GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ECUADORHere you can find important information about Ecuador classified into the following categories: Surface area - Population - Language - Religion - History - Politics - Economy - Media - Museums - Culinary variety - Cultural calendar - Time difference - Voltage
Surface area: 270.790 sq km (including the Galápagos Islands)
Population: around 13 million
The official language in Ecuador is Spanish.
About 90% of the Ecuadorian population is catholic.
The history of Ecuador can be categorised into three main epochs: the indian, colonial and republican era. The greatest place of recovery, El Inga, in the vicinity of Quito testifies the prehistoric era (10000 - 3500 B.C.) and consequently the oldest findings of the existence of people in Ecuador. Over the following thousands of years many different cultures succeeded, as for example the Valdivia, Machalilla and La Tolita, or the aggressive Cara in the coastal regions and the peaceable Quitu in the highlands. The conquests of the Inca constituted in the 12th century and by the end of the 15th century an enormous empire had been developed, stretching from Argentina and Chile in the South over 5000km to the North to Colombia. The kingdom in the North had been ruled by Atahualpa and the one in the South by his brother Huascar. The Spanish conquistadors then derived benefit from the war that broke out between those two halves of the empire. The Spaniard Francisco Pizarro had killed Atahualpa in 1532 which marked the end of the perfectly organised empire of the Inca. The colonial epoch began in 1534 with the founding of the city of Quito by Sebastián de Benalcázar. The Spaniards also started to implement a social, cultural and economic break, which should last until the early 19th century. The social gap between the white conquerors and the native Indians remained insuperable, until some independence movements have been founded. Under Simon Bolívar and José de San Martín
further liberating actions have taken place which culminated in
the famous Battle of Pichincha on 24th of May 1822 under Antonie
José de Sucre and which finally ended the colonial era in
whole Southamerica. Since 2003, the current President of the Republic of Ecuador is
Lucio Gutiérrez.
The Republic of Ecuador has been a presidential democracy since 1979. Since January 15th, 2003, Lucio Gutierrez, an ex-colonel of the Ecuadorian army was president. But after his disposition on April 20th, the former vice - president Dr. Alfredo Palacio became new president of Ecuador. Since last year 2007 the new president of Ecuador is Rafael Correa. A president governs for four years and cannot be re-elected. He is also the head of the armed forces and the executive branch. All citizens over 18 years of age have the right and duty to vote. Both presidential and National Congress elections - with its 121 deputies- take place at the same time. There are 23 provinces, each with democratically elected prefects and a governor. Provinces are subdivided into smaller political units, called cantones; each canton has an alcalde, or mayor. Although the National Constitution declares the federal character of Ecuador, it is mostly governed from Quito and Guayaquil. Federal structures are rather weakly developed. Only Quito and Guayaquil have their own administration disposing of appropriate financial means. Nine political parties are represented in the National Congress. The most important ones are Democracia Popular, Partido Social Cristiano and Izquierda Democratica (Social democrates). Recently, the indigenous movement has gained influence. In 1998 the National Constitution has been changed considerably.
Mainly the presidential elections system was reformed. Furthermore,
an anticorruption comittee was founded. For the first time in national
history, black and indian population got property rights.
Until 1960 Ecuador was known as world banana republic. Almost all of Ecuador's exports consisted of agricultural products, such as bananas, cocoa and coffee. This changed very rapidly with the discovery of oil. Petroleum exports rose to first place in 1973. It was extracted in the rainforest and transported through pipelines via the highlands to the coast of Esmeraldas from where it was shipped. But this didn't last for a long time. In 1987 a disastrous earthquake wiped out about 40 km of the oil pipeline and severely damaged the economy. Despite the source of revenue coming from oil exports, Ecuador
remained a poor country. The country couldn't pay back its foreign
debts and annual inflation reached nearly 100% in the mid-1980s.
In the 1960s the first tourists visited Ecuador. Afterwards, Galápagos Islands, the highlands and tropical rainforest regions opened up for tourism. Tourism constitutes a promising source of income and is the 4th most important factor for the Ecuadorian economy. Because of Ecuador´s dependence on exports and world market prices, the Ecuadorian economy is not very stable. Inflation rate, foreign debts and unemployment are constant problems. Reforms have not yet led to the necessary results. Please read more about the following products in our newsletter. Cacao - Banana - "Black gold" - Prawns - Flowers - Panama hat
The most important daily newspapers in Ecuador are: El
Comercio / Hoy
/ El Universo
The most beautiful museums:
Please find more museums here.
According to region, highlands, coast or rainforest, ways of preparing food and the offers of traditional dishes vary considerably. Main aliments: Highlands: Coast: Rainforest: Diversity of fruit:
Bank Holidays: Up to date information about fiestas and further cultural events in Ecuador.
5 hours behind GMT, Galápagos 6 hours.
110 volts/60 cycles, an adapter is necessary. |
| SPECIALS |
| ECUADOR IN PICTURES | ||
 |
||
 |
People |  |
|
|
| ECUADOR IN PICTURES | ||
 |
||
|
Museums | |
|
|
| ECUADOR IN PICTURES | ||
 |
||
|
Culinary Variety | |