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Ecuador has three main geographic regions, plus an insular region in the Pacific Ocean. 1. The Costa comprises the low-lying littoral lying in the western part of the country. Its coastlines are on the Pacific. 2. The Sierra region is the mountainous, high-altitude vertical belt running along the center of the country. This region's topography is as a result of the Andes mountain range running along it. 3. 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. 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 Costa. Cotopaxi, which is located just south of Quito, in the neighboring 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. |
Ecuador Information: Inside
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