary geographical compression: in less than 300 km it goes from the Pacific Ocean to the snowy peaks of the Andes and then to the Amazon forests of the East. It borders Colombia to the north and Peru to the south and east. The spine of the country is the Avenida de los Volcanes, the sequence of Andean volcanoes described by the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt during his 1801-1804 voyage: it includes the Cotopaxi (5.897m), one of the world's highest active volcanoes, and Chimborazo (6,268m), the country's highest peak and - due to the equatorial bulge - the furthest point on the earth's surface from the centre of the Earth, 21 km further than the summit of Everest. In the Galápagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, Ecuador has made a major contribution to the history of evolutionary biology.
Description
Ecuador's territory is divided into four distinct regions. The Costa - the Pacific side - is a fertile agricultural plain, with the main productions of bananas, cacao and shrimps. The Sierra is the Andean region, where the main chain divides into two parallel cordilleras, Western and Eastern, separated by the intermountain Altiplanicie at altitudes between 2,000m and 3,000m: this is where most of the population is concentrated. The Oriente is the eastern Amazon region, covered by dense tropical forest and crossed by tributary rivers of the Amazon basin. The Galápagos Islands, more than 1,000 km from the coast, are an archipelago of 18 major islands and dozens of islets of volcanic origin, world-renowned for the endemic fauna that inspired Charles Darwin during the Beagle voyage in 1835.
The history of pre-Columbian Ecuador is linked to the Valdivia (3,500-1,500 BC) and Chorrera cultures and the later populations that preceded the arrival of the Incas in the 15th century. The Inca Empire incorporated Ecuador as Quito Suyu: the ruins of Ingapirca, the best-preserved Inca site in the country, remain. The Spanish conquest was led by Sebastián de Belalcázar from 1534; the city of Quito, founded on the ruins of an earlier Inca city, has been listed by UNESCO since 1978 as the first historical city in the world to receive such recognition. Ecuador was part of BolĂvar's Gran Colombia before becoming an independent state in 1830. Ecuador's twentieth century was marked by border conflicts with Peru - resolved by the 1998 Treaty of Brasilia - political instability and an oil boom that started in the 1970s with the discovery of large deposits in the eastern Amazon.
The economy is based on oil (around 35% of GDP), agricultural exports - bananas (the world's leading exporter), shrimps, cocoa, roses - and tourism, particularly in the Galápagos Islands. The country adopted the US dollar as its currency in 2000. Ecuadorian cuisine differs by region: on the Coast, ceviche, mariscos encocado and sopa marinera dominate; in the Sierras, hornado (roast pork), yahuarlocro (innards soup) and fritada.
The Galápagos Islands, listed by UNESCO in 1978 and a Biosphere Reserve in 1984, are home to unique endemic species: the Galápagos tortoise (Chelonoidis niger), the world's largest tortoise; the marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), the world's only saurian that feeds in the sea; land iguanas (Conolophus spp.), the Galápagos pelican (Pelecanus thagus) and the Galápagos cormorant (Nannopterum harrisi), the only seabird species unable to fly. The Yasunà Biosphere Reserve in the Amazon is considered one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet. The spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) and the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) live in the Andean páramo belts. The Parque Nacional Cotopaxi protects the highest active volcano in the world, with the snow cone rising to 5,897m; Chimborazo is protected by a wildlife reserve that is home to reintroduced vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) and alpacas (Vicugna pacos).
The Avenida de los Volcanes is one of the richest hiking and mountaineering routes on the continent. The ascent to Cotopaxi (5,897m), starting from the José Rivas refuge at 4,800m, is considered the highest and most popular active volcano climb in the world; the summit can be reached in 5-7 hours at night with mountaineering equipment over glacial terrain. Chimborazo (6,268m) is accessible by the Whymper route or via direttissima; it was first climbed by Edward Whymper in 1880. Cayambe (5,790m) offers a technical glacier route. The El Cajas Nacional Park, at 3,500m near Cuenca, offers hikes between glacial lakes and páramos. The Ilinizas - with its two peaks Norte (5,126m) and Sur (5,248m) - is popular as acclimatisation terrain. Ecuador is also home to the Inca trails (Qhapaq Ñan), inscribed in 2014 in UNESCO as a transnational heritage site.
Ecuadorian mountaineering history begins with Alexander von Humboldt, who in 1802 reached 5,878m on Chimborazo in what was for decades the world altitude record. The first ascent to the summit of Chimborazo was made by Edward Whymper in 1880. Cotopaxi was first climbed in 1872 by the German Wilhelm Reiss. The Ecuadorian páramo has shaped a valuable local mountaineering culture, with guides from Riobamba accompanying international expeditions for decades.
The Ecuadorian trail running exploits the vertical contours and volcanic terrain of the Avenida de los Volcanes. The Xterra Ecuador and the Chimborazo Race offer ascents on the country's highest volcano. The Quito Trail Race, around the capital at 2,850m, is an urban-mountain race on páramo trails. The Cayambe Coca Trail crosses the eastern páramos with significant altitude differences.
Information
General Data
Capital: Quito
Area: 283.561 km²
Minimum elevation: 0m (Pacific coast)
Maximum elevation: 6,268m - Chimborazo [to be verified slug]
Number of inhabitants: 17,900.000 (estimates 2022)
Official name: RepĂşblica del Ecuador
Name of inhabitants: Ecuadorians
Border countries: Colombia - Peru
Institutional website: https://www.ecuador.gob.ec