Ecuador Geography

Officially known as the Republic of Ecuador, Ecuador is a country located in the northwest of South America. It limits to the north with Colombia, to the south and east with Peru and to the west with the Pacific Ocean. Its capital is San Francisco de Quito, headquarters of the main state entities and the National Government and its largest city is Santiago de Guayaquil, main seaport and important economic center. In Ecuador there are 70 volcanoes, 14 in active state, 14 inactive volcanoes and 42 passive ones, the highest volcano being Chimborazo, with 6,310 meters above sea level. It is the main exporter of bananas worldwide and one of the main exporters of flowers, shrimp (prawns) and cocoa.

Political division

Ecuador is divided into 24 provinces.

Geography

According to Allcitycodes, Ecuador is located on the terrestrial equatorial line, therefore its territory is in both hemispheres. It comprises two distant spaces: the continental territory to the northwest of South America with some islands adjacent to the coast, and the archipelago or insular province of Galapagos, which is located almost 1,000 kilometers away from the Ecuadorian coast in the Pacific Ocean.

Relief

The main units of the Ecuadorian relief are the coastal plain to the north of the Gulf of Guayaquil, the section of the Andes Mountains in the center of the country and an extensive sector of the Amazonian plain located to the east of the country.

To the southwest is the Gulf of Guayaquil, where the Guayas River flows into the Pacific Ocean. Very close to Quito, the capital, on the Andes mountain range, rises the Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world. The highest point in Ecuador is the Chimborazo volcano, with 6,313 meters above sea level and whose top is the farthest place from the earth’s core due to the elliptical silhouette of the planet.

Climate

Due to the presence of the Andes mountain range and according to the influence of the sea, continental Ecuador is climatologically fragmented into various sectors. Furthermore, because of its tropical location, each climatic zone has only two defined seasons: wet and dry. Both on the Coast and in the East the temperature ranges between 20 ° C and 33 ° C, while in the mountains, it is usually between 8 ° C and 23 ° C. The wet season extends from December to May on the coast, from November to April in the mountains, and from January to September in the Amazon.

Galapagos has a rather temperate climate and its temperature ranges between 22 and 32 degrees Celsius, approximately.

Flora and fauna

It has a rich fauna and flora that is why it is on the list of megadiverse countries. Indeed, the jungle or tropical forest biome extends over most of its territory, while in the west, adjacent to the coast, there is also the dry forest and mangrove biome. In the mountainous heights, the Andean forests and moors are also scattered. The West is part of the biogeographic Chocó and the East, of the Amazon.

The Galapagos Islands have a great variety of endemic species, which in their

At that time they were studied by the famous English naturalist Charles Darwin, which allowed him to develop his theory of evolution by natural selection. The islands have gained worldwide fame due to the particularity of their fauna, especially the turtles known as “galapagos”. Also in the province of Esmeraldas in a place known as Majagual, there are the highest mangroves in the world.

There is also the Yasuní National Park, with 982,000 hectares was designated by UNESCO in 1989 as a biosphere reserve and is part of the territory where the Huaorani people and the Tagaeri and Taromenane, uncontacted groups, are located. According to a recent study, the National Park and the underlying expanded area are considered the most biodiverse area on the planet due to their richness in amphibians, birds, mammals and plants. This park has more species of animals per hectare than all of Europe combined.