Ecuador:     Maps, History, Geography, Government, Culture, Facts, Guide & Travel/Holidays/Cities
President Correa Begins His Third Term
Geography
Ecuador, about equal in area to Nevada, is in     the northwest part of South America fronting on the Pacific. To the north     is Colombia and to the east and south is Peru. Two high and parallel     ranges of the Andes, traversing the country from north to south, are     topped by tall volcanic peaks. The highest is Chimborazo at 20,577 ft     (6,272 m). The Galápagos Islands (or Colón Archipelago: 3,029 sq mi; 7,845     sq km), in the Pacific Ocean about 600 mi (966 km) west of the South     American mainland, became part of Ecuador in 1832.
Government
Republic.
History
The tribes in the northern highlands of Ecuador     formed the Kingdom of Quito around 1000. It was absorbed, by conquest and     marriage, into the Inca Empire. Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro     conquered the land in 1532, and throughout the 17th century a Spanish     colony thrived by exploitation of the Indians. The first revolt against     Spain occurred in 1809. In 1819, Ecuador joined Venezuela, Colombia, and     Panama in a confederacy known as Greater Colombia.
When Greater Colombia collapsed in 1830, Ecuador     became independent. Revolts and dictatorships followed; it had 48     presidents during the first 131 years of the republic. Conservatives ruled     until the revolution of 1895 ushered in nearly a half century of Radical     Liberal rule, during which the church was disestablished and freedom of     worship, speech, and press was introduced. Although it was under military     rule in the 1970s, the country did not experience the violence and     repression characteristic of other Latin American military regimes. Its     last 30 years of democracy, however, have been largely ineffectual because     of a weak executive branch and a strong, fractious Congress.
Peru invaded Ecuador in 1941 and seized a large     tract of Ecuadoran territory in the disputed Amazon region. In 1981 and     1995 war broke out again. In May 1999, Ecuador and Peru signed a treaty     ending the nearly 60-year border dispute.