The Probert Encyclopaedia of Places of the World

ECUADOR

Ecuador is a republic in South America situated under the equator, whence it takes its name, between Peru and Colombia.. It has a total area of 283,560 km2. The country is divided into a number of provinces, and falls, as regards the surface, into three sections : the comparatively narrow and low-lying coast regions, the mountain region, and the extensive plains on the east.

The mountain region is formed by a double range of snow-clad mountains - several of them active volcanoes - which inclose a longitudinal valley or table-land, with a breadth of 20 to 40 miles, and varying in elevation from 8500 to 13,900 feet. The most elevated of these mountains are, in the western range, Chimborazo, Pichincha, and Cotacachi, Chimborazo being 20,703 feet high. In the eastern range are Cayambe, Antisana, and Cotopaxi (19,500). The most considerable rivers, the Tigre, Napo, Pastaza, etc, belong to the basin of the Amazon; and some of them, notably the Napo, are navigable for long distances. On the western slope of the Andes the chief rivers are the Esmeraldas and the Guayaquil.

Ecuador is comparatively poor in Mammalia; although various kinds of deer as well as tapirs and peccaries are found in the forests. Parrots and humming-birds are also numerous, but perhaps the most remarkable of the birds in Ecuador is the condor, which dwells on the slopes of the Andes. Reptiles, including snakes, are numerous. The forests yield cinchona bark, caoutchouc, sarsaparilla, vegetable ivory, etc.

The climate on the plains, both in the east and the west, is moist, hot, and unhealthy. In the higher regions the climate is rough and cold, but in great part the elevated valleys, as that of Quito, enjoy a delightful climate.

Natural resources are petroleum, fish, timber. The religion is 95% Roman Catholic. The official language is Spanish with Indian languages, especially Quechua, also spoken.

Ecuador at the time of the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards formed part of the great empire of the Incas. As the presidency of Quito it was long included in the vice-royalty of Peru. From 1710 it became part of the presidency of New Granda (or Santa Fe de Bogota). In the revolutionary war against Spain Ecuador, along with the neighbouring territories, secured its independence in 1822, and was ultimately erected into a separate republic in 1831.
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