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 in the Pacific, about 600 miles west of the mainland. Named after the Spanish word for equator, Ecuador straddles the equator and has an area of 105,037 miles . Its capital city is Quito.