Ecuador Overview

Ecuador officially called the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador), is a South American Country located in the North West part of South America, surrounded by Colombia to the north, Peru to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the south and west. The Galápagos Islands in the Pacific dominate Ecuador. Quito is the capital of Ecuador, where 17.1 million people of American, African and European ancestry live. The official language of the country is Spanish. However, 13 native American languages, mainly Quichua and Shuar, are known.

A Brief History of Ecuador

Archaeological excavations in Ecuador show that human settlement in the region under the Inca Empire in the 15th century dates back 16,500 years ago. After the last glacial period, Paleo-Indians lived in what is today Ecuador. With the discovery of the new world, the Spanish colonized the region in the 16th century. Ecuador became part of Gran Colombia (Great Colombia), which covers the northern part of present-day Panama, Venezuela, Peru, and Brazil in the early 1800s, and became an independent state on May 24, 1822.

Geography in Ecuador

Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean with 2,337 km of coastline to the west, Ecuador has a total area of ​​283,561 km2 including the Galápagos Islands. Due to its location in the world, Ecuador experiences little change in day and night hours throughout the year.

Geographical Regions of Equator,

• La Región Insular is the region that makes up the Galápagos Islands, located about 1,000 kilometers west of the Pacific Ocean.

• La Amazonia is the Amazon national park region in the eastern part of Ecuador where the Amazon indigenous tribes, also known as El Oriente, traditionally lived. This region also has large oil reserves.

• La Costa is the coastal region with the most fertile farmland in Ecuador, which consists of Esmeraldas, Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabi, El Oro and Santa Elena, located in the west of the Andes Mountains. Fishing is also done in the region where products such as coffee, banana and rice are produced. Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest coastal city, is also located in this region.

• La Sierra is the mountainous region of Ecuador, consisting of the provinces of Cañar, Carchi, Chimborazo, Imbabura, Tungurahua, Pichincha and Loja, where traditional farming methods apply. Cotopaxi, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, is also in this shade.

Climate in Ecuador,

The climate in Ecuador varies according to the regions and altitude. The climate is temperate and relatively dry in mountainous valley areas, and subtropical humid climate in the coastal regions.

Coffee Production in Ecuador

Coffee production in Ecuador first started in the state of Manabi in the La Costa region in the 1860s. As of the beginning of the 1900s, Ecuador has become one of the 15 countries that produce the world coffee market. Today, coffee is produced on 150 000 hectares of land in Ecuador and its annual production capacity is stated as 650 thousand bags of 60 kg. Robusta (coastal areas) and Arabica, two varieties of coffee consumed in the world, are both produced. Coffee cherries produced in humid coastal areas are generally fermented by the wet processing method, and coffee cherries grown in mountainous dry regions are fermented by the dry processing method.