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Ecuador
Republic of Ecuador República del Ecuador | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
| Motto: «Dios, Patria y Libertad» ("God, Homeland and Liberty") | |
| Anthem: ¡Salve, oh patria! | |
 | |
| Capital and largest city |  0°13′S 78°31′W / 0.217°S 78.517°W |
| Official languages | Spanish[lower-alpha 1] |
| Languages of intercultural relations | Kichwa, Shuar[2] |
| Demonym | Ecuadorian |
| Member of | UN, OAS, Parlatino, IDB, WB, IMF, CAN, CELAC, SELA, Interpol, FLAR, ASA, ASPA, ALBA, CAF, MERCOSUR[lower-alpha 2], OLADE, UNASUR, OPEC, OEI, ASALE, Rio Group |
| Government | Presidential republic |
| Lenín Moreno[3] | |
| Otto Sonnenholzner[4] | |
| Independence from Spain | |
| August 10, 1809 | |
| October 9, 1820[5] | |
| May 24, 1822[6][lower-alpha 3] | |
• Annexation to Gran Colombia | June 25, 1824 |
| May 13, 1830[7] | |
| Area | |
• Total | 283,561 km2 (109,484 sq mi)[8] (74th) |
• Water (%) | 5 |
• Borders | 2,237 km[8] |
• Coastline | 2,237 km[8] |
| Population | |
• July 2019 estimate | 17,300,000[9] (55th) |
• Density | 61/km2 (158.0/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2019 estimate |
• Total | USD 205,457 million[10] (64th) |
• Per capita | USD 11,898[11] |
| GDP (nominal) | 2019 estimate |
• Total | USD 108,401 million[12] (61st) |
• Per capita | USD 6,277[13] |
| HDI (2017) |  0.752[14]high (86th) |
| Currency | United States dollar[lower-alpha 4] (USD) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 to −6 (ECT[lower-alpha 5]) |
| Not applicable | |
| Calling code | +593 |
| ISO 3166 code | EC |
| Internet TLD | .ec |
Radio prefix: HCA–HDZ. Vehicle registration: EC. Aircraft registration: HC. ISO code: 218 / ECU / EC. Inflation: 1.12 %. | |
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador (República del Ecuador), is an American country located in the southern part of the continent.
It borders Colombia to the north, Peru to the south and east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west, which separates it from the Galápagos Islands, located 1000 kilometers away, from the Santa Elena peninsula to San Cristóbal island. A volcanic section of the Andes mountain range divides the territory from north to south, leaving the Gulf of Guayaquil and a forested plain on its western flank, and the Amazon to the east.
Ecuador covers an area of 283,561 km²,[8] which makes it the fourth smallest country of the subcontinent, although, for perspective, its area is larger than that of the United Kingdom. It is the tenth most populous country in the Americas, with somewhat more than 17 million inhabitants, the most densely populated in South America[15] and the fifth on the continent.
Ecuador is a recent energy power based on renewable energy.[16][17] It is also one of the countries with the highest concentration of rivers per km2 in the world,[18] one of the countries with the greatest diversity per km2[19][20] and therefore one of the countries with the greatest biodiversity in the world.[21] It is the first country on the planet to have the Rights of Nature guaranteed in its Constitution.[22]
The country's capital and its most populous city is Quito.[23][24] The official language is Spanish, spoken by 99% of the population, along with thirteen other recognized indigenous languages, including Kichwa and Shuar. As of 2018, Ecuador's Human Development Index is classified as "high", ranking 81st worldwide (together with China) and tenth in Hispanic America, ahead of Peru and Colombia. With a GDP (PPP) of 172,100 million dollars, the Ecuadorian economy ranks 59th worldwide[25] and seventh in South America.[26] Worldwide, the country is one of the main exporters of petroleum,[27] is the world's leading exporter of bananas[28] and one of the main exporters of flowers, shrimp and cacao.[29] In 2014 Ecuador received approximately 1.3 million foreign tourists, which positions the country as one of the regional benchmarks in receiving international tourism.[30]
The first human settlements in the territory date back to 12,000 years BC (El Inga, Chobshi, Cubilán, Las Vegas).[31] The Inca Empire partially conquered the region in the mid-15th century, and in 1543 the Spanish conquest began, after which it remained part of one of Spain's viceroyalties for almost three hundred years. The pro-independence era had its origins in 1809 and began the emancipation process that ran from 1820 to 1822. After definitive independence from Spanish rule, part of the territory was quickly integrated into Gran Colombia, while the coastal territory remained independent until its annexation manu militari by Simón Bolívar. In 1830 the southern Colombian territories separated and the Ecuadorian nation was created.
Since the beginning of the republic there has been political instability, which led to several revolutions throughout the 19th century and boundary conflicts with Colombia. The 20th century was marked by the boundary conflicts with Peru and the formation of military governments. In 1979 the country returned to the democratic system, although the political instability from 1996 to 2006 led to an economic, political and social crisis that resulted in the dollarization of its economy and the overthrow of three presidents before the end of their terms.
Toponymy
The first known reference to this country in relation to the equatorial line is recorded in Noticias secretas de América in 1826, a publication by Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa that compiles studies made during the 18th century, including those of the French Geodesic Mission; this work mentions for the first time the lands of Ecuador as a jurisdiction of the Real Audiencia of Quito.[32]
The name of the Republic of Ecuador alludes to the equatorial line of the Earth, which passes over Ecuadorian territory from east to west, and was adopted by the first government of the territories that made up the Southern District of Gran Colombia, after their separation was completed on May 13, 1830.
Before Gran Colombia, under the colonial government, this territory was made up of the departments of Guayaquil, Azuay and Ecuador, which together with other lost territories made up the Real Audiencia of Quito. Because of the location of the new republic, and as a symbolic reference to that location, it was decided to name it after the line that divides the planet into two equal parts. During the first government, led at that time by General Juan José Flores, the first constitution of the new republic officially created the "Republic of Ecuador", then formed by the territories of the departments of Guayaquil, Azuay and Quito (formerly the Ecuador Department), which would later be subdivided into Provinces.
History
Pre-Columbian era
The first known records of human settlement in present-day Ecuadorian territory date from approximately 13,500 years ago.[33] Remains of the Paleo-Indian period are found at El Inga, the Las Vegas culture, Chobsi, Cubilán and in Amazonian rock paintings.
The country's pre-Columbian era comprises the Paleo-Indian, Formative, Regional Development and Integration or Inca periods. During the Formative period the use of pottery was discovered, the Valdivia culture being one of the candidates for the oldest pottery in the Americas. A large number of plant species were also domesticated in this period, probably because of the biological and climatic diversity of the region; among them are pineapple, papaya, squash, peanut, tomato, tree tomato, naranjilla, chili pepper and cacao, among others. Agriculture reached a high level of development: the dry areas of the country show abundant remains of works devoted to the collection and infiltration of water, known as albarradas, which alter the landscape; mountain slopes in many regions of the country have remains of terracing; while in the low, humid areas, on river floodplains and lakeshores, there are remains of ridged fields or large cultivation beds irrigated by flooding. This last system is especially interesting for its scale in the river basins of the coast, such as the Guayas River, with thousands of hectares devoted to cultivation on large ridged fields.
The Manteña culture, located in the central part of the Ecuadorian coast, controlled a wide maritime trade route that extended from present-day Chile to Mexico, based on coastal navigation with large sail-driven rafts. On the northern coast, the La Tolita culture produced high-level ornamental metallurgy, mainly in gold, silver and platinum alloy. The pottery of the Bahía and Jama-Coaque cultures is richly detailed and somewhat reminiscent of Asian pottery, giving rise to theories of transoceanic cultural exchange that have not been proven. The peoples of the northern highlands built funerary and astronomical complexes such as that of Cochasquí.
The territory of Ecuador was part of the Northern Inca Empire until the Spanish conquest in 1533.[34] When the Incas arrived, it is estimated that more than 36 nationalities lived in the territory of present-day Ecuador, among the most numerous of which were the Pastos, Caranquis, Imbayas, Paltas, Puruhás, Panzaleos, Cañaris and Hambatus. Inca influence was felt especially in the inter-Andean corridor of the south and center of the country, which formed part of the Tahuantinsuyo; the northern region remained partially independent until the arrival of the Spaniards, and has one of the greatest concentrations of fortresses or in the Inca Empire; while the coastal and Amazonian regions kept their independence. During the Inca Empire some settlements with evident Cuzco influence were built, among the most important being Ingapirca (a good part of the archaeological remains are still preserved) and Tumipampa (Tomebamba) (the city of Cuenca was founded on the latter, although its ruins are preserved in some areas).[35]
Spanish era
In 1534 the Spanish Captain Sebastián de Benalcázar conquered the Ecuadorian lands. Having taken Quito, he refounded it as a Spanish city on December 6, 1534, naming it San Francisco de Quito in honor of Francisco Pizarro. Quito was the capital of the Presidency of Quito and of the Real Audiencia of Quito, which was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru.
The Spaniards used the indigenous urban settlements and several elements of the native social structure as the basis for the new mestizo cities, in order to colonize the territories they occupied. Although the indigenous people greatly outnumbered them, the Spaniards had an advanced military force, thanks to which they subdued the indigenous populations, who chose to assimilate the new culture and traditions, although there was a minority who decided to leave the temperate valleys of the Sierra and settle in the high páramos.
The Incas, besides being at odds with one another in numerous internal wars, did not know firearms and compared the sound of cannons to that of thunder. Nor did they know horses, and many of them came to think that the Spaniards riding their horses were in fact a single four-legged being. In addition, diseases such as measles decimated the indigenous population.
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Quito was the main Spanish seat in the area, and from it set out the expeditions that led to the discovery of the Amazon River and the founding of the rest of the Ecuadorian cities.
In 1739 Ecuador was integrated into the Viceroyalty of New Granada together with Caracas, Panama and Santa Fe de Bogotá. Relations between the native population and the newcomers were governed by legal institutions such as the Mita and the Encomienda, the latter approved by the Laws of Burgos in 1512[36] for the defense of the Indians.
As a consequence, African population was brought in for forced labor as slaves, which contributed to greater mestizaje in Ecuador. Much of the country's black population lives in present-day Esmeraldas. There are even references to a slave ship that was wrecked off the coast of Esmeraldas, leaving a large number of slaves there together with two Spanish survivors who died shortly afterwards.
During the viceregal era the arts developed, especially architecture, painting and sculpture. In the viceregal period the Quito School stands out as a space of high artistic production, famous to this day, with artists such as Miguel de Santiago, Caspicara and Bernardo de Legarda, among others.
First Government Junta, Emancipation and Gran Colombia
The first movements began in 1809 with the rebellion of the Criollos against Spanish rule known as the First Autonomous Government Junta of Quito. There were other forerunners, however, such as Eugenio Espejo, a Criollo scholar of mestizo origin who issued the first written proclamations in the publication «El Nuevo Luciano de Quito». The rebels formed a provisional Government Junta on August 10, 1809 in Quito, rising against Spanish power and governing themselves autonomously; however, the participants ended up imprisoned and killed during the Mutiny of August 2, 1810. At that time the rebels advocated the leadership of an autonomous government junta and a change of authorities in Quito, maintaining their autonomy by means of the strategy of the masks of Ferdinand VII, which consisted of swearing false loyalty to the captive King Ferdinand VII in order to maintain autonomy.[37] Ecuadorian historiography considers this event the First Cry of Hispanic American Independence and the beginning of the region's emancipation process. Once French rule had ended and with the refusal of the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII, to abide by the Constitution of Cádiz, a wave of pro-independence movements broke out in Spanish America.
Guayaquil began its independence process, which took place on October 9, 1820,[38] with the purpose of breaking the viceregal ties that existed between the territory of the Province of Guayaquil and the Spanish Empire, and which gave rise to the Free Province of Guayaquil. The independence of Guayaquil marked the beginning of the war of independence in the Real Audiencia of Quito as part of the wars of emancipation of Hispanic America. Among the most influential factors in its outbreak was the will of the Criollos, who already held high social and economic status, to obtain political power.
Thus the former Presidency and Audiencia of Quito managed to split from the metropolis at the Battle of Pichincha on May 24, 1822, thanks to the victory of Marshal Antonio José de Sucre, lieutenant of Simón Bolívar, with the help of the Protective Army of Quito, formed by the pro-independence troops of Guayaquil organized by the poet José Joaquín de Olmedo. The territory of Guayaquil (which had separated from Spain on October 9, 1820 and maintained its own government) became part of Gran Colombia under the name of the Southern District, together with the territories of Quito and Cuenca. The collapse of the new republic led to the formation of the sovereign states of New Granada (present-day Colombia and Panama), Venezuela and Ecuador in 1830. When in 1822 the pro-independence army, commanded by Antonio José de Sucre, defeated the royalist forces at the Battle of Pichincha, the territories became part of Gran Colombia, but the great rivalry between its president, Simón Bolívar, and its vice president, Francisco de Paula Santander, caused the breakup of Gran Colombia. From 1830, the year Gran Colombia ended, the nations of Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Panama maintained their political and economic ties, as they continued as federated states for five more years.
First century of the Republic
The Republic of Ecuador came into being on May 13, 1830, when it separated from Gran Colombia. Juan José Flores took the reins of the new state, becoming its first president.[39] Flores began organizing the country, which took him five years of interrupted rule, from 1834 to 1839 (a period during which the country built up a large foreign debt, mainly due to the purchase of war matériel); the year in which Vicente Rocafuerte took the presidential seat. When the Venezuelan was elected for a third presidential term, the power groups of the coast began a popular uprising on March 6, 1845 with the aim of bringing down foreign militarism, the so-called "Marcist revolution".
The President in office was José Joaquín de Olmedo, a great thinker from Guayaquil who remained in power only until the legislature called elections and Vicente Ramón Roca was appointed as the third constitutional president of Ecuador. From 1845 to 1859 there was a period of liberal governments, until a new revolt led to new elections in which the figure of Gabriel García Moreno arrived in national politics in 1859, after the reunification of the country following the Battle of Guayaquil, until 1875, the year he was assassinated. The governments of García Moreno are criticized from the anti-Catholic liberal corner as an authoritarian, repressive and dictatorial regime linked to the Catholic clergy. Gabriel García Moreno promoted a policy of building public works such as roads, the railway, schools, colleges, universities and hospitals. This whole period was one of repression against Ecuadorian liberals.[40] García Moreno, during his third presidency, was assassinated on the balcony of the Carondelet Palace in Quito at the hands of a group of radical liberals, among whom Faustino Lemus Rayo stands out. According to the conservative version, his assassination was due to the political interests of the liberals who wanted to come to power, while for the liberals it was a "patriotic" act. It is also known that his death was a conspiracy led by Freemasonry in rejection of his Catholic piety and his leading role in the consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.[41] After the death of Don Gabriel García Moreno, Ecuador's two political parties tried to unify their thinking towards what would be called progressivism, a sort of liberal conservatism. Antonio Borrero Cortázar was the first President resulting from this unification, but he lasted barely a year in power and would be followed by Ignacio de Veintemilla and the subsequent appearance of the progressive revolutionary General Eloy Alfaro Delgado.
The most important moment in the history of progressivism came when, during the term of President Luis Cordero, the well-known Sale of the Flag took place, which triggered the military revolt that gave rise to Ecuadorian liberalism with Eloy Alfaro as constitutional President. The liberal period lasted from June 5, 1895 to July 9, 1925 with the governments of General Eloy Alfaro, General Leonidas Plaza Gutiérrez, Dr. Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno and Dr. José Luis Tamayo. Noteworthy is the murder of General Eloy Alfaro and his companions on January 28, 1912 in the City of Quito, after they were taken out of the prison where they had been brought following the defeats in the battles of Huigra, Naranjito and Yaguachi. The constitution of 1897 established freedom before the law, freedom of thought, the abolition of the death penalty for political crimes and the absolute guarantee of life. It also abolished the participation of a churchman in the Council of State and accepted freedom of worship.
The constitution of 1906 abolished the Catholic religion as the official religion, established secular education, separated Church and State, recognized freedom of conscience in all its expressions and prohibited clergy from being legislators; divorce was also approved. Worth noting is the cruel massacre of November 15, 1922 committed against the people of Guayaquil who were asking for bread during the government of Dr. José Luis Tamayo, which went unpunished, masterfully narrated by the writer Joaquín Gallegos Lara in his work "Las cruces sobre el agua". After the coup d'état of July 9, 1925 there was a Plural Civil-Military Government in which each member of the junta governed for one week, governing in this way until March 1926, when the junta ceased its activity and Isidro Ayora was appointed President; he issued a new constitution, the thirteenth. During his government the Central Bank of Ecuador, the Development Bank, the Superintendency of Banks, the Pension Fund and the National Customs Directorate, among other state agencies, were created; in 1930 there was a general deflation and Ayora was pressured to resign, leaving power to the Minister of Government, Luis Larrea Alba, who took power on August 24, 1931 and, when congress refused to grant him full powers, decided to dissolve it; the people reacted against the dictatorship and so he handed power to the President of the Senate, Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno, who called presidential elections for October, and after a series of government problems Velasco Ibarra took office in 1934. It was in 1941, right in the course of the Second World War, that Peru invaded El Oro Province, which would trigger the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War during the government of the liberal Dr. Carlos Arroyo del Río, and which concluded with the Rio de Janeiro Protocol signed on January 29, 1942, when the south of Ecuador was invaded. The great figure of Ecuadorian politics from the mid-1930s to the early 1970s was Dr. José María Velasco Ibarra, who was President of Ecuador on 5 occasions but was only able to complete his third term. He was President in 1934–1935, 1944–1947, 1952–1956, 1960–1961 and 1968–1972.
Dictatorships and military governments
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By early 1972, Ecuador was a country plunged into chaos, with a President turned civilian dictator, general elections soon to be held and political actors whose future actions were unpredictable. Finally the armed forces decided to intervene, seize power and interrupt the incipient constitutional system the country had been part of since 1968. In February 1972 there was a coup d'état that took public opinion and the international community by surprise. The overthrow of Velasco Ibarra took place in Guayaquil and was physically carried out, without a single bullet being fired, by a Navy officer named Jorge Queirolo Gómez, but it brought General Guillermo Rodríguez Lara to power; he proclaimed himself «nationalist» and «revolutionary», which resulted in a series of nationalizations, which can be evaluated more or less critically but which, at the time in question, resolved the basic issues of Ecuador's productive and social system. Thus, in 1972 the government created the Corporación Estatal Petrolera Ecuatoriana (CEPE, now Petroecuador) and set out on the path toward acquiring, step by step, the majority shares of the Texaco – Gulf (Gulf Oil Corporation) – CEPE Consortium.
Ecuador showed signs of wanting to acquire national autonomy in the management of oil: in 1973 it joined the most important worldwide body of oil-supplying countries, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In 1974 it acquired 25 % of the shares of the consortium operating in Ecuador. In 1976 this rose to 62 %, until it finally acquired all of the shares. With this transition, the Ecuadorian state became the owner of the oil.
The Rodríguez Lara government also created the Ecuadorian Institute of Electrification (INECEL) (now the Corporación Eléctrica del Ecuador or CELEC) and a system to ensure the supply of basic foodstuffs to the popular sectors: the Empresa Nacional de Productos Vitales (Emprovit), which sold those products at affordable prices. It also created the Ecuadorian Institute of Telecommunications (IETEL).
On September 1, 1975, there was an attempted coup d'état led by General Raúl González Alvear, in which members of the Patria Brigade and the paratrooper battalion clashed with the presidential guard, which entrenched itself in the Carondelet Palace, in a shootout that lasted more than four hours, left 22 dead and more than 80 wounded and caused serious damage to the façade of the government palace. After these events General González went into exile in Chile, and General Rodríguez issued a gag decree to protect the «prestige» of the armed forces from the comments of the media. Despite all this, General Rodríguez's position became untenable and the Council of Generals of the Armed Forces asked for his resignation, which took place in January 1976. The government was left in the hands of a military triumvirate, presided over by Admiral Alfredo Poveda Burbano (Navy) and made up of Generals Guillermo Durán Arcentales (Army) and Luis Leoro Franco (Air Force). During this government the massacre at the Aztra sugar mill in La Troncal took place on October 18, 1977, against workers who had started a strike, and it went unpunished. Its minister of government, then Colonel Richelieu Levoyer, drew up the Plan for the Return to Democracy which, in its substantive parts, consisted of the formation of a new constituent assembly convened by the military junta, which drafted a new constitution and organized a referendum held in January 1978, in which the Ecuadorian people chose by simple majority between the reformed constitution of 1945 and the new one. The last part of the military junta's plan was to call general elections, in which seventeen political parties approved by that regime took part.
Contemporary history
After a second round, held a long time after the first, Jaime Roldós Aguilera was elected, the candidate of the populist Concentration of People's Forces party (CFP). Jaime Roldós governed independently and in open conflict with Assad Bucaram, who during the first year of his term held the office of President of congress. Roldós had to face another border conflict with Peru, called the False Paquisha Conflict in 1981, which threatened to become an open war that, in the end, did not happen. When the plane in which he was traveling crashed in mysterious circumstances on May 24, 1981 (the accident is still being investigated), power passed to the acting constitutional vice president, Dr. Osvaldo Hurtado Larrea, of Social Democratic leanings, who was succeeded in 1984 by the conservative Social Christian León Febres-Cordero. His austerity measures due to oil problems and his repressive policies, which, although they eliminated incipient guerrilla groups such as Alfaro Vive Carajo, caused social discontent, which gave victory in 1988 to the social democrat Rodrigo Borja Cevallos, during whose term an indigenous movement achieved the distribution of 1,700,000 hectares to native communities. Borja also promoted literacy and bilingual education.
The conservative Sixto Durán Ballén pursued from 1992 a neoliberal policy with privatizations and adjustments questioned by the majority of Congress, and brought about the withdrawal from OPEC, while the country increased oil production. Another conflict with Peru, known worldwide as the Cenepa War, ended that same year, 1995, with the Itamaraty Agreement and, in 1998, under the Presidency of the Christian Democrat Jamil Mahuad, with the definitive signing of peace in Brasília, which gave Ecuador access to the Amazon and rights of free river navigation. The document also recognized Peruvian sovereignty over Tiwinza, granting Ecuador 1 km² as private property under Peruvian law; anyone born in Tiwinza will be considered Peruvian.[42]
Under this protocol, Ecuador renounced its historical claims to annex Tumbes, Jaén and Maynas, and recognized them as Peruvian territories. This settled the boundary dispute that had been raised since 1960 by José María Velasco Ibarra. This agreement had provisions for the definitive placement of the border markers in cooperation with the observer mission of the OAS (MOMEP).
Institutional normality was broken in 1997 when Congress, amid popular demonstrations against the Executive, removed the populist President Abdalá Bucaram, who had taken office in August 1996, for «mental incapacity». In his place, Congress appointed as Interim President Fabián Alarcón, until then President of the National Congress (even though constitutionally the presidency should have gone to the vice president, Rosalía Arteaga, who was symbolically sworn in for a few hours). After a National Constituent Assembly in 1998, which had the mandate to review and amend the Constitution of 1979, general elections were held in which Jamil Mahuad Witt, of Popular Democracy, was elected President. Mahuad was deposed in January 2000, amid a severe economic crisis caused by the massive collapse of the Ecuadorian financial system, the fall in international oil prices and the links between the Mahuad government and the corrupt banking sector whose most visible head was Fernando Aspiazu, who on August 26, 2002 was sentenced to eight years in prison for the crime of embezzlement. All this provoked a general strike, indigenous mobilizations and a coup attempt that lasted four hours. As a result of the economic crisis during this government, more than 2 million Ecuadorians had to migrate to other countries, resulting in the separation of countless families.
The vice president, Gustavo Noboa, who was entitled to the succession under the Constitution, assumed the Presidency and in April reached an agreement with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to access loans worth nearly 800 million dollars to continue and strengthen dollarization, applying adjustment measures in various sectors of the economy. He also focused his efforts on the construction of a large heavy crude oil pipeline (OCP) from the Amazon to the Pacific Ocean coast, so that crude exports would double from 2003. Retired Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez won the elections of November 2002 at the head of the Patriotic Society Party (PSP), a center-left populist group, which acted in alliance with indigenous and far-left movements. Gutiérrez obtained 55 % of the votes in the runoff. He was removed by Congress in April 2005, amid revolts in Quito (whose participants Gutiérrez reviled as «outlaws», in the so-called «rebellion of the outlaws»), and was succeeded in office by the vice president Alfredo Palacio, who until then had had a low profile in politics.
In November 2006 Rafael Correa was elected President for the 2007–2011 term. The electoral margin was the third highest in the current constitutional and democratic period (1979–2007), surpassed only by the elections of Jaime Roldós (1979) and Sixto Durán Ballén (1992). On April 15, 2007 the Constituent Assembly was elected, which drafted a new Magna Carta, in force since October 2008. Because a new Constitution came into force, general elections had to be called to appoint the authorities, and thus President Correa was reelected in 2009, despite the media scandal generated by accusations of embezzlement and money laundering involving members of his ministerial cabinet for sport.[43][44] He held that office from August 10 of the same year until May 24, 2013, with a new victory at the polls, this time amid the scandal of false affiliations to political parties involving the entire national political class.[45] He thus remained in his post as President until 2017.
On September 30, 2010 there was a work stoppage by some members of the National Police of Ecuador and the Ecuadorian Air Force. However, the rest of the Armed Forces of Ecuador supported the current regime. The crisis was declared by the government an attempted coup d'état and was overcome at the end of the same day, with President Correa leaving the National Police Hospital rescued by the Army of Ecuador and the GOE (Special Operations Group of the Police), thwarting the intentions of the mutineers. The incident left 5 dead and 274 wounded.[46]
The presidential election of February 17, 2013 resulted in the reelection of Rafael Correa with his running mate Jorge Glas with 57.17 % of the valid votes, against his nearest rival, the right-wing candidate Guillermo Lasso, with 22.66 % of the valid votes. The other candidates did not obtain more than 7 % of the vote in any case.
In the parliamentary elections, the left-wing Alianza PAÍS movement led by Rafael Correa won 100 of the 137 legislative seats, which together with its ally, the AVANZA political movement, which won 5 seats, leaves the opposition led by the right-wing political movement CREO, whose main figure is Guillermo Lasso, with 11 seats won, together with its ally the Social Christian Party, which won 6 seats; the remaining 15 seats are divided among other tendencies not ideologically allied with any of the above. This assembly took office on May 15, 2013, while the presidential ticket did so on May 24, 2013.
Main article: 2015 Ecuadorian protests
In August 2015 an indigenous march set out from the Province of Zamora Chinchipe toward the City of Quito, culminating in several days of protest in the capital. The motivation was the discontent of a sector of the population with proposed economic measures such as the capital gains law and the inheritance law, as well as amendments to the constitution that would allow indefinite reelection to popularly elected office. The toll was 58 detained[47] and 106 wounded, among police and civilians.[48]
By 2016 the approval rating of Rafael Correa's government had held up, after the economic and social policies promoted by the government because of the global economic crisis and the devaluation of oil, tax and tariff measures to prevent the outflow of foreign currency from the country. This caused a minimal increase in inflation nationwide, but a larger one especially in border provinces; unemployment rates also rose slightly, and underemployment likewise. However, almost at the same time as the discontent of part of the population with the ruling party, movements in support of the government arose, and a movement was even created that sought indefinite reelection, which collected enough signatures for a referendum, but the president himself rejected this intention.
After the 2016 Ecuador earthquake, which occurred on April 16, the government established several economic measures that were approved by the National Assembly, such as a two-point increase in VAT for one year (from 12 % to 14 %), the compulsory donation of one day's salary by employed citizens with incomes above $1000, and one-time donations exclusively from people with capital greater than one million dollars. The refusal of 63 assembly members, mostly from the Alianza País bloc, to donate 10% of their salaries to the earthquake victims caused a particular media stir.
Several consequences were unleashed from the beginning of the economic crisis, but the main one was the outflow of capital from the country to tax havens and the outflow of foreign currency across the Colombian-Ecuadorian border, since in the provinces of the northern border there is commercial crossing to cities such as Ipiales and Tumaco, where the Colombian peso is widely devalued in relation to the dollar.[49][50]
By 2017 the Government of Ecuador and other public bodies such as the Municipality of Quito had been caught up in a tangle of accusations, ranging from the Odebrecht case, in which people linked to the Municipality of Quito were involved and the vice president of the nation, Jorge Glas, headed the ministry in charge of public works and strategic sectors during the time when Odebrecht claims to have paid bribes for the award of works;[51][52] there have also been complaints from groups opposed to the regime about the alleged lack of public tenders and the alleged hand-picked award of works by the ruling party in megaprojects such as the Pacific Refinery,[53] and the overvaluation of projects such as the hydroelectric plants in the Sierra and the roads and urban projects is also alleged.[54] This also took place amid disagreements and divergences with some social and political sectors of Ecuador over the Ecuadorian government's support for the regime of Nicolás Maduro[55] in Venezuela, the award of the Manuela Sáenz Decoration by the National Assembly to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner while she was on trial over 419 complaints of corruption in Argentina,[56][57][58] as well as the expulsion from the country of the Venezuelan opposition figure Lilian Tintori when she tried to meddle in Ecuador's political campaign;[59][60][61][62] all this in the middle of an electoral campaign heading to the runoff to decide the new President of Ecuador.
Present day
On February 19, 2017 the presidential election was held to choose the president and vice president for the 2017–2021 term;[63] the candidates Lenín Moreno, with 39.36 %, and Guillermo Lasso, with 28.09 %, went to a runoff because the 40 % with a 10 % lead over the second-place candidate was not reached. The first round also included the legislative elections, in which the representatives to the Andean Parliament and the Assembly members were renewed for the same period,[64] in which Alianza País lost 26 seats, CREO won 24 more seats and the PSC won 9 more seats. A referendum was also held on Ecuadorians' opinion regarding public officials who hold accounts and companies in tax havens.[65][66]
The runoff was held on April 2 of the same year; in this election Lenín Moreno, candidate of the ruling Alianza PAIS movement, was elected president, winning the contest with 51.16 % of the votes against Guillermo Lasso, candidate of the alliance of the CREO Movement and the SUMA Movement, who obtained 48.84 %.[67] The President-elect took office on May 24, 2017.[68]
State
The current Ecuadorian State is made up of five state functions: the Executive Function, the Legislative Function, the Judicial Function, the Electoral Function and the Function of Transparency and Social Control.
Legislative Function
The Legislative Function is exercised solely by the National Assembly, which has its seat in the city of Quito in the Legislative Palace and is made up of 137 assembly members, divided into ten committees and elected for a four-year term: fifteen assembly members elected in a national constituency, two assembly members elected for each province, and one more for every two hundred thousand inhabitants or fraction exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand, according to the latest national population census. Apart from the above, the law will determine the election of assembly members for regions, for metropolitan districts, and also for the constituency abroad.
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Executive Function
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The Executive Function is delegated to the President of the Republic, currently held by Lenín Moreno, together with his vice president, Otto Sonnenholzner, elected for a term of three years (normally four). The President is the Head of State and of Government, and the highest authority responsible for public administration.
The President appoints National Secretaries, coordinating Ministers, Ministers of State and public servants. He defines foreign policy and appoints the Foreign Minister of the Republic, as well as ambassadors and consuls. He exercises supreme authority over the Armed Forces of Ecuador and the National Police of Ecuador, appointing their authorities, according to the Constitution of the republic. The powers and duties of the President of the Republic, in addition to those determined by law, include: exercising supreme authority over the Armed Forces and the National Police and appointing the members of the military and police high command.
Judicial Function
The country's Judicial Function is made up of the Council of the Judiciary as its main body and of the National Court of Justice, the Provincial Courts, the courts and tribunals, and the justices of the peace. Legal representation is exercised by the Council of the Judiciary, without prejudice to the institutional representation held by the National Court of Justice.
The National Court of Justice is made up of 21 judges elected for a term of nine years. They are renewed by thirds every three years, as stipulated in the Organic Code of the Judicial Function. They are elected by the Council of the Judiciary through a competitive examination and merit procedure. They are not eligible for reelection.[69]
The independent bodies of the Judicial Function are the State Attorney General's Office and the Public Defender's Office. The auxiliary bodies are the notarial service, the judicial auctioneers and the judicial depositaries. There is also a special regime of indigenous justice.
Electoral Function
The Constitution of 2008 raised the electoral institutions to the rank of a function of the State, whose mandate is to guarantee the exercise of citizens' political rights and promote the strengthening of democracy, through the organization of electoral processes and support for political and social organizations, ensuring equitable, equal, parity-based, intercultural, free, democratic and fair participation to elect and be elected.
Constitutionally, the Electoral Function is made up of two separate bodies, under principles of autonomy and independence: the National Electoral Council, which administers and carries out electoral processes; and the Contentious Electoral Tribunal, in charge of the administration of electoral justice.
The Electoral Function has its seat in the city of Quito; the National Electoral Council is made up of 5 councilors and the Contentious Electoral Tribunal of 5 judges, selected in both cases through a public competitive examination and merit process, serving for 6 years with partial renewals every 3 years.
Function of Transparency and Social Control
The Function of Transparency and Social Control is made up of the Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control, the Ombudsman's Office, the Comptroller General of the State, and the Superintendencies. Its authorities hold their posts for five years. This branch is responsible for promoting plans for transparency and public oversight, as well as plans to design mechanisms to fight corruption, for appointing certain authorities of the country, and for being the regulatory mechanism for the country's accountability.
Human rights
Regarding human rights, with respect to membership of the seven bodies of the International Bill of Human Rights, which include the Human Rights Committee (HRC), Ecuador has signed or ratified:
| Treaty | Status |
|---|---|
| CESCR | Signed and ratified |
| CESCR-OP (Optional Protocol) | No information |
| CCPR | Signed and ratified |
| CCPR-OP1 (First Optional Protocol) | Signed and ratified |
| CCPR-OP2 (Second Optional Protocol, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty) | Signed and ratified; has recognized the competence to receive and process individual communications |
| CERD | Signed and ratified; has recognized the competence to receive and process individual communications |
| CED | Signed and ratified |
| CEDAW | Signed and ratified |
| CEDAW-OP (Optional Protocol) | Signed and ratified |
| CAT | Signed and ratified |
| CAT-OP (Optional Protocol) | Signed and ratified |
| CRC | Signed and ratified |
| CRC-OP-AC (Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict) | Signed but not ratified |
| CRC-OP-SC (Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography) | Signed but not ratified |
| MWC | Signed and ratified; has recognized the competence to receive and process individual communications |
| CRPD | Signed and ratified |
| CRPD-OP (Optional Protocol) | Signed and ratified |
Administrative divisions
The territory of Ecuador is divided into Parishes (urban or rural), which make up the Cantons; these make up the Provinces, and these in turn the Administrative Regions. Each of these entities and the Metropolitan Districts has a Decentralized Autonomous Government, responsible for carrying out policies within its sphere.
Parishes
The parishes are the fourth-level divisions in Ecuador, numbering more than a thousand in total. They are entities similar to municipalities or communes in other countries, divided in turn into urban and rural. The parishes are in the hands of a Parish Government or Board of five members elected by universal suffrage, presided over by the member who obtains the highest vote, called the President of the Parish Board.
Cantons
The cantons are the third-level territorial units in Ecuador, numbering 221 in total. At their head is a Municipal Government, composed of a Mayor and a Council made up of urban and rural councilors, all elected by universal suffrage.
Provinces
The Republic of Ecuador is divided into 24 provinces, which are the second-level territorial units. The provinces elect a Provincial Prefect and Vice Prefect, who exercise local government together with a Provincial Government made up of all the mayors of the cantons that make up the province.
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Administrative Regions
SENPLADES (National Secretariat of Planning and Development of Ecuador) set up different administrative planning levels: zones, districts and circuits nationwide, which will allow a better identification of needs and effective solutions for the provision of public services in the territory. This arrangement does not mean eliminating the provinces, cantons or parishes.
The zones are made up of provinces, according to geographical, cultural and economic proximity. There are seven planning zones, two metropolitan districts and the Special Regime of Galápagos. Each zone consists of districts and these in turn of circuits. From this level the public sector entities are strategically coordinated, through planning management for the design of policies in the area of their jurisdiction.
The district is the basic unit of planning and provision of public services. It coincides with the canton or a union of cantons. 140 districts have been formed in the country. Each district has an average of 90,000 inhabitants. However, for cantons with a very high population, such as Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Ambato and Santo Domingo, districts are established within them.
The circuit is the locality where the set of quality public services is within reach of citizens; it is formed by the presence of several establishments in a territory within a district. It corresponds to a parish or a group of parishes; there are 1134 circuits with an average of 11,000 inhabitants.
The zones, districts and circuits are deconcentrated levels for the administration and planning of the public services of some ministries of the Executive Function. They were formed respecting the political-administrative division; that is, they correspond to a new form of planning in the territory but not to new levels of government. Therefore, the levels of government retain autonomy and governability at the level of provinces, cantons and parishes.
The planning levels seek to provide an ideal supply of services in the territory, supported by a planned, deconcentrated, articulated and equitable State, with greater coverage and quality of public services., composed of two or more contiguous provinces, in order to decentralize the administrative functions of the capital, Quito.[72] At the same time, the constitution seeks to bring them to a system of autonomies through the election by universal suffrage of Regional Governors and a body of Councilors, in order to pursue policies of complementary development among provinces, focused on tourism, investment, trade, etc. In Ecuador there are seven zones, each made up of the following provinces:
In addition:
8: 
Metropolitan District of Guayaquil: Guayaquil, Durán, Samborondón
9: 
Metropolitan District of Quito: Quito (already formed)
10: 
Special Regime of Galápagos
Defense
The defense of the country is the responsibility of the Armed Forces of Ecuador, which are part of the public force and responsible for the integrity and sovereignty of the national territory; they number 167,910 active personnel and 185,000 reserves within the Land Forces, the Navy and the Air Force. They have weapons bought from the United Kingdom, Chile, France, the United States, South Africa and Brazil.
This involves participation in the social sector and the economic development of the country and the provision of assistance in maintaining internal order. Their tasks include the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, and operations against illegal migration. They carry out social development programs such as providing teachers for rural schools through an agreement with the Ministry of Education.
Environmental protection is also a priority; several programs were implemented, such as: National Forestation and Ornamentation, Lonely Tree, Green Surveillance, Fire Plan Ecuador Forestal and the Arenillas Military Reserve. The Armed Forces are an essential part of the country's infrastructure and are therefore highly valued by society. The Ecuadorian territory is divided into five military regions called «Joint Task Forces», four in the continental territory, and the fifth is the Naval Base of the insular zone (including the Galápagos Islands). The overseas territories also include the Pedro Vicente Maldonado Base in Antarctica.
In addition, Ecuador is the country that spends the most on defense in relation to its GDP among all the countries of UNASUR, devoting 2.74 % of its GDP to the Armed Forces. The Minister of Defense, Fernando Cordero, justified this by saying that the spending goes to maintaining personnel.[73]
Geography
Ecuador lies on the Earth's equatorial line, so its territory lies in both hemispheres.[74] It comprises two areas distant from each other: the continental territory in northwestern South America with some islands adjacent to the coast, and the archipelago or insular province of Galápagos, which lies 1000 kilometers from the Ecuadorian coast in the Pacific Ocean.
Relief
The main relief units of Ecuador are the coastal plain north of the Gulf of Guayaquil, the section of the Andes mountain range in the center of the country and an extensive sector of the Amazon plain located in the east of the country.
To the southwest lies 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 Cotopaxi, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.
The highest point of Ecuador is the Chimborazo volcano, at 6,315 m above sea level,[75] whose summit is the place farthest from the core of the Earth because of the elliptical shape of the planet. In the state area of Ecuador there are 22 mountains over 3500 meters high, all of them in the Andes. They extend over the three mountain chains, the Cordillera Central, the Cordillera Occidental and the Inter-Andean, and 9 of them are active or potentially active volcanoes.
Hydrography
Ecuador is the country with the most rivers per square meter in the world. The Andean mountain range is the divortium aquarum between the drainage basin of the Amazon River, which flows east, and that of the Pacific, which includes from north to south the rivers Mataje, Santiago, Esmeraldas, Chone, Guayas, Jubones and Puyango-Tumbes.
Climate
The country has a very varied climate, for although its latitudinal position gives it tropical characteristics, that type of climate is only found in one third of the territory (the Northern Coast in the provinces of Esmeraldas, Santo Domingo and Los Ríos; and the Amazon Region); in the remaining two thirds of the country there are other defined climates, such as the humid temperate subtropical and dry, the continental subtropical, the Mediterranean, tropical highland, tropical savanna, mountain, oceanic biome and desert. Air quality is very good because of the presence of large natural forests, national parks and the Amazon rainforest, since 20 % of the country is ecological reserve. Because of the presence of the Andes mountain range and the influence of the sea, continental Ecuador is climatically fragmented into various sectors. In addition, because of its equatorial location, each climate zone has only two defined seasons: the wet and the dry, wrongly called «winter» and «summer» respectively, as happens in other regions of the globe where, because of their location near the equatorial line, true winters and summers do not occur.
In the coastal region of the country, the temperature ranges from 16°C in some sectors of Manabí province to 34°C in Guayas province in the dry season, while in the wet season the temperature ranges between 20°C (Manabí) and 38°C (Guayas). In the highlands it is usually between 0°C and 29°C depending on the altitude of the cities. The wet season runs from December to May on the coast, from November to April in the highlands and from January to September in the Amazon. The Galápagos Islands have a rather temperate climate and their temperature ranges between approximately 17°C and 32°C.
These wet and dry seasons cause different climatic seasons in each region of the country. Temperatures vary greatly with the altitude of the highlands, the Amazon region, the coast of the country and the insular region.
Thus, from January to May it is mainly the wet season, with the main beach season throughout the coastal region or Ecuadorian coast. In those same months it is also the wet season in the highlands, with mostly cloudy and cool days.
Conversely, from June to December it is the dry season in the coastal or littoral region; while some beaches with a more moderate climate continue to be enjoyed by tourists (mostly in the Province of Esmeraldas), others are somewhat cooler (such as Salinas) compared to other times of the year, and they also receive tourists from the highlands and neighboring countries. In the highlands, in those same months the country has a dry season, with warm, sunny days and cold nights, even more so when the sky is clear.
The country's capital, Quito, has spring-like temperatures almost all year round, although during the dry season temperatures can drop as low as 3°C at night and can reach 26°C during the day. Noteworthy are the high levels of radiation that occur on sunny days in the Sierra, which make it necessary to use protection against UV rays. An opposite extreme is the populous city of Guayaquil, where temperatures can even reach 40°C during the first months of the year, depending on how the rains come.
Because of global warming, phenomena unusual at these latitudes have occurred more frequently; for example, there have been recurrent snowfalls in Papallacta, Province of Napo, located at about 3,000 m above sea level;[79][80] although cold waves are somewhat usual in the Sierra. In recent years sub-zero temperatures have been experienced in cities such as Quito, Ambato, Cuenca, Riobamba and Latacunga.[81][82]
Fauna
Ecuador is one of the most environmentally well-preserved countries in the world; in addition, its geographical and latitudinal situation, as well as its climatic and orographic conditions, have shaped Ecuador into the country with the most animal species in the region, and one of the 10 countries with the highest endemism worldwide. To understand its fauna we must stress that Ecuador contains four regions that strongly mark its fauna; for example, the Amazon region concentrates unique species of amphibians, mammals such as capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, bearded monkeys, black panthers, bears, pacas, jaguars, oncillas, ocelots, pumas, capybaras, tapirs and others; as well as countless reptiles such as caimans, crocodiles, boas, anacondas and venomous snakes, among others, as well as birds such as the toucan, ibis, parakeets, macaws, songbirds, eagle and condor.
Flora
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Ecuador has a rich fauna and flora, which is why it is on the list of megadiverse countries.[83] 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 biome of dry forest and mangroves. The fauna of Ecuador is very extensive, with a great variety of species and countless types of tropical species such as macaws, toucans, turtles, frogs, etc.
In the north of the Province of Esmeraldas, in a place known as Majagual, are the tallest mangroves in the world.
In the high mountains there are also scattered forests and Andean páramos. The west is part of the biogeographic Chocó and the East of the Amazon.
The Galápagos Islands have a great variety of endemic species, which were studied in his time 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 because of the peculiarity of their fauna, especially the tortoises known as «Galápagos».
In 1986 the sea surrounding the islands was declared a marine reserve. UNESCO included Galápagos on the list of World Heritage in 1978, and in December 2001 this declaration was extended to the marine reserve.
There is also the Yasuní National Park; the term Yasuní, whose linguistic origin is unknown, means «sacred land» as generally interpreted by communities of the area; the park extends over an area of 9820 square kilometers in the provinces of Pastaza and Orellana, between the Napo River and the Curaray River, in the heart of the Amazon basin about 250 kilometers southeast of Quito.
The park, fundamentally jungle, 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, live.
According to a recent study, Yasuní National Park and the underlying extended area are considered the most biodiverse area on the planet for their wealth of amphibians, birds, mammals and plants. This park has more animal species per hectare than all of Europe put together.
Chimborazo is the highest volcano and mountain of Ecuador and the point farthest from the center of the Earth, that is, the point closest to outer space, which is why it is called «the point closest to the Sun», because the Earth's diameter at the equatorial latitude is greater than at the latitude of Everest (approximately 28º north). Its last known eruption is believed to have occurred around 550 AD. It is located in the central Andes, 150 km southwest of Quito and 20 km northeast of Riobamba.
Demographics
Data produced by the INEC report that as of February (2015) 16,178,162 people live in Ecuador.[84][85] Ecuador is the sixth country with the fastest aging in Latin America, after Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay, after the 2010 censuses showed that more than 17 % of the population is over 65, more than 40 % of the population is middle-aged adult, and the average age is between 27.3 and 35.8 years, although it is still a country with a young population.
Life expectancy in Ecuador is around 73.5 years for men and 79 years for women; in 2011 Ecuador was the fourth country with the most long-lived people in the Americas, after Chile, Costa Rica and Canada, and ahead of the United States and Argentina, with what happens in the Vilcabamba Valley, located in the Province of Loja only 30 km from the City of Loja, being special;[86] in Ecuador 100 girls are born for every 93 boys. Likewise, regarding the sex of the adult population, around 49.4 % is made up of men and 50.6 % of women. These figures vary even more in favor of women in the provinces of the Ecuadorian central highlands.[87]
63 % of the population lives in urban areas and 37 % in rural areas. It should be noted that, given the high population density and the small territorial extent, the concentration of settlements is high, so cities and rural towns are very close to one another. The Ecuadorian rural population is the rural population with the third best quality of life in Latin America, after Uruguay and Cuba; the Ecuadorian population is mostly settled in the urban areas of Ecuador, 44 % of the urban population lives in the 15 largest cities of the country, of which Guayaquil and Quito account for around 60 % of the urban population; this results from factors such as urban expansion into rural population centers and the improvement of living standards in the rural sector over the last decade, where quality infrastructure has been provided in health centers, education, roads, improvement of agro-industrial production, basic services, low cost of living, etc. The migration of rural population to urban areas is a phenomenon in Ecuador that runs counter to the trend experienced in the rest of Hispanic America.
The country's birth rate recently fell to 1.8 children per woman in the 2010 census, which showed a trend toward accelerated population aging, typical behavior of a country with a growing economy. Even with these INEC data, Ecuador is the seventh most populous country in South America, and the eighth most populous of 33 countries in Latin America. It is the most densely populated country in South America, with 54 inhabitants per square kilometer.[88]
Cities
Quito, the capital city, has 1,978,376 inhabitants in the urban area, 2,735,987 inhabitants in the Metropolitan District and more than 3 million in its entire metropolitan area, making it the most populous city in the country. It is the seat of government, where the powers of the state are concentrated, and it was the first city to be declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, because it is also the cultural center of the country.
Guayaquil, the second most populous city of Ecuador, has 2,278,691[89] inhabitants in its urban area and 2,991,061 in its metropolitan area. A hub of concentration for the cities of the center of the country, it is also the main port of Ecuador, through which approximately 70 % of the country's imports and exports are traded.
According to the projections provided by the INEC for 2013, one in three Ecuadorians lives in Quito or Guayaquil; together the two cities have a population of more than 5.8 million inhabitants. Other important cities are Cuenca, Machala, Santo Domingo, Ambato, Portoviejo, Manta and Loja.
| Most populous cities of Ecuador (without metropolitan area) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | Province | Population | |||||||||||||
| 1 | |
Quito |  |
Pichincha | 2 735 987 | ||||||||||
| 2 | |
Guayaquil |  |
Guayas | 2 698 077 | ||||||||||
| 3 |  |
Cuenca |  |
Azuay | 329 928 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Santo Domingo |  |
Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas | 270 875 | |||||||||||
| 5 |  |
Machala |  |
El Oro | 231 260 | ||||||||||
| 6 |  |
Durán | |
Guayas | 230 839 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Manta |  |
Manabí | 217 553 | |||||||||||
| 8 |  |
Portoviejo | |
Manabí | 206 682 | ||||||||||
| 9 |  |
Loja |  |
Loja | 170 280 | ||||||||||
| 10 |  |
Ambato | |
Tungurahua | 165 185 | ||||||||||
| Statistics according to the 2010 census[90][91] | |||||||||||||||
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Ethnography
Self-identification of the population
The 2010 Census asked Ecuadorians over 15 about their self-identification, with the result that 71.9 % of people identified as mestizo, 7.4 % as montubio, 7.8 % as Afro-Ecuadorian, 7.1 % as indigenous, 7 % as white and 0.4 % as other.[92] This represented a change from 2001, when the data were as follows: mestizo 77.4 %, indigenous 6.8 %, Afro-descendant 5 %, white 10.5 % and other 0.3 %.[92]
| Mestizos | Montubios | Afro-Ecuadorians | Indigenous | Whites | others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 71.9 % | 7.0 % | 7.8 % | 7.1 % | 7.0 % | 0.3 % |
Genetic composition of the population
Genetic studies of the Ecuadorian population carried out by the University of the Americas and led by a group of expert geneticists who graduated from the Autonomous University of Madrid have shown a composition somewhat typical of northern South America, dividing the population into three large groups: mestizos, Afro-descendants and natives; the presence of the three components was found in all three groups mentioned, only the proportion varying. The study also revealed possible anomalies, advantages and predispositions in the genes of most Ecuadorians, among them a high degree of immunity to malaria in the Afro population and high rates of lactose tolerance in mestizos. The European-descended population was not included in the analysis, on the assumption that its genetics are purely Caucasian.[94][95][96]
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Language
The official language is Spanish, with its own characteristics and idioms specific to each area or region; together with Quechua and Shuar, they are official languages of intercultural relations, as stated by the constitution of Ecuador in Article 2 of the first chapter on the constituent elements of the state. Wao Terero, Tsáfiqui and «the other ancestral languages are of official use for the indigenous peoples, on the terms set by law».
According to the 2001 census,[97] 94 % of the population speaks Spanish, 4.8 % speak a native language together with Spanish and 1.1 % speak only a native language.[98] Of the 13 native languages counted by that Census, Quichua, spoken by 4.1 % of the population, is the most widespread. The second native language is Shuar, spoken by 0.55 % of the population.[99] In most of the country's public schools English is taught in a neutral way.
Spanish is the language spoken by the majority in Ecuador, although it has differences depending on many factors, the most important of which is the region. In the country there are three main variants:
Although these are the main variants of Spanish in the country, there are many other factors that influence a person's speech, such as ethnicity, social class or whether one lives in the countryside or the city. Because the coast and the Andean region are the two most inhabited regions of the country, their dialects are the most relevant in the country, both very different from each other. There are many idioms specific to each province or region, as well as others that are understood and used throughout the country.
Coast
This variant of Spanish is classified within the Equatorial Spanish dialect, which extends from the coastal areas of the southern Colombian Pacific to the northern coast of Peru, crossing the Ecuadorian coast. The influential linguistic center of this dialect region is the port city of Guayaquil.
Its most notable characteristic is the aspiration of the letter s at the end of words or when it precedes another consonant, often being pronounced as a soft j or as an English h [h].[100]
This variant of Spanish, spoken throughout the coastal region of the country as well as the plains bordering the west of the Andes mountain range, represents a transition zone between the Caribbean varieties of northern Colombia and Venezuela and the riverine dialects of central and southern Peru; there are therefore certain features shared with both which, to a foreigner's ear, make it difficult to identify the Ecuadorian coastal dialect.
Thus, the dialects of the Coast govern and set the phonemic focus of tonal-accentual transition of American Spanish, which expands geographically from the Caribbean and Mesoamerican semi-grave intonation to the north (since concrete gravity belongs to the variants of peninsular or European Castilian) toward the intense sharpness found to the south, typical of Peruvian, Chilean and Bolivian tonalities.
In addition, the variant has incorporated into its lexicon a series of words shared with the rest of the dialect varieties of Ecuador, which are understood only within the country. Most of them are words from the Andean Spanish of Ecuador, with Quichua influences, even though the Quechua language had no historical presence on the Ecuadorian coast. This is the case of the word "ñaño" (brother), very widespread throughout the country and of Quichua origin.
One of the most relevant accents of the region is that of the city of Guayaquil, the second largest city in the country. Being a large city that throughout its history has grown demographically thanks to migration, there are many dialect differences within the city itself, mainly associated with social class, ethnicity and level of schooling. Among the more educated classes there is a tendency to correct the accent toward a more standard Castilian, and they incorporate foreign words into their lexicon, especially from English. Among the less educated classes there are other dialect varieties. One group of people tends to have an intonation more like that of a coastal peasant, pronouncing a lengthened voiceless s, while another group tends to have a stronger intonation, usually known as "street", in which the letter s is often pronounced as /sh/, besides having a series of words of its own that are not always understood by the rest of the speakers of the region.
Outside the city of Guayaquil, the same dialect tends to be spoken in all the coastal provinces (with the exception of Esmeraldas province) with slight local variations. An important variant is the dialect spoken by the montubios (peasants of the Ecuadorian coast), who tend to stress the first syllable of most words.
In the Province of Manabí there is a series of dialects, also distinct, that make it easily identifiable as a separate variety of the Ecuadorian coastal accent.
The province of Esmeraldas, on the other hand, has a notable variant very different from that of the rest of the region, with a strong African component, which closely resembles that of the coastal region bordering Colombia. Because this region has a majority of Afro-descendant inhabitants, this dialect tends to be somewhat stronger and to have features of its own in both lexicon and intonation.
Andes
In the Ecuadorian highlands a variant of Spanish is usually spoken that many foreigners compare with the Mexican Chilango Spanish. In this region we find four main variants: Pastuso Spanish, central Andean Spanish, Morlaco and Lojano. The Spanish spoken in the Ecuadorian Andes tends to have many idioms taken from the Kichwa language, the language of the native indigenous people of this region. Words such as "ñaño/a" or "taita" are used by people of any ethnicity or social class in this area (taita is a well-accepted loanword in the Andes; Corominas says of Taita: "(...) es imposible suponer origen americano a esta palabra castellana heredada del latín,...").[101] Voseo is relatively common in this part of the country, used only for informal conversations between friends or family.
In Carchi, an Andean province bordering Colombia, a very special variation is spoken, similar to that of the Colombian department of Nariño. From the provinces of Imbabura and Pichincha and the Metropolitan District of Quito, a Spanish is usually spoken with many Colombian and Iberian loans, as well as many anglicisms; the way of speaking here differs greatly depending on the social stratum one belongs to. From Cotopaxi to the limits of the Central Sierra (Chimborazo Province), a Spanish is spoken with contributions mainly from Quichua and with certain influences from the Coast. In the northern region, a major variant is found in the Chota Valley in the Province of Imbabura, a valley inhabited by Afro-descendants; this dialect is different from the common Andean dialect, but in turn different from the dialect spoken by Afro-descendants on the coast.
In the provinces of Cañar and Azuay a rather peculiar variant is spoken, the "Morlaco" dialect. It is characterized by its "singsong" or intonation typical of the area, with many syllables stressed where they do not belong. Likewise, the letter "r" tends to be strongly dragged, sounding more like "sh". This area also has many idioms used only here, such as the word "gara". Loja Province also has its own variant, with a rather neutral intonation.
The cities of Quito and Ibarra are a special case, since the speech of these cities is not compatible with the dialects of the highlands and the rest of the country, being enormously similar to the Spanish of northern and central Chile, and with features brought by the Spaniards, who make up an important part of the population in both cities; the features of Rioplatense Spanish, voseo, certain Quichua contributions and countless anglicisms are what characterize the Spanish of these two cities of northern Ecuador.
Amazon
In the Amazon region of the country a variant of Spanish similar to the Ecuadorian Andean dialect is spoken. In the north it has the influence of the Quijos, who use tú and conjugate the verb in usted. In Morona Santiago Province there is a mixture of the indigenous highland Quichua Spanish of the central highlands and Morlaco Spanish (referring to that of Azuay and Cañar). In Zamora Chinchipe Province it has a considerable influence of the Lojano accent with a slight variation from the local native dialects.
Galápagos Islands
In the Galápagos Islands a dialect is spoken that is extremely similar to that of the coast of continental Ecuador. There are no great variations of importance, since this is a sparsely inhabited region compared with the rest of the regions of the country. The dialects of the groups that exist there are also known.
Religion
In 2012 the Ecuadorian Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) carried out a census (only in the main cities) in which 91.95 % of respondents answered that they have a religion, 7.94 % defined themselves as atheist and 0.11 % identified as agnostic. Within the group that professes a religion, 80.40 % defined themselves as Catholic and 11.30 % as evangelical. Other religions mentioned by respondents were: Mormonism (1.42 %), Jehovah's Witnesses (1.29 %), Buddhism (0.29 %) and Spiritism (0.12 %).
Of the total number of people who answered that they belong to a religion, 39.7 % in turn considered themselves people who believe in God but do not attend Eucharistic celebrations, and the remaining 60.3 % answered that they do attend them regularly, making it one of the key countries for Catholicism in the Americas.[citation needed]
According to the statistics center Pewforum (United States), religious affiliation in Ecuador is as follows:[citation needed]
- 83.4 % Catholics
- 10.7 % other Christians (Protestants, Orthodox)
- 5.5 % unaffiliated (atheists and agnostics)
- 0.4 % other religions (especially Spiritists)
In 2011 the survey carried out by Latinobarómetro interviewed 1189 people in Ecuador. (The number refers to the people who answered the interview.) Of these, 1005 declared themselves Catholic, 149 affiliated with other religions, 33 not affiliated with any religion, 2 atheists and agnostics. Of the 1189, 1060 are practicing. Of these, 624 are practicing or very practicing.
Therefore, in percentages, religious affiliation in Ecuador is as follows:
- 84.5 % Catholics
- 12.5 % other religions
- 2.8 % unaffiliated
- 0.2 % atheists and agnostics
- 52.5 % practicing or very practicing.
Migration
Between 1998 and 2002 Ecuador went through a severe economic, political and financial crisis, which was accentuated by the phenomenon of dollarization, which caused the Sucre to devalue to levels never seen before, leading to its disappearance and to the country adopting the dollar of the United States as its valid currency.
This measure directly affected the most vulnerable sectors of society, causing poverty and destitution levels in the country to grow, reducing their purchasing power to minimal levels, and was accompanied by a series of economic phenomena that contracted the economy nationwide, increasing unemployment in the country, so that family income could not even cover the basic basket of goods.
Under this discouraging outlook, a large part of Ecuadorians, not having a fixed income that would allow them to meet their basic needs, chose to offer their labor abroad, since in certain countries job offers and pay levels considerably higher than those obtainable in Ecuador were available; for this reason several countries of Europe (mainly Spain) and the United States began to recruit people to do heavy work, which nonetheless represented hope for those going through economic problems; therefore, despite great efforts and even entering other countries illegally, they went into debt to travel and risked the little they had in order to achieve better incomes that would allow them to cover the basic needs of their families, but above all with the desire to obtain more dignified pay, to improve their standard of living and that of their children; but in many cases the cost of this was the breakdown of families.
From 2007 to the present, the recovery of the economy to levels of up to 8 % per year, the factors of the global economic crisis in the first world, the Colombian military conflict, immigration reforms and international integration policies in Ecuador completely changed the migration landscape, now attracting a large number of immigrants.
Emigration
At the beginning of the 20th century, very few Ecuadorians left the country to settle elsewhere.
Between the 1910s and 1920s, because of the boom of cinchona bark and rubber in the East, as well as that of cacao on the Coast, the old landowners and the emerging class of new magnates began to send their children to study abroad, particularly in France. That emigration was selective and occasional, and resulted in those who went to Europe or the United States not counting for much in the statistics of those countries.
It was from the 1950s that the departure of low-income people began to be recorded, traveling mainly to the United States to «improve their economic situation» out of necessity, and of some middle-income people who went «to try their luck», more out of adventure than necessity.
In the 1970s the emigrants' destinations came to include countries such as Australia and Canada. People from the central Sierra, as well as from Azuay and Cañar, saw their family groups reduced. This migration did not yet affect local statistics.
By the 1980s, human movement abroad began to acquire dimensions that already had an impact on the economy and on society. The influence of fashions, manners and customs began to permeate, above all in lower-middle and lower class households.
After the acute economic and financial crisis of 1999, it is estimated that more than three million Ecuadorians (20 % of the total population projected for 2005) left the country for different destinations, most of them heading to the United States, Spain and Italy (to these three destinations they went mainly as labor). There was also emigration to other countries such as Venezuela (in the 1980s and 1990s), Chile (with a good number of medical professionals or people linked to this field), Canada (technical professionals) and, to a lesser degree and for various reasons, to Israel, Belgium, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Emigration has continued throughout the early years of the 21st century.[102] It is not known exactly how many Ecuadorians have emigrated, nor are there exact statistics on the number of them residing in each country, although unofficially it is estimated that almost 600,000 Ecuadorians live in Spain alone.
In January 2007 the national Government created the National Secretariat of the Migrant (Senami), in charge of defining public policy on human mobility (migration, emigration, immigration, refuge, etc.), whose guidelines were recorded in the Constitution of 2008. Ecuador then developed important human mobility issues, including several principles of the Declaration of Human Rights that had been sidestepped. Likewise, the Virtual Social Network of Migrant Persons was created, and in January 2017 the Human Mobility Law was officially issued, which safeguards the Rights of migrants inside and outside the country. The latter was recognized by UNHCR as an example of comprehensive protection for all people on the move, positioning Ecuador as a benchmark in the promulgation of the Human Rights of migrants. After 2002 emigration has been decreasing year after year with economic stability, and it fell more sharply with the onset of the first-world crisis in 2007 and the significant development of the national economy; since 2010 it has been practically limited to migration for student scholarships and merely tourist or commercial reasons.
Immigration
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But despite a long history of migration from Ecuador, it has received immigrants throughout its history and currently receives tens of thousands of people from different countries who had to leave their countries of origin for different reasons.
Initially, during the colony, immigration centered on European citizens attracted by agricultural exploitation; then, during the early republican era, immigration consisted of Christian Arabs and Europeans (mainly Spaniards, Belgians, Dutch, Italians and French) attracted because of economic crises and fleeing wars, among other reasons.
Later, during the 20th century, immigration was mostly from other Latin American countries, people who arrived because of civil wars, as well as economic crises and dictatorships, among other reasons, mainly Argentines, Chileans and Uruguayans; as well as immigrants fleeing the Second World War, among others.
At present, and especially since 2002, the flow of migrants to Ecuador has been rapid and significant. Immigration has centered mainly on Colombians who have fled the internal conflict in that country. It is argued that about 350,000 Colombians live in Ecuador.[104][105]
A better standard of living is another reason for immigration from Cuba, Haiti, Bolivia, Peru, China and, in smaller numbers, from other American countries; they come to Ecuador mainly in search of work, attracted by the jobs left by Ecuadorian migrants and by a good economic, productive and social bonanza offered by the country, especially from 2005 onward with laws that protect migrants and the participation they have been given in the social and political sphere, and which, after the crisis unleashed in Europe and North America, has even caused the return home of many tens of thousands of Ecuadorians with facilities for their return and for settling with a job and adequate conditions for their residence.
Some foreign television and sports personalities have settled firmly because of the high recognition they have received from Ecuadorians in their fields of activity, which in many cases has led them to apply for naturalization, start families and make work investments in the country.[106][107] From 2007 a policy for the return of Ecuadorian migrants was applied that established facilities for them to return to the country with all their furniture, work materials and accessories and even a family vehicle, with total exemptions from taxes and customs duties, as well as access to housing and financial credit, accompanied by an economic boom and employment opportunities; this produced a significant return flow of nationals that has increased considerably and became even more pronounced as a result of the economic crisis affecting Europe and North America.
Likewise, several important targeted immigration policies aim to attract quality professionals for research at universities and polytechnic schools, to cover shortages and improve university teaching, medical specialties for public hospitals, etc., which has represented a strong flow with attractive incentives that has helped not only the return of quality Ecuadorian professionals but also the arrival of foreigners for the same purposes.
The last group of immigrants, which reflects the high international regard for Ecuador, consists of Europeans, North Americans and other Latin Americans who have come to the country for reasons of investment and comfort, attracted by the natural landscapes and the variety of climates and species; they have established their residences in tourist sites such as Amazonian localities; the city of Baños de Agua Santa in Tungurahua Province; cities such as Cuenca, Guayaquil, Quito, Loja, Bahía de Caráquez, Salinas, etc.; the cities, towns and villages of Imbabura (Otavalo, Cotacachi and Ibarra); the beach resorts of the Ruta del Sol and the Ruta del Spondyllus, the Galápagos Islands and national parks, among others.
Many have also chosen it as a retirement destination for the elderly and for medical treatment because of the economic advantages and the cost of living in Ecuador compared with what they would face in their countries of origin, as well as the tranquility, accessibility and comfort this country offers, rated as excellent by several international analyses, studies and reports that place it first in this category; for this reason, in Cotacachi alone, by 2007 more than 13,000 German and Swiss retirees and veterans had come to stay permanently.[108]
Economy
The economy of Ecuador is the seventh largest in Latin America and grew by an average of 4.6 % between 2000 and 2006.[109] In January 2009 the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE) put the growth forecast for 2010 at 6.88 %.[110] GDP doubled between 1999 and 2007, reaching 65,490 million dollars according to the BCE.[111] Consumer inflation up to January 2008 stood at around 1.14 %, the highest recorded in the last year, according to INEC. The monthly unemployment rate stayed at around 6 to 8 percent from December 2007 to September 2008; however, it rose to around 9 % in October and fell again in November 2008 to 8 %.[112] It is estimated that about 9 million Ecuadorians have an economic occupation and some 1.01 million inhabitants are inactive.[113]
In 1998 the richest 10 % of the population had 42.5 % of income, while the poorest 10 % had only 0.6 % of income. In the same year, 7.6 % of public health spending went to the poorest 20 % of the population, while the richest 20 % received 38.1 % of that same spending. The extreme poverty rate decreased significantly between 1999 and 2010. In 2001 it was estimated at 40 % of the population, while by 2010 the figure had fallen to 16.5 % of the total population. This is largely explained by emigration, as well as by the economic stability achieved after dollarization.[114] Poverty rates were higher for indigenous, Afro-descendant and rural populations, reaching 44 % of the native population[115]
Oil accounts for 40 % of exports and helps maintain a positive trade balance. Since the late 1960s, oil exploitation has raised production, and its reserves are estimated at 4,036 million barrels[116] The total trade balance for January 2010 reached a surplus of almost 5000 million dollars, a gigantic figure compared with the 2007 surplus, which reached 5.7 million dollars; the surplus decreased by about 425 million compared with that of 2006. This happened because imports grew faster than exports. The oil trade balance generated a positive figure of 3,295 million dollars in 2008, while the non-oil balance was negative by 2842 million dollars. This meant a trade deficit, excluding oil, of 19 % in relation to the previous year. The trade balance with the United States, Chile, the European Union and the European countries that are partners of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil is positive; with Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Asia it is negative.[117]
In the agricultural sector, Ecuador is an important exporter of bananas (first in the world in their production and export) and of flowers, and the eighth largest producer of cacao in the world. Its production of shrimp, sugarcane, rice, cotton, corn, hearts of palm and coffee is also significant. Its timber wealth includes large expanses of eucalyptus throughout the country, as well as mangrove. Pines and cedars are planted in the Sierra region; walnuts and romerillo; and balsa wood in the Guayas River basin. Industry, on the other hand, is concentrated mainly in Guayaquil, the largest industrial center of the country, and in Quito, where industry has grown considerably in recent years; it is also the country's largest business center.[118] Industrial production is aimed mainly at the domestic market. Despite this, there is a limited export of industrially made or processed products. Among these are canned foods, liquors, jewelry, furniture and more.
Ecuador has negotiated bilateral treaties with other countries, besides belonging to the Andean Community of Nations and being an associate member of Mercosur. It is also a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) and other multilateral bodies. In April 2007 Ecuador paid off its debt to the IMF in full, thus ending a stage of interventionism by this body in the country. In 2007 the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) was created, with its permanent seat in Quito. It has also taken part in the creation of the Bank of the South, together with six other South American nations. Ecuador held negotiations to sign a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, but with the election of President Correa these negotiations were suspended.
The public financial system of Ecuador is made up of the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE), BanEcuador B.P., the Banco del Estado, the Corporación Financiera Nacional, the Banco Ecuatoriano de la Vivienda (BEV) and the Instituto Ecuatoriano de Crédito Educativo y Becas.
Ecuador has currently banned the use of Bitcoin. The Central Bank of the State issued the following message:
"The Central Bank of Ecuador informs the public that bitcoin is not an authorized means of payment for use in the country. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency without backing, since its value rests on speculation. Financial transactions carried out through bitcoin are not controlled, supervised or regulated by any entity in Ecuador, which is why its use represents a financial risk for those who use it.
It is important to point out that the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, over the Internet is not prohibited; however, it is stressed that bitcoin is not legal tender and is not authorized as a means of payment for goods and services in Ecuador, as established by article 94 of the Organic Monetary and Financial Code."[119]
The ban stems from the intention for the State to create its own virtual currency.
Current economic situation
From 2007, with an economy overwhelmed by the economic crisis, a series of economic policy reforms helped set the Ecuadorian economy on a path of sustained, considerable development focused on achieving financial, political and social stability, based on the trend taken by the Latin American region, which helped it not to be affected by the first world's global crisis in 2010.
Taxes aimed at changing consumption habits; development of strategic and priority sectors; construction and improvement of key sectors; development of domestic industry; clear policies on trade, competitiveness, strategic investment, labor improvement, etc., have helped achieve outstanding economic growth, reaching more than 8 % per year in 2011, reflected in a clear decrease in begging and extreme poverty, stability of the middle class, a narrowing of the gap between social classes, job creation and an increase in domestic trade, among others.
All this was accompanied by new international markets and cooperation, mainly with Asian and Latin American countries. Examples are the formal application to become a full member of Mercosur, the creation of new embassies in Asia, the strengthening of bodies such as CELAC, CAN, ALBA, UNASUR, etc., and the implementation of projects such as the Manta-Manaus axis as an alternative to the Panama Canal and the alternative navigability project along the Morona - Amazon rivers.
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In the rural areas, where roughly 40 % of the country's population lives, it is estimated that 40 % of the inhabitants of that fraction live in conditions of need. Many of these cases resulted from their not having been considered for decades when investing in education and infrastructure works, such as lacking suitable land, sufficient irrigation and good access roads. Although notable progress has been seen in reversing this situation in recent years, with significant investments in education and infrastructure, together with credits, which have improved the life of the Ecuadorian peasantry and have managed to halt migration to the cities, as reflected in the 2010 census, in which the rural population reached 37.23 % compared with 62.77 % urban.
The most notable indicators in 2012 were the reduction of unemployment to the lowest levels the country has had in its history, falling to 4.6 %, while underemployment stood at 39.66 %, according to INEC data, taking into account that most of the Ecuadorian population is of working age. Other data follow, such as income poverty having fallen to 16.3 %, and an estimated economic growth above the Latin American average of 5.4 % for 2012 according to ECLAC, and a forecast for this year of 5.3 %, centered mostly on the non-oil sector. [120]
In the "Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018"[121] Ecuador is ranked 97th, a difference of 6 points compared with the previous edition. According to it, one of the problematic factors that stand out in the country is political instability, which turns out to be an important factor since it influences the decisions of potential foreign investors; in the previous report it was in fifth place, and it now leads the list with a change of head of state whose first acts have generated uncertainty in one part of the Ecuadorian people and, in the other large part, relief from the previous administration. The country still faces challenges such as the lack of training in managing its resources, but its progress remains notable.
Some of its current strengths are infrastructure, market size, higher education and, as the main index, health and primary education, which has improved some seven points compared with the "Global Competitiveness Index 2016-2017"[122], where it ranks 68th. Although the rise shown by Ecuador's GDP from 2000 to 2014 has given way to a decline from that year on, for 2018 the IMF forecasts an improvement in the country's GDP that will place it at a slightly positive figure, 0.6 %, with a slight improvement reducing inflation from 0.8 % in 2017 to 0.7 % in 2018.[123]
According to the World Bank, the poverty rate in Ecuador fell from 36.7% in 2007 to 22.5% in 2014. At the same time the Gini Coefficient index, which measures income inequality, went from 0.55% to 0.47% (perfect equality is 0%).[124]
Infrastructure
The country has a wide range of areas of exploitation, mining, oil, agriculture and livestock, aquaculture and poultry, which have been used throughout its history and are now developed in a more objective, focused and orderly way, oriented toward environmental conservation (e.g. the Yasuní reserve) and short- and long-term profitability, becoming increasingly independent of international dependence or private suppliers to meet general or priority needs in national development.
Industry
The country has potential for industry in a great variety of sectors, such as oil; domestic production of textile and manufactured raw materials; mining; the chemical and petrochemical industry; as well as oil and gas, since it has the main input of this industry; electricity generation, because of its very high hydraulic, solar and wind potential in various parts of the country; the manufacture of products based on the smelting of materials or glass; agro-industrial and processed food production; and pharmaceutical production, among others.
The most relevant projects currently under development are the Pacific refinery, located in Manta, which will be one of the largest in the region and will allow Ecuador to go from being an importer of oil derivatives to an exporter of them; the various hydroelectric projects, the most notable so far under construction being Coca Codo Sinclair, which will generate about 40 % of the country's current demand and which, together with the other projects, will allow Ecuador to be one of the main exporters of electricity on the continent; and large-scale mining, which signed its first contract in history in March 2012 and will allow it to be one of the highest-earning extractive industries together with oil, since several deposits of various metals have been found in Azuay, Morona Santiago, El Oro and Zamora Chinchipe; in the last of these the aforementioned contract is already under way, with more than 5,000 million dollars in net income to the Ecuadorian State, apart from others.
Transport
The rehabilitation and reopening, after decades of neglect, of the Ecuadorian railway along its entire route, considered one of the most adventurous, beautiful and diverse; begun under the government of Gabriel García Moreno and considered one of the most complicated to build at the time because of the conditions of the terrain on which it was built.
Ecuador's road system has undergone enormous development in recent years, with quite considerable projects already under way, such as building expressways or highways throughout its territory. It currently has almost its entire road network paved, with modern signage and safety features, and all projects focus on 6-lane roads. The most important roads are the Panamericana (currently being widened from 4 to 6 lanes from Rumichaca to Ambato, with completion of 4 lanes along the whole stretch from Ambato to Riobamba and the Colta lagoon, widening in Cañar Province, improvement between Azogues and Cuenca and the section already in operation to Loja); the Ruta del Espondilus and/or Ruta del Sol (designed for travel along the entire Ecuadorian coastline); and the Amazon trunk road (which crosses the entire Ecuadorian Amazon from north to south, linking most of its most important cities). Other projects of great importance under development are the Manta - Tena road; the Guayaquil - Salinas highway; the Aloag - Santo Domingo road; Riobamba - Macas (forgotten for more than 40 years, and which crosses the Sangay national park); the Unidad Nacional bridge complex in Guayaquil; the bridge over the Napo River in Francisco de Orellana; the bridge over the Esmeraldas River in the city of the same name; and perhaps the most noteworthy of all, the Bahía - San Vicente bridge, the largest on the Latin American Pacific coast. There is also a wide network of paved and concrete local roads that have helped substantially improve trade and development.
The international airports of Quito and Guayaquil have seen a large increase that has required their modernization, which in the case of Guayaquil and its José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport - Guayaquil involved the construction of a new 53,000 square meter air terminal, considered one of the best in Latin America and one of the best in the world, a Guayaquil terminal used by more than four million passengers a year (although construction is under way of the new intercontinental airport at Daular on the road to the coast, which will have 3 runways for simultaneous flights on an area of 2020 hectares); and in Quito, on February 20, 2013, the Mariscal Sucre International Airport was inaugurated, located in the town of Tababela, 25 kilometers from the Historic Center of the capital; its runway is 4,098 meters long and its control tower is 41 meters high. It has enough space for a second runway, which will be built in the future. In a second stage, planned for 2023, the terminal will be enlarged by a further 20,000 square meters. Because of the length of its runway, it can receive the largest aircraft of today, such as the Boeing 747 or the Airbus A380. The area of the Airport is 1500 hectares, the built-up area is 70 hectares, the passenger terminal has a surface of 38,000 square meters, and it is estimated that five million people will use it each year.
The restored and improved Cotopaxi airport in Latacunga also came into operation, oriented mainly as an international cargo airport but also serving domestic passenger transport. The international airport in Manta is currently being developed. All of these are planned as intercontinental airports. But Ecuador also has several domestic airports. Among the most notable: Francisco de Orellana, Nueva Loja, Tulcán, Esmeraldas, Loja (City of Catamayo), Santa Rosa, Shell, Salinas and Tena, among others. In the Amazon, where the Air Force serves the inhabitants of inaccessible places, their runways and fleets have been modernized in recent years. One of the notable developments in Ecuadorian air navigation is the implementation of binational airports such as those of Tulcán and Esmeraldas, with flights to Colombia, and those of Santa Rosa and Loja, still under development, with flights to Peru.
The seaports are an important point in trade and tourism. The most important, through which 70 % of the country's exports and imports pass, is the port of Guayaquil, located south of the coastal city, which also receives cruise ships with passengers from various countries; in addition, modernization in recent years has allowed large cruise ships to reach ports such as Manta. Another port of great importance is that of Posorja in the Gulf of Guayaquil, mostly for cargo. Puerto Bolívar in Machala is mainly for agricultural exports such as bananas, shrimp, cacao, etc. The port of Esmeraldas is mainly for the industrial export of oil, gas and their derivatives.
Education
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In 2010 Ecuador had a literacy rate of 99.78 % (the fifth highest in Latin America), after intense public campaigns to eliminate illiteracy. With the implementation of free education, public educational institutions, both primary and secondary, do not require tuition or education fees, including in rural and marginal urban sectors. In the case of free education at universities and higher institutes, it is applied under academic responsibility, which exempts only the credits that each student does not fail, as well as academic services such as internet.
Higher education
Higher education has carried out a rigorous quality evaluation, which classified into five levels, in a general evaluation framework, the 68 universities devoted mainly to third-level degrees, determining the strengths and deficiencies of each institution. Only 11 achieved category A and 26 were placed in category E, under an educational policy, laws and rules that gave all of them short deadlines for academic restructuring. In April 2012 the first stage of university purging was carried out, which suspended 14 universities for not meeting the minimum and basic requirements to continue operating three years after being notified. Eight were left with strong limitations and sanctions. Three were raised to category D and one was left pending because it involved a different kind of education with more advanced study. At present there are 54 public and private universities and polytechnic schools, and three universities devoted exclusively to fourth-level education.
Another key aspect has been the increase of thousands of scholarships and loans, as well as the extension of new loans to key development areas, both for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, inside and outside the country, as well as the swift validation of foreign degrees, with low processing costs, helped in some cases by direct recognition of degrees issued by several hundred foreign universities. Finally, noteworthy is the creation of the Pedagogical University in Azogues, the University of Fine Arts in Guayaquil, the Amazonian Regional University in Tena and the Research University of Science and Technology of Ecuador in Imbabura.
At present the method of allocating places in the different degree programs at each higher education institution sets a general aptitude exam for all applicants, with no age limit or limit on attempts, in which they select, in a ranking of 10 preferences, the degree and university where they would like to study; after obtaining a score, the list is filtered to show whether the student obtained the minimum required by each university for the degree chosen; the highest scores[125], rated as outstanding, obtain unlimited scholarships from the Ecuadorian State for any degree at any university in the world (provided that university also accepts them), on condition of and with a guarantee of returning to the country once their studies are completed. The others who reach the scores on their list are assigned a place after consulting the student, and those who did not reach any of the places on their list are assigned places according to the aptitudes revealed by the psychological evaluation, since these obviously did not match the aspirations they initially intended to pursue; the student is asked and given the option of accepting one of those places or waiting for the next evaluation in order to achieve their aspiration with better preparation. Finally, if applicants exceed the number of places each degree has nationally, those interested must wait one academic period to obtain a place; if this time the number of applicants is exceeded again, they will again have to postpone their entry to university.
Health
Life expectancy is 75.8 years.
Infant mortality, at 24.4 per 1,000 in 2005, fell to 18.3 in 2015.[126]
Between 2008 and 2016 the Government invested more than 15,000 million dollars, multiplying by five the average annual health spending of the 2000-2006 period. As for the professionals working for the Ministry, between 2008 and 2015 their number went from 11,201 to more than 33,000, an increase that was also accompanied by pay rises.[126]
In 2015 corruption remained a problem. Overbilling is recorded in 20% of public establishments and in 80% of private ones.[126]
Culture
Literature
Ecuadorian literature has been characterized as essentially costumbrista and, in general, closely tied to exclusively national events, with narratives that give a glimpse of what the life of the ordinary citizen is like and how it unfolds. Ecuador has not produced writers whose books sell massively worldwide. Despite this, some Ecuadorian writers have become moderately known in the international context, especially in Spanish-speaking or Ibero-American countries. Among them are Jorge Icaza, Alejandro Carrión Aguirre, Juan Montalvo, José de la Cuadra, Pedro Jorge Vera, Pablo Palacio, Demetrio Aguilera Malta, Alfredo Pareja Díez Canseco, Numa Pompilio Llona, Adalberto Ortiz, Medardo Ángel Silva, César Dávila Andrade, Luis Costales, Alfonso Rumazo González, José Martínez Queirolo, Jorge Enrique Adoum, Carlos Carrera Barreto, Hugo Mayo, Jorge Carrera Andrade, Arturo Borja, Ernesto Noboa y Caamaño and Juan León Mera. One of the most interesting aspects of Ecuadorian letters is that they have produced a notable amount of good narrative, with authors who managed to photograph the Criollo idiosyncrasy and capture it in their stories. No one could say, despite the harshness of their content, that the novels of Jorge Icaza, for example, are not a very skillfully crafted portrait of the terrible hardships of the indigenous people of the Ecuadorian highlands. Icaza transports the reader to the setting he describes and even uses the same language the protagonists use in real life.
But Ecuadorian literature is not limited to Icaza and indigenism. There are also other great exponents, such as Alfredo Pareja Díez Canseco, who stood out above all as a novelist. In contrast to Jorge Icaza, he created essentially urban novels in which social denunciation comes to the surface. He was also a great historian. Continuing along the path of the novel devoted to social denunciation, it is essential to name Joaquín Gallegos Lara, whose work, though brief, is masterly in alluding to the problems that oppress the working class and the brutal exploitation it suffers at the hands of unscrupulous businessmen. In Las cruces sobre el agua he narrates the worst massacre of workers in the history of Ecuador (1922). Demetrio Aguilera Malta, on the other hand, was above all a costumbrista novelist, although also very multifaceted. In his writings he described the "montubio", the typical mestizo peasant of the Ecuadorian coast. Among women writers is Alicia Yánez Cossío, author of a considerable narrative output that includes the novel "Sé que vienen a matarme", a controversial novel about the dictator Gabriel García Moreno and his excesses while he was president of Ecuador. The poet Karina Gálvez, nominated in 2011 for the 1st International Medal for Peace and Culture "President Salvador Allende", author of the poem "La Batalla del Pichincha" [2], has made Ecuadorian poetry known internationally.
In contemporary literature we find several important essayists such as Agustín Cueva and Bolívar Echeverría; narrators such as Javier Vásconez, Eliécer Cárdenas, Huilo Ruales, Santiago Páez, Abdón Ubidia, Marco Antonio Rodríguez, Humberto Salvador, Pablo Palacio, Leonardo Valencia, Gabriela Alemán, Iván Egüez, Jorge Luis Cáceres, Eduardo Varas and Miguel Antonio Chávez; or poets such as Ernesto Carrión, Alexis Naranjo, Hugo Mayo, Iván Carvajal Aguirre, Kleber Franco, Iván Oñate, Julio Pazos Barrera, Humberto Vinueza, Javier Ponce, Fernando Nieto Cadena, Jorge Martillo, Edwin Madrid, Cristian Avecillas, Carla Badillo Coronado, Marcos Rivadeneira Silva, Pedro Gil and Julia Erazo D., among others.
Visual arts
Contemporary artistic practice in Ecuador has talented exponents who have matured projects and proposals. The country's institutional cultural policies have meant that the contemporary art scene of the country has not managed to operate with the force or efficiency required to occupy a competitive space internationally.[127] However, among the contemporary artists of Ecuador we find figures who have independently achieved stability and competence in the creation and exhibition of works, as well as local and international recognition: Oswaldo Guayasamín, Gonzalo Endara, Eduardo Kingman, Camilo Egas, Oswaldo Viteri and Carlos Rosero, among others.
It is a country with strengths in handicrafts. This is due, on the one hand, to its legendary tradition of products for everyday use, including ceramics and the uses given to them, as well as metals and basket weaving, and on the other to an enormous culture producing textiles and musical instruments.
Performing arts
In the field of drama there have been almost no relevant exponents or any who have achieved wide dissemination, especially internationally. Undoubtedly the best, most prolific and best known is José Martínez Queirolo of Guayaquil, whose plays have been staged in the United States and Europe and have been translated into other languages. He is also known as the author of numerous short stories, including some written for children. He is also an outstanding actor and directs his own theater company. He won the "Eugenio Espejo" National Prize for Culture in 2001.
Costumbrismo in Ecuadorian theater is a subgenre begun at the beginning of the 20th century whose main exponents were Ernesto Albán Mosquera, with his character Evaristo Corral, and Wigberto Dueñas Peña, with Indio Mariano. It is an eminently satirical genre, with a high degree of socio-political criticism.
Cinema
The film production of Ecuador includes shorts and documentaries made throughout the 20th century. Despite the quality or historical value of some of these cultural contributions, Ecuadorian cinema only began to have international impact in the 21st century. In the last century the production of feature films was limited in quantity, largely because of the costs involved in producing a film. Despite this, in the last decade film production has increased significantly, because of the facilities and guarantees offered by the country under laws and initiatives for its production and dissemination, as well as tax exemptions.
Several films have been released commercially and successfully, such as Crónicas, Que tan lejos, Con mi corazón en Yambo, A tus espaldas, Mono con gallinas, Mejor no hablar de ciertas cosas and En el nombre de la hija, some of them with awards at international film festivals.
Music
Ecuador has a diversity of musical styles, both native and popular and of foreign influence. Among the local music genres, notable are mestizo rhythms such as the pasacalle, the pasillo, the yaraví, the albazo, the bolero and the requinto; Afro rhythms such as the bomba, the marimba, guaracha and mambo; and indigenous rhythms such as the sanjuanito Andean folk music. Of foreign influence are genres such as pop, rock, merengue, salsa, cumbia, vallenato, bachata, ska, electronic music, dance, reggae, heavy metal, punk, hip hop and reggaeton.
Notable Ecuadorian artists
The most outstanding musician, Luis Humberto Salgado (Cayambe, 1903 – Quito, 1977), was a composer of classical music from Ecuador, author of several symphonies, operas, ballets and concertos. He composed nine symphonies, four operas, an opera-ballet, seven concertos, operettas and several pieces of Ecuadorian popular music, above all sanjuanitos and pasacalles, some with notable innovations such as the Second Symphony (Synthetic no. 1), the Sixth Symphony (for strings and timpani), sonatas 2 and 3 for piano and the futurist sanjuanito. Another renowned composer was Carlos Miguel Agustín Vaca from Loja, whose musical contributions were outstanding, since he composed the anthems of numerous cities and cantons within Loja. From traditional Ecuadorian music he drew motifs for his operas as well as rhythms and harmonies for his symphonies. Despite the efforts of the Symphony Orchestra of Ecuador and the conductor Álvaro Manzano, a good part of his music has yet to be performed and almost all of it has yet to be recorded.
In opera, we have Marlon Valverde, an Ecuadorian tenor who played Simón Bolívar in the opera Manuela y Simón, and Andrés Córdova, Sofía Rosado, Viviana Rodríguez and Roy Espinoza, who took part in La traviata.[128]
Also notable are artists such as Carlota Jaramillo, Julio Jaramillo, Las Hermanas Mendoza Suasti, Polibio Mayorga, Dúo Benítez-Valencia, Hermanos Miño Naranjo, Paulina Tamayo, Fresia Saavedra, Segundo Rosero, Anita Lucía Proaño, Soledad Morales, Segundo Bautista and Juan Fernando Velasco, among others. In the subgenre of popular music such as technocumbia, many singers also stand out, such as Sharon La hechicera, Gerardo Morán, María de los Ángeles, Jaime Enrique Aymara and Delfín Quishpe, among others.
In urban music, and particularly in rock, several groups stand out, such as Anima Inside, Sudakaya and Rocola Bacalao, who have distinguished themselves through their professional work, giving concerts internationally, or pop rock bands such as Verde70, Equilivre and Tranzas, a band that managed to place its songs among the most played in countries such as Colombia, Bolivia and Mexico.
Gerardo Mejía, known in the 1990s simply as Gerardo, is also one of the Ecuadorian artists with the greatest international impact, being one of the first Latinos to succeed in the Anglo market, where he placed his debut single in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Paulina Aguirre, a Christian music singer, has been awarded a Gaviota at the Viña del Mar Festival, and she and Juan Fernando Velasco are the only ones to have won a Latin Grammy. Another recognized female artist is Mirella Cesa, who has achieved international airplay, won a silver gaviota at the Viña del Mar 2018 festival[3] and appears on the Latin Billboard charts in the United States.
Media
Internet
At present 7 out of 10 Ecuadorians use the internet regularly for various purposes: email, e-commerce, work, leisure, education and information, among others.[129] It is estimated that, with the reduction in cost and expansion of accessibility in recent years, 75 % of households have internet, with greater use in the urban sector, at 63%, compared with 38.05% in the rural area. By province, Galápagos has the highest percentage of people who have used the Internet, at 78.7%, followed by Pichincha with 67.1%, Azuay with 61.1%, El Oro with 59.7% and Guayas with 59.3%.[130] Optical fiber covers the country's 24 provinces[citation needed], and Wi-Fi connection is booming, mostly through public entities.[citation needed]
Although internet penetration is comparable with most Latin American countries, Ecuador has an interesting number of users of social networks and specialized websites.[citation needed] According to Facebook, as of November 2012 Ecuador had 5,077,060 users, which placed it 35th worldwide among countries with the most users of this social network.[131]
Telephony
Although landline telephony still exists in the country with periodic growth, it has been very notably displaced by mobile telephony, both because of the enormous coverage it offers and its easy accessibility.
It has currently been determined that there are more mobile phone lines than inhabitants in Ecuador, a phenomenon explained by users who chose to have two lines from different operators to reduce the cost of calls and messages, and by the uncontrolled sale of lines, most of which stopped being used and have not been disabled, among other reasons; state policies are now seeking to restructure them and register them by user, among other measures. Beyond that, it is determined that every Ecuadorian generally has a mobile phone from the age of 14, often regardless of economic status, with certain exceptions and the obviously lower presence in the rural sector compared with the urban.
In the country there are four landline operators, CNT and ETAPA (public), TVCABLE and Claro (private), and four mobile operators, Movistar, Claro and Tuenti (private) and CNT (public).
Television
In Ecuador there are two bands for receiving images, UHF and VHF, and the channel is tuned according to where the image is received, since at first the State had no franchise control for purchasing the right granting exclusivity so that another reception would not occupy its space in any other city or province of the country.
There are currently several means of providing television service, whether coverage by free-to-air analog antennas or paid service through cable television providers or satellite dishes, both public and private.
Most cities and towns have at least one community channel, which may be VHF (primary channels) or UHF (secondary channels). Some are tuned nationally; among the channels with an international signal are: Ecuavisa - Has an international signal, RedTeleSistema (RTS), Teleamazonas, which has a signal in the United States through channels 839 and 842 of the Dish Pack Latino, Ecuador TV Public Television, TC Televisión, Gama TV, Canal Uno - Has an international signal, Telerama, RTU, Radio y Televisión Unidas, Latele, Televicentro, CiudadColorada - International portal. Teleamazonas HD, Ecuavisa HD, Oromar HD, TC HD and Canal Uno HD are national channels of Ecuador broadcasting in full HD.
Ecuador, because of the modernization of the time, established the ISDB-Tb standard for the implementation of digital television and radio on March 26, 2010. The announcement was made by the Superintendent of Telecommunications, Fabián Jaramillo. Ecuador thus became the sixth country to adopt the ISDB-Tb standard, the most widely chosen standard in the Latin American region.
The analog switch-off was set for December 31, 2018 nationwide, to be carried out in three stages: the first switch-off for cities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants by December 31, 2016, the second for cities with more than 200 thousand inhabitants by December 31, 2017, and the third nationwide by December 31, 2018.
Print media
The newspapers with the largest national circulation are: Diario Extra (Guayaquil), El Telégrafo (Guayaquil), El Universo (Guayaquil), El Comercio (Quito) and La Hora (rest of the country). Many provincial capitals have 2 to 3 local newspapers.
The following is a list of print media:
- Daily El Comercio, Quito
- Daily El Universo, Guayaquil
- Daily Expreso, Guayaquil
- Daily La Hora, Quito and newsrooms in several cities
- Daily El Telégrafo (state-owned), Guayaquil
- Daily PP El Verdadero (state-owned), Guayaquil
- Daily Extra, Guayaquil
- Daily Crónica, Loja
- Daily El Norte, Ibarra
- Daily Especialista, Guayaquil, Quito
- Daily Correo, Machala
- Free daily La Calle, Guayaquil
- Daily La Verdad, Esmeraldas
- Daily Opinión, Machala
- Daily Centinela, Loja
- Daily Orenses, Machala
- Daily El Mercurio, Cuenca
- Daily Portada, Azogues
- Daily Super, Guayaquil
- Daily Los Andes, Riobamba
- Ecuador Inmediato, Quito
- El Diario, Portoviejo
- El Financiero, Guayaquil
- El Heraldo, Ambato
- El Mercurio, Manta
- El Migrante Ecuatoriano, Quito
- El Tiempo, Cuenca
- El Nuevo Globo, Bahía de Caráquez
- El Observador, Guayaquil
- El Popular, Quito
- La Gaceta, Latacunga
- La Marea, Manta
- La Prensa, Riobamba
- La Razón, Guayaquil
- La Tarde, Cuenca
- Los Andes, Riobamba
- Machalaglobal, Machala
- Metro, Guayaquil
- Metro Hoy, Quito
- Digital newspaper El Ciudadano, Quito
- Newspaper El Chaski, Loja
- Digital magazine Revista Compras, Guayaquil
- Digital newspaper El Morlaco, Cuenca
- Press La Verdad, Milagro
- Evening paper Últimas Noticias, Quito
- Weekly El Espectador, Azogues
- Weekly El Autonomista, Portoviejo
- Weekly La Prensa, Tulcán
- Weekly Independiente, Nueva Loja
- Weekly El Sol, Paute, Guachapala, Gualaceo, El Pan, Sevilla de Oro, Sígsig, Chordeleg
- Weekly Espectador Amazónico, Nueva Loja, Tena and El Coca
Sport
The Ministry of Sport of Ecuador is the governing body for physical activity and sport in the country.[132]
Chaza is the national sport of Ecuador;[133] however, the most popular sport in Ecuador is football.[134] The national championship of this sport consists of 2 professional series, Serie A and Serie B; 16 teams take part in Serie A in a tournament whose format changes from year to year.
The greatest representative of Ecuadorian athletics is Jefferson Pérez, who has won three world gold medals in racewalking (Paris in 2003, Helsinki in 2005 and Osaka in 2007), as well as a gold medal at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games[135] and a silver at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.[136] In addition, Rolando Vera Rodas is the only non-Brazilian long-distance runner to have won the São Silvestre International Race in Brazil four consecutive times (1986–1989). Glenda Morejón stands out as a promise in the sport of racewalking, having won the gold medal at the World U18 Athletics Championships held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2017[4].
Liga de Quito, the team with the greatest international achievements, has 11 national titles and 4 international titles; it has won the Copa Libertadores (2008 edition),[137] two Recopas Sudamericanas (2009 edition and 2010 edition) and a Copa Sudamericana (2009 edition);[138] in 2008 it was runner-up in the Club World Cup, and since 2008 it has been the best-placed Ecuadorian team in the CONMEBOL Ranking.[139][140]
Barcelona Sporting Club is the club with the most national titles, with 15 as of 2016. It was Ecuador's leader in the Conmebol team ranking by country, and it has also been runner-up in the Copa Libertadores on two occasions (the 1990 edition and the 1998 edition), being the first Ecuadorian team to reach a Copa Libertadores final; it has also never been relegated. Barcelona Sporting Club has a stadium, originally called "Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo", with an official capacity of more than 60,000 spectators, one of the largest stadiums in the Americas and the world.
Club Sport Emelec, nicknamed "Ballet Azul" or "Millonarios", was the first national champion and is also the only team in the country to have been champion in every decade in which championships have been played, having been champion 14 times up to 2017, winning its last title in that same year (2017), being the current champion of Ecuadorian football and the first three-time consecutive champion representing Guayas (in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively), which makes it the second club with the most national titles. In 2001 it was a finalist in the Copa Merconorte and was chosen as the world's club of the month by the IFFHS in June 2010.[141]
Club Deportivo El Nacional is the third club with the most national championship titles, with 13. It is characterized by its squad being made up exclusively of players of Ecuadorian nationality. It has been three-time consecutive champion, and has done so on two occasions, in 1976, 1977 and 1978 and in 1982, 1983 and 1984.
There are other traditional clubs, such as América de Quito, which was the first Ecuadorian club to win an international tournament when it won the Copa Ganadores de Copa in 1971. Deportivo Quito has been champion of Ecuador 5 times, while Deportivo Cuenca, Club Deportivo Everest and Centro Deportivo Olmedo have been champion once.
As for the national team, it qualified for three World Cups: Korea-Japan 2002; Germany 2006, where it reached the round of 16 and was eliminated by England 1–0, finishing 12th out of 32 teams; and the Brazil 2014 Cup, the last for which it has qualified to date. An outstanding Ecuadorian in this sport is Alberto Spencer, the all-time top scorer of the Copa Libertadores with 54 goals to his name.[142][143][144] In addition, Iván Hurtado is the player with the most appearances for the national football team, with 167, and Agustín Delgado is the top scorer with 31 goals, and in World Cups with 3 goals (1 against Mexico in 2002, 1 against Poland and Costa Rica in 2006). It should also be noted that other players have stood out for this team, such as Édison Méndez, Álex Aguinaga, Ulises de la Cruz, Antonio Valencia, Christian Benítez and Jaime Iván Kaviedes, who in 1998 was the world's top scorer, scoring 43 goals in 39 matches, and is also the player with the most goals in a season of the so-called Ecuadorian Serie A, which is the 'National First Division Championship'. In April 2013 the Ecuadorian national football team entered the top 10 of the world ranking of national football teams, in 10th place.
The highlight of recent years for the Ecuadorian national team (at youth level, Under-18) was the gold medal at the Pan American Games won in 2007.
In tennis, Pancho Segura was considered in 1952 the world Number One Player by the Professional Lawn Tennis Association.[145] Also in this discipline, Andrés Gómez won the Roland Garros Tournament in 1990 and the Rome Masters in 1982 and 1984; the tennis player Nicolás Lapentti was sixth in the world.
The cyclist Richard Carapaz became the first Ecuadorian to win a Grand Tour by winning the 2019 Giro d'Italia. In addition, in 2019, the Under-20 youth team finished third after defeating Italy in the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019.
Tourism
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The Ministry of Information and Tourism was created on August 10, 1992, at the start of the government of Sixto Durán Ballén, who saw tourism as a fundamental activity for the economic and social development of peoples. In view of the growth of the tourism sector, in June 1994 the decision was taken to separate tourism from information, so that the ministry would devote itself exclusively to promoting and strengthening this activity.
Ecuador is a country with vast natural wealth. The diversity of its four regions has given rise to thousands of species of flora and fauna. It has around 1,640 kinds of birds. Butterfly species number around 4,500, reptiles 345, amphibians 358 and mammals 258, among others. Not for nothing is Ecuador considered one of the 17 countries where the greatest biodiversity on the planet is concentrated, and it is also the country with the greatest diversity per square kilometer in the world. Most of its fauna and flora live in 26 areas protected by the State. It also has a wide range of cultures. From 2007, under the government of Rafael Correa, the tourism brand was transformed into "Ecuador Ama la Vida", under which the nation's tourism promotion would be marketed, focused on presenting it as a friendly country respectful of nature, natural biodiversity and the cultural diversity of its peoples. To this end, ways of exploiting them are developed together with the private economy.
The country has two cities that are cultural heritage of humanity, Quito and Cuenca, as well as two natural heritage sites of humanity, the Galápagos Islands and Sangay National Park, in addition to a world biosphere reserve, the Cajas massif. In the cultural sphere, the toquilla straw hat and the culture of the Zápara indigenous people are recognized. The sites most visited by national and foreign tourists have different nuances because of the various tourist activities the country offers.
Among the main tourist destinations are:
- Natural attractions:
- Cultural attractions:
Gastronomy
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Despite being a small country, the gastronomy of Ecuador is quite varied, because of the existence in the country of four distinct natural regions (coast, highlands, east and insular region) with different customs and traditions. The various typical dishes and the main ingredients vary according to these natural conditions.[146]
Ingredients
Fish
The fish usually eaten on the Ecuadorian coast comes from the waters of the Pacific Ocean or from the countless navigable rivers of the area. Among the main fish are picudo, albacore, dorado, camotillo, chame, corvina and trout. Some of the popular fish dishes are: sopa marinera, fish ceviches, corviches, bollos, cazuelas, fish stew with peanuts, encocado, etc. A typical dish of the coast is called fish encebollado; its consumption has spread throughout the country, making it one of the most popular dishes of Ecuador.
Plantain
Ecuador is a leading exporter of plantains, so the plantain is an important element in its gastronomy, especially on the Ecuadorian coast. There are three main varieties of plantain, the three most important being the green plantain, the ripe plantain and the guineo. Green and ripe plantains must be cooked before being eaten. The green plantain (simply called 'verde') is usually eaten fried, roasted or boiled. The ripe plantain (or simply 'maduro') is likewise usually eaten fried, roasted or boiled, and has a sweeter flavor and a softer consistency. The "guineo" is the typical name of the Ecuadorian banana; it is usually eaten raw like any other fruit, although there is also a plethora of desserts made from the guineo. There is also a miniature type of guineo known as 'orito'.
Vegetables and legumes
Vegetables are present in different forms: rice, green or ripe plantain, cassava, or toasted and ground peanut (peanut) sauce. Maize is usually eaten in the very popular corn tortillas known as bonitísimas; choclos (elotes) are cooked in salted water, as are mazamorras, and they are eaten with fresh cheese. The same goes for beans, which accompany many of their dishes. Mashed potatoes are also served as a base for dishes such as llapingachos, which are potato patties, or locros.
Meats
Beef,[147] pork,[148] lamb, goat, duck, turkey and chicken are commonly eaten. Some dishes are combined with vegetables, such as seco de chivo or seco de gallina, which are pieces of meat in a kind of stew served with rice. Among the exotic dishes is cuy, usually eaten roasted at celebrations in certain Andean parts of the country. Chancho meat (pork, suckling pig, cachorro), eaten in various places in Ecuador, is used in the preparation of various dishes, some of them fritada, hornado and chugchucaras.
Noteworthy in Ecuadorian cuisine are the broths (known as sopas or locros), usually prepared with very diverse vegetables and hen meat, which are frequently served in street markets as breakfast. Some of them are very popular, such as yaguarlocro, a potato soup that includes mutton and a sauce.[149][150][151][152]
Typical dishes
- Arroz con pollo
- Allullas con queso de hoja
- Aguado de gallina
- Ají de Carne, ubre, lengua
- Arroz con menestra y... (pollo, carne, chuleta, chuzo etc..)
- Arroz marinero
- Ayampaco
- Bandera
- Bolón de verde
- Bollo de pescado
- Caldo de salchicha or Caldo de Manguera
- Cebiche
- Cevicangre
- Cangrejada
- Carapacho de cangrejo relleno
- Carne en palito
- Cazuela
- Caldo de bolas de verde
- Caldo de Pata
- Caldo de tronquito
- Caldo de Bagre
- Caldo de Guagua Mama
- Caldo de 31
- Chanfeina
- Chanpus
- Chicha
- Chivo al hueco
- Colada Morada
- Corviche
- Higos con Queso
- Cuy
- Encebollado
- Muchin de Yuca
- Encocado
- Empanadas de Morocho
- Empanadas de Viento
- Empanadas de Verde
- Fritada
- Fanesca, especially during Holy Week.
- Gallinas de Pinllo
- Guatita
- Guaguas de pan
- Hayacas
- Hornado
- Humitas de choclo
- Llapingachos
- Locro de Papa
- Locro de queso
- Maduro Lampreado
- Maito
- Majado
- Mariscos al ajillo
- Mellocos con habas cocinadas
- Menudo
- Mejillones al Ajillo
- Morcilla
- Tortillas de Verde
- Mote pillo
- Mote con chicharrón
- Pan de Pinllo
- Pan de Yuca or Almidón
- Papas con cuero
- Patacón
- Pescado al Ajillo
- Quimbolitos
- Repe Lojano
- Sancocho
- Sanduche de Pernil
- Sango
- Seco de chivo
- Seco de gallina
- Seco de guanta
- Tamales
- Sopa de Carne y Torrejas
- Sopa de Lluspas
- Sopa Marinera
- Tigrillo
- Timbushca
- Tripa mishki
- Viche
- Yaguarlocro
- Tortillas con caucara
- Repe
Desserts
Although fruit is most often eaten as dessert, Ecuadorian cuisine has desserts such as:[154]
- Ecuadorian arroz con leche[155]
- Dulce de leche
- Torta de guineo
- Chucula
- Troliches
- Tres leches
- Helados de paila
- Quimbolitos
- Morocho
- Higos con Queso
- Colada morada
- Ecuadorian Ron Pope
- Pan de yuca
- Dulce de Pechiche
- Dulce de zambo
- Higos Confitados
- Espumillas
- Torta de Zapallo
- Buñuelos de masa de morocho
- Suspiros
- Rosero
- Miel con quesillo
- Colaciones
- Natilla
- Chicha de Chontilla
- Torta de Fruta de Pan
- Dulce de Grosella
- Mazamorra de Maíz
- Torta de Camote
- Dulce de Sandía
- Pristiño
- Pan de Pinllo
- Ponche
- Dulce de guayaba
Drinks
Sugarcane aguardientes (cane) are very popular in the provinces of Loja,[156] Manabí and Tungurahua, where various alcoholic drinks are made, such as the so-called currincho, tardón, guarapo, quemado, norteño, or canelazo, which is based on cinnamon, and the famous Caña.[157] Certain drinks of these provinces are flavored with native fruits and products such as honey and currant, and many citrus fruits such as orange, mandarin, lemon and grafts of these fruits with others; they are even mixed with water of native flowers and leaves of other medicinal and exotic fruits such as lemon verbena or chamomile. Another drink is pájaro azul, which is sugarcane aguardiente (caña) mixed with mandarin peel, which on boiling gives it its bluish color. Especially notable is chicha, a preparation based on cassava, mote or maize. There are also homemade drinks, such as pisco sour, which can be prepared with Angostura bitters, gum syrup and lemon juice, and a very well-known non-alcoholic drink is the San Francisco cocktail.
See also
Notes
- ↑ According to the Political Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador,[1] «Spanish is the official language of Ecuador; Spanish, Kichwa and Shuar are official languages of intercultural relations. The other ancestral languages are of official use for the indigenous peoples in the areas where they live and on the terms set by law.»
- ↑ Associate.
- ↑ The Battle of Pichincha is usually regarded as the date of effective independence from Spain; however, on August 10, 1809 the first independent government was established in Quito, which was soon defeated by royalist forces from Lima and Santafé; the second independent government was the Republic of Guayaquil, declared on October 9, 1820 in the coastal region and annexed to the Republic of Colombia in 1822.
- ↑ Ecuador uses United States dollar banknotes, but has its own fractional coins of the North American currency, the Ecuadorian centavo coins. Previously, until 2000, the Sucre (S/.,
ECS) was the official currency. - ↑ In the Galápagos Province, the official time zone is GALT (UTC −6). For more information, see «Time in Ecuador».
References
- ↑ "Constitución Política de la República del Ecuador (2008)" (PDF) (in español).
- ↑ "http://www.asambleanacional.gov.ec/documentos/constitucion_de_bolsillo.pdf" (PDF) (in español). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 19, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
{{cite web}}: External link in|title= - ↑ "El Salvador felicita a Moreno por su triunfo en las presidenciales en Ecuador". El Diario (in español). Portoviejo: Medios Ediasa. April 3, 2017. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
- ↑ Teleamazonas (December 11, 2018). "La Asamblea elige a Otto Sonnenholzner como el nuevo Vicepresidente de Ecuador". Teleamazonas (in español). Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ↑ "INDEPENDENCIA DE GUAYAQUIL - 9 de octubre de 1820" (in español).
- ↑ "24 de mayo de 1822; Batalla del Pichincha" (in español).
- ↑ "Historia del Ecuador" (in español).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 CIA. "Ecuador - Geografía - Libro Mundial de Hechos" (in español). Retrieved February 13, 2017.
- ↑ "INEC (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censo)" (in español).
- ↑ Fondo Monetario Internacional, ed. (2019). "Ecuador: Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) valuation of country GDP". Retrieved February 18, 2019.
- ↑ Fondo Monetario Internacional, ed. (2019). "Ecuador: Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) per capita GDP". Retrieved February 18, 2019.
- ↑ Fondo Monetario Internacional, ed. (2019). "Ecuador: Gross domestic product, current prices (U.S. dollars)". Retrieved February 18, 2019.
- ↑ Fondo Monetario Internacional, ed. (2019). "Ecuador: Gross domestic product per capita, current prices (U.S. dollars)". Retrieved February 18, 2019.
- ↑ "Human Development Indices and Indicators 2018 Statistical Update" (PDF). PNUD. September 14, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ↑ "Densidad de población por país - INDEXMUNDI" (in español).
- ↑ 2014, 14 De Febrero De. "Ecuador espera ser una potencia energética e industrial en 2018". Infobae (in español). Retrieved June 4, 2017.
{{cite web}}:|last=has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ Telégrafo, El (May 25, 2015). "Glas: "Ecuador es una potencia energética"". El Telégrafo (in español). Retrieved June 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Tierra del Volcán - Ecuador" (in español). Archived from the original on September 21, 2013.
- ↑ Andes, Agencia (May 22, 2010). "País mas mega-diverso del mundo". Bomboiza muestra su biodiversidad al mundo (in español).
- ↑ "Ecuador lanza mega país con Base a su rica biodiversidad" (in español). Terra Noticias. March 10, 2013.
- ↑ "Conservación y Biodiversidad (Biodiversidad en Ecuador)" (in español). Archived from the original on June 4, 2013.
- ↑ "Los derechos de la naturaleza en la constitución ecuatoriana de 2008 - S//". www.sustentator.com. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
- ↑ Carvajal, Ana María (January 10, 2019). "Quito se convirtió en la ciudad más poblada del Ecuador con más de 2,7 millones de habitantes en el 2018". El Comercio (in español). Retrieved January 11, 2019.
- ↑ "Quito es ahora la ciudad más poblada de Ecuador". El Telégrafo (in español). January 12, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
- ↑ www.imf.org International Monetary Fund
- ↑ "DESAFÍOS ECONÓMICOS PARA EL PRÓXIMO GOBIERNO DE ECUADOR" (in español). February 17, 2013.
- ↑ "CONOZCA A LOS PAÍSES PETROLEROS DE AMÉRICA LATINA (Univision)" (in español).
- ↑ "Acción Ecológica Ecuador" (in español).
- ↑ "Se proyecta un aumento de 40 % en exportación de cacao (Univision)" (in español).
español
- ↑ tourism highlights 2014 Edition. Archived January 12, 2015, at the Wayback Machine World Tourism Organization.
- ↑ Guayta, Oscar (June 6, 2006). "Historia de las culturas del Ecuador" (in español). Quito.
- ↑ "Noticias Secretas de América" (in español). Ediciones Itsmo. 1826. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013.
- ↑ "Dos amantes milenarios aún están abrazados". El Diario Ecuador (in español). Ecuador: Grupo Ediasa S.A. February 25, 2018. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
- ↑ CIA. "Ecuador - Libro Mundial de Hechos" (in español). Retrieved December 27, 2016.
- ↑ Uhle, Max (1925). Prehistoria del Ecuador (in español). Indiana University. p. 44.
- ↑ "Las Leyes de Burgos de 1512" (in español). January 11, 2011.
- ↑ Diputados de Quito (1809). "Acta del 10 de agosto de 1809" (in español). Archived from the original on August 13, 2009. Retrieved 2007.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ↑ Independence of Guayaquil
- ↑ Salvador Lara, Jorge (2010). "Español". Breve historia contemporanea del Ecuador (in español). Coleccion Popular. p. 130.
- ↑ "Gabriel Garcia Moreno, Vencedor del liberalismo en Ecuador" (in español).
- ↑ "Gabriel García Moreno".
- ↑ "Acuerdos de Acta de Brasilia" (in español).
- ↑ Telégrafo, El (May 16, 2013). "Hallan culpable a Hernández por delito de lavado de dinero". El Telégrafo (in español). Retrieved May 2, 2017.
- ↑ "Cuatro años de cárcel para el exministro Raúl Carrión". El Comercio (in español). Retrieved May 2, 2017.
- ↑ "Ecuador: Escándalo de falsas afiliaciones a partidos políticos muestra a clase política como corrupta". www.ecuadorinmediato.com (in español). Retrieved May 2, 2017.
- ↑ "El saldo de un día trágico para el país". eluniverso.com (in español). October 30, 2010. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ↑ "92 procesados por marchas en Ecuador". eluniverso.com (in español). August 19, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ↑ "Ecuador: marcha opositora dejó 86 policías y 20 civiles heridos". telesurtv.net (in español). August 14, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ↑ "Un 58 % de la población desaprueba la gestión del presidente Rafael Correa, según Cedatos". El Comercio (in español). Retrieved June 2, 2016.
- ↑ Diario La República. "El 58 % de los ecuatorianos desaprueban a Correa para 2016" (in español). Retrieved June 2, 2016.
- ↑ País, Ediciones El (February 9, 2017). "El 'caso Odebrecht' en Ecuador: una trama oculta durante casi una década". El País (in español). Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ "César Montúfar dio versión por denuncia contra Jorge Glas en caso Odebrecht". El Universo (in español). March 15, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ "La Comisión Anticorrupción denuncia supuesto sobreprecio en compra de terreno de la Refinería del Pacífico". El Comercio (in español). Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ "Denuncian sobreprecio en compra de terreno para Refinería del Pacífico : Pais : La Hora Noticias de Ecuador, sus provincias y el mundo". lahora.com.ec (in español). Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ "El presidente de Ecuador reitera su apoyo al pueblo venezolano y a Maduro". El Comercio (in español). Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ Clarin.com. "Cristina Kirchner fue condecorada en Ecuador y se vio con Rafael Correa". www.clarin.com (in español). Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ "Cristina Fernández recibió la medalla Manuela Sáenz y criticó a los medios". El Comercio (in español). Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ País, Ediciones El (September 30, 2016). "Ecuador condecora a Cristina Fernández de Kirchner". EL PAÍS (in español). Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ "Jorge Glas justificó expulsión de la venezolana Lilian Tintori". El Universo (in español). March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ "La oposición de Ecuador repudió la expulsión de Lilian Tintori del país". Infobae (in español). Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ País, Ediciones El (March 16, 2017). "Ecuador impide el ingreso de Lilian Tintori para participar en la campaña de la oposición". EL PAÍS (in español). Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ "Lenín Moreno justifica expulsión de Tintori | La República EC". La RepúblicaEC (in español). March 15, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ "Elecciones generales serán el 19 de febrero de 2017". Diario El Universo (in español). Grupo El Universo. February 18, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
- ↑ "CNE convoca a elecciones generales de Ecuador en febrero de 2017". El Comercio (in español). Retrieved October 19, 2016.
- ↑ "Rafael Correa el malo mandó consulta popular contra paraísos fiscales". Metro Ecuador (in español). Retrieved November 1, 2016.
- ↑ UNIVERSO, EL. "Una papeleta más, en comicios del 2017 por consulta de paraísos fiscales". El Universo (in español). Retrieved November 25, 2016.
- ↑ "El Pleno del CNE proclamó a Lenín Moreno presidente electo de Ecuador". El Comercio (in español). April 18, 2017. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
- ↑ Tiempo, El (February 19, 2016). "CNE convoca a elecciones para 19 de febrero de 2017". El Tiempo (in español). Retrieved October 28, 2016.
- ↑ Código Orgánico de la Función Judicial, Art. 173
- ↑ Oficina del Alto Comisionado para los Derechos Humanos. "Lista de todos los Estados Miembros de las Naciones Unidas que son parte o signatarios en los diversos instrumentos de derechos humanos de las Naciones Unidas" (web). Retrieved October 21, 2009.
- ↑ The population corresponds to the [1].
- ↑ Niveles administrativos de planificación. Secretaría Nacional de Planificación y Desarrollo.
- ↑ "Ecuador es el país que más gasta en defensa" (in español). Diario El Tiempo. May 13, 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
- ↑ "Datos y geografía de Ecuador". Embajada de Ecuador en Washington DC (in español). Archived from the original on March 27, 2009. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
- ↑ "Ecuador, Chimborazo/Cotopaxi (copy)". Mountain INFO (136). High Magazine. March 1994. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
- ↑ "El majestuoso volcán Chimborazo, el punto más cercano al sol, es un orgullo para el Ecuador". andes.info.ec (in español). April 27, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ↑ "Video Chimborazo VS Everest 3D".
- ↑ The 'Highest' Spot on Earth? NPR.org Retrieved 25-07-2010
- ↑ "¿Qué produjo la nevada en Papallacta?". El Universo (in español). August 25, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- ↑ "Así se ve la nevada que sorprendió a Ecuador". CNNEspañol.com (in español). August 25, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- ↑ "Se registran bajas temperaturas en la Sierra centro del Ecuador". El Comercio (in español). Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- ↑ "Latacunga soporta por segunda ocasión la temperatura más baja del año con 0,3 grados centígrados". El Comercio (in español). Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- ↑ "Member Countries". Published by "Like Minded Megadiverse Countries" (LMMC). Archived from the original on December 9, 2009. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
- ↑ "Densidad por país" (in español).
- ↑ "INEC - Inicio" (in español). Archived from the original on August 28, 2011. Retrieved 2009.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ↑ BBC Mundo. "El valle de la longevidad "Vilcabamba"" (in español). Retrieved August 11, 2016.
- ↑ "Sexos por provincia" (pdf) (in español). Retrieved January 1, 2009.
- ↑ "Densidad de población - Sudamérica" (in español).
- ↑ "Resultados censos de población y vivienda 2010" (in español). Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
- ↑ "Información Censal Cantonal (INEC)" (in español). Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
- ↑ ""1_POBL_PROV_CANT_PARR_AREA (1).xls" (Población por área, según provincia, cantón y parroquia de empadronamiento.)" (in español). Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
- ↑ 92.0 92.1 "Resultados del Censo n" (in español). Archived from the original on March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Nueva cara demográfica de Ecuador Archived September 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine INEC Censo de población de 2010
- ↑ 94.0 94.1 94.2 94.3 94.4 "Todos los ecuatorianos son afrodescendientes- Noticias de Cuenca - Azuay - Ecuador - Eltiempo de Cuenca". www.eltiempo.com.ec (in español). Retrieved August 11, 2016.
- ↑ "Investigadores tras la pista del genoma ecuatoriano". El Comercio (in español). Retrieved August 11, 2016.
- ↑ Telégrafo, El (May 7, 2016). "Origen genético de la población ecuatoriana" (in español). Retrieved August 11, 2016.
- ↑ Estadística demográfica en el Ecuador: Diagnóstico y Propuesta
- ↑ "Kichwa, un idioma ancestral en desuso en comunidades". eluniverso.com (in español). January 27, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ↑ "Las lenguas en Ecuador, entre la vitalidad y la vulnerabilidad". eltelegrafo.com.ec (in español). March 6, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ↑ Robert La Mancha (February 25, 2015), Acento Ecuatoriano (Costa) (Video file) (in español), retrieved December 7, 2018
- ↑ ÁLVAREZ PAZOS, Carlos, "El Quichua en los Compuestos del Español Popular de Cuenca". Volumen IV, 345 p., 82 pp. Cuenca, 1985
- ↑ Cartillas de migración, de ILDIS
- ↑ "Cuenca seduce por su calidad de vida" (in español). El Comercio. August 14, 2011. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2011.
- ↑ http://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2016/04/24/nota/5544354/colombianos-ecuador-vuelven-casa-tras-terremoto-empezar-nuevo
- ↑ http://www.acnur.org/noticias/noticia/aumenta-el-desplazamiento-forzado-en-el-departamento-del-choco-en-el-oeste-de-colombia/
- ↑ "Hace 173 años, Charles Darwin llegó a las Islas Galápagos" (in español).
- ↑ "La fama y popularidad de Paloma Fiuza en Ecuador" (in español).
- ↑ "ECUADOR, El mejor destino del mundo para retirados" (in español).
- ↑ "Depto de Estado: Política económica de Ecuador es incierta". AP (in español). Retrieved February 15, 2009.
- ↑ "El Banco Central de Ecuador sitúa el crecimiento de 2010 en más del 6 %". SOITU (in español). Retrieved February 15, 2009.
- ↑ "PIB" (in español). Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
- ↑ "Tasa de desempleo mensual" (in español). Retrieved January 1, 2009.
- ↑ "Actividades económicas" (in español). Retrieved January 1, 2010.
- ↑ "Banco Mundial" (in español).
- ↑ "Banco Mundial Bajo Pobreza" (in español).
- ↑ "Petroecuador planifica producción petrolera hasta el 2043" (in español). February 3, 2010. Retrieved 2010.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ↑ "Balanza comercial" (PDF) (in español). Archived from the original (pdf) on October 10, 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
- ↑ "Ranking completo" (in español).
- ↑ "COMUNICADO OFICIAL SOBRE EL USO DEL BITCOIN". www.bce.fin.ec (in español). Retrieved January 11, 2018.
- ↑ "Banco Mundial" (in español).
- ↑ "Home Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018". World Economic Forum. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ↑ "The Global Competitiveness Report 2016–2017" (PDF). World Economic Forum. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Perspectivas económicas: Las Américas – Actualización – octubre de 2017" (in español). Fondo Monetario Internacional. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Copia archivada" (in español). Archived from the original on October 3, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
- ↑ "Aumentó promedio del Examen Nacional de la Educación Superior" (in español).
- ↑ 126.0 126.1 126.2 Ramirez, Loïc. "La difícil construcción de la sanidad pública en Ecuador" (in español). Retrieved June 17, 2019.
- ↑ "50 años del 'boom' de la cirugía plástica en el Ecuador" (in español). Archived from the original on February 19, 2014.
- ↑ "Presión social y amor en 'La Traviata'" (in español).
- ↑ Espinoza, Giannella (January 26, 2018). "Ecuador 2.0 en cifras". www.extra.ec (in español). Retrieved January 12, 2019.
- ↑ "El 55,63% de los ecuatorianos utiliza el internet". EL TIEMPO (in español). March 1, 2017. Retrieved January 2019.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ↑ "Facebook Statistics by Country".
- ↑ "Quienes somos" (in español). Archived from the original on March 4, 2009. Retrieved August 16, 2009.
- ↑ "Tenis Pastuso en el Ecuador" (in español).
- ↑ "Campeonato nacional de ecuavoley" (in español). Retrieved August 16, 2009.
- ↑ "Medallero olímpico de los juegos de Atlanta 1996" (in español). Retrieved January 1, 2009.
- ↑ "'Jeff' le da su primera medalla al Ecuador en Pekín" (in español). Retrieved January 2, 2009.
- ↑ "La Liga de Quito hace historia" (in español). Retrieved January 1, 2009.
- ↑ "Liga de Quito gana la recopa Sudamericana 2009" (in español). Archived from the original on August 23, 2010.
- ↑ "Ranking de equipos Conmebol 2010" (PDF) (in español). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 24, 2011.
- ↑ "Clasificación histórica del Ranking Mundial de Clubes" (in español).
- ↑ "Emelec, mejor club del mundo en junio" (in español). Retrieved July 9, 2017.
- ↑ "Revive el relato del primer gol de la copa Libertadores, convertido por Alberto Spencer" (in español).
- ↑ "Pelé, Alberto Spencer y los récords de goles en la Copa Libertadores" (in español).
- ↑ "Conmebol resalta natalicio de Alberto Spencer, "goleador histórico de la Libertadores"" (in español).
- ↑ Web de ESPN Deportes International Tennis Hall of Fame
- ↑ "Cocina Ecuatoriana" (in español).
- ↑ "Comida típica de Ecuador" (in español).
{{cite web}}:|first=missing|last=(help) - ↑ "Gastronomía Ecuatoriana" (in español).
- ↑ "Caldo de Albóndigas de Carne y Plátano Verde" (in español).
- ↑ "El popular caldo de pata ecuatoriano" (in español).
- ↑ "CALDO DE BOLA (El fogón Ecuatoriano)" (in español). Archived from the original on June 13, 2013.
- ↑ "Caldo de lentejas" (in español).
- ↑ Hoy, ed. (February 7, 1994). "LOS PLATOS TIPICOS DE NUESTRO ECUADOR" (in español). Archived from the original on February 16, 2013.
- ↑ "Dulces y Postres Ecuatorianos" (in español).
- ↑ "Arroz con leche" (in español).
- ↑ Laylita (ed.). "Horchata lojana" (in español).
- ↑ "Bebidas y Cocteles Ecuatorianos" (in español).
External links
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