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Travel to Ecuador — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorEcuador
| Republic of Ecuador National
name: República del Ecuador President: Rafael Correa (2007)
Current government officials
Land area: 106,888 sq mi (276,840 sq km);
total area: 109, 483 sq mi (283,560 sq km) Population (2008 est.): 13,927,650 (growth
rate: 0.9%); birth rate: 21.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 21.3/1000;
life expectancy: 76.8; density per sq km: 50
Capital (2003 est.):
Quito 1,780,700 (metro. area), 1,443,900 (city
proper) Largest cities: Guayaquil,
2,597,600 (metro. area), 2,013,500 (city proper); Cuenca,
285,700 Monetary unit: U.S.
dollar
Languages:
Spanish (official), Quechua, other Amerindian
languages
Ethnicity/race:
mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 65%,
Amerindian 25%, Spanish and others 7%, black 3%
National Holiday:
Independence Day, August 10
Religion:
Roman Catholic 95% Literacy rate: 93% (2003 est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.):
$98.28 billion; per capita $7,100. Real growth rate: 2.6%.
Inflation: 3.3%. Unemployment: 9.8% official rate
Arable land: 6%. Agriculture: bananas, coffee, cocoa,
rice, potatoes, manioc (tapioca), plantains, sugarcane; cattle, sheep,
pigs, beef, pork, dairy products; balsa wood; fish, shrimp. Labor
force: 4.6 million (urban) (2007 est.); agriculture 8%, industry
24%, services 68% (2001). Industries: petroleum, food
processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals. Natural
resources: petroleum, fish, timber, hydropower. Exports:
$13.3 billion (2007 est.): petroleum, bananas, cut flowers, shrimp.
Imports: $13 billion (2007 est.): vehicles, medicinal products,
telecommunications equipment, electricity. Major trading
partners: U.S., Peru, Italy, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Panama
(2006). Communications: Telephones:
main lines in use: 1.8 million (2006); mobile cellular: 8.485 million
(2006). Radio broadcast stations: AM 392, FM 35, shortwave 29
(2001). Television broadcast stations: 7 (plus 14 repeaters)
(2001). Televisions: 2.5 million (2001). Internet hosts:
28,420 (2007). Internet users: 1.549 million (2006). Transportation: Railways: total: 966 km
(2006). Highways: total: 43,197 km; paved: 8,164 km; unpaved:
35,033 km (2002). Waterways: 1,500 km (most inaccessible)
(2003). Ports and harbors: Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, La Libertad,
Manta, Puerto Bolivar. Airports: 406 (2007). International disputes: organized illegal
narcotics operations in Colombia penetrate across Ecuador's shared
border and caused over 20,000 refugees to flee into Ecuador in
2004.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Ecuador, about equal in area to Nevada, is in
the northwest part of South America fronting on the Pacific. To the north
is Colombia and to the east and south is Peru. Two high and parallel
ranges of the Andes, traversing the country from north to south, are
topped by tall volcanic peaks. The highest is Chimborazo at 20,577 ft
(6,272 m). The Galápagos Islands (or Colón Archipelago:
3,029 sq mi; 7,845 sq km), in the Pacific Ocean about 600 mi (966 km) west
of the South American mainland, became part of Ecuador in 1832.
Government
Republic.
History
The tribes in the northern highlands of Ecuador
formed the Kingdom of Quito around 1000. It was absorbed, by conquest and
marriage, into the Inca Empire. Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro
conquered the land in 1532, and through the 17th century a Spanish colony
thrived by exploitation of the Indians. The first revolt against Spain
occurred in 1809. In 1819, Ecuador joined Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama
in a confederacy known as Greater Colombia.
When Greater Colombia collapsed in 1830, Ecuador
became independent. Revolts and dictatorships followed; it had 48
presidents during the first 131 years of the republic. Conservatives ruled
until the revolution of 1895 ushered in nearly a half century of Radical
Liberal rule, during which the church was disestablished and freedom of
worship, speech, and press was introduced. Although it was under military
rule in the 1970s, the country did not experience the violence and
repression characteristic of other Latin American military regimes. Its
last 30 years of democracy, however, have been largely ineffectual because
of a weak executive branch and a strong, fractious Congress.
Peru invaded Ecuador in 1941 and seized a large
tract of Ecuadoran territory in the disputed Amazon region. In 1981 and
1995 war broke out again. In May 1999, Ecuador and Peru signed a treaty
ending the nearly 60-year border dispute.
In 1998, Ecuador experienced one of its worst
economic crises. El Niño caused $3 billion in damage; the price of
its principal export, oil, plunged; and its inflation rate, 43%, was the
highest in Latin America. In 1999, the government was near bankruptcy, the
currency lost 40% of its value against the dollar, and the poverty rate
soared to 70%, doubling in five years. The president's economic austerity
plan was protested with massive strikes in March 1999.
President Jamil Mahuad was overthrown in Jan.
2000, in the first military coup in Latin America in a decade. The junta
gave power to the vice president, Gustavo Noboa. Faced with the worst
economic crisis in Ecuador's history, Noboa restructured Ecuador's foreign
debt, adopted the U.S. dollar as the national currency, and continued
privatization of state-owned industries, generating enormous opposition.
In Feb. 2001, the government cut fuel prices after violent protests by
Indians, who are among Ecuador's most disadvantaged people. Within two
years, Ecuador's economy had rebounded from the brink of collapse. The
economy grew by 5.4% for 2001, the highest rate in Latin America.
Inflation was 22%, down from 91% in 2000, and the budget was balanced. But
chronic corruption among senior government officials, as well as among the
courts and the judiciary, has continued.
Lucio Gutiérrez, a leftist colonel best
known for orchestrating the 2000 coup against President Jamil Mahuad, was
elected to the presidency in 2003 on an anticorruption platform. He became
Ecuador's sixth president in seven years. His attempts to introduce
austere fiscal reforms, however, quickly alienated his political base, and
numerous national strikes took place over 2003. In April 2005,
Gutiérrez was ousted by the Ecuadoran Congress, after replacing
much of the supreme court with his allies. Polls at the time indicated
that just 5% of the people supported him. His estranged deputy, Alfredo
Palacio, took over as president. In 2006, huge nationwide protests took
place involving a potential free-trade agreement with the U.S. In Nov.
2006 presidential run-off elections, Rafael Correa, a left-wing economist,
won with 56.7% of the vote, defeating conservative businessman Alvaro
Noboa. Correa took office in Jan. 2007.
Correa immediately set out to boost economic
growth and root out corruption in the country's political system. In an
April referendum, voters overwhelmingly approved his call to rewrite the
Constitution. He hoped the new Constitution would weaken Congress, which
has been called inept and corrupt. Correa's critics accused him of trying
to consolidate power, similar to recent moves by Venezuelan president Hugo
Chavez.
In March 2008, Colombian forces crossed into
Ecuadorean territory and killed FARC rebel leader, Raúl Reyes, and
20 other rebels. In response, Venezuela and Ecuador broke off diplomatic
relations with Colombia and sent troops to the Colombian borders, although
both countries denied any ties to FARC. In an attempt to help cool the
diplomatic tension between the three countries, the Organization of
American States approved a resolution, which declared that the Colombian
raid into Ecuador was a violation of sovereignty. On March 6, Nicaragua
broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia to demonstrate unity with
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador.
On March 7, 2008, during a summit meeting in the
Dominican Republic, the leaders of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and
Nicaragua ended their diplomatic dispute over Colombia's raid into Ecaudor
that occurred on March 1, 2008.
In April 2008, within hours of each other, the
defense minister resigned without explanation and four top military
commanders left their positions after President Rafael Correa accused the
army of aiding the United States against FARC.
In April 2008, President Rafael Correa expelled
more than 100 American military members from Manta air base, in
anticipation of the 2009 expiration of the United States lease of the
base.
In September 2008, in an attempt to create more
stability in Ecuador, 64 percent of voters approved a new constitution
that increased presidential powers, allowing Correa to run for two more
consecutive terms.
See also Encyclopedia: Ecuador.
National
Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) (In Spanish only) www.inec.gov.ec/ .
U.S. State Dept. Country
Notes: Ecuador
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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