Cordillera Real (Ecuador)
| Cordillera Real | ||
|---|---|---|
 Cotopaxi |
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| Highest peak | Cotopaxi ( 5897 m ) | |
| location | Ecuador | |
| part of | To the | |
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| Coordinates | 0 ° 41 ′ S , 78 ° 26 ′ W | |
Cordillera Real ( German "Königskordillere" ) is the name of some high mountain ranges in the Andes of South America.
In Ecuador , where it is also known under the names Cordillera Central (Central Cordillera) or Cordillera Oriental (Eastern Cordillera), it represents a relatively narrow system of parallel mountain chains , which reach their greatest height in the Cotopaxi ( 5897 m ), not far from the highlands of Quito . The second cordillera of the Andes in Ecuador is the Cordillera Occidental , the western cordillera.
The mountains and highlands take up about a third of the national territory of Ecuador and are much more densely populated than the flat regions on the Pacific coast or on the east side towards the Amazon basin .
The Cordillera Real is about 150 to 200 km wide and goes north - beyond the border with Colombia - into a lower mountainous region near the city of Pasto , while it divides another 300 km northeast into three mountain ranges (Cordillera Occidental, Central and Oriental) and widened to 300 to 400 km.
Towards the south - in Peru - the Cordillera divides equally into three mountain ranges with the same name, between which there are only narrow valleys and a few headwaters of the Amazon .
The special morphology of the Ecuadorian Cordillera, on the other hand, results in the development of some broad highlands that are climatically and geographically favorable. This is where the “Peruvian degree measurement ” of the Paris Academy took place in the 18th century, with the aim of determining the figure of the earth and defining the meter .