Geography of Ecuador

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The articles Geography of Ecuador and Ecuador overlap thematically. Help me to better differentiate or merge the articles (→  instructions ) . To do this, take part in the relevant redundancy discussion . Please remove this module only after the redundancy has been completely processed and do not forget to include the relevant entry on the redundancy discussion page{{ Done | 1 = ~~~~}}to mark. Tracking reader ( discussion ) 16:04, Apr 21, 2019 (CEST)


Topographic map of Ecuador.
Esmeraldas in the Costa
The second highest mountain in the country: the active Cotopaxi volcano in the Sierra
Countless waterfalls shape the extremely species-rich slopes of the Andes
Suspension bridge over the Río Aguarico in Sucumbíos in the Oriente

Ecuador is located in the northwest of South America and is geographically , topographically , climatically and ethnically one of the most diverse countries on earth. Even Alexander von Humboldt observed 200 years ago that the only constant is its diversity in geography Ecuador. Ecuador borders Colombia , Peru, and the Pacific Ocean . At 280,000 km², the area is roughly that of western Germany. The on the equator located state can be divided into four completely different geographic zones:

  • the western coastal area ( Costa ), consisting of alluvial land and a low coastal mountain range and dominated by the Río Guayas
  • the central Andean region ( Sierra ), consisting of two Andean cordillera and the high valley in between, characterized by strong volcanism
  • the eastern Amazon lowlands ( Oriente ), consisting of the eastern slopes of the Andes and the sparsely populated Amazon basin
  • the Galápagos Islands 1000 km off the coast .

Within these zones there is a multitude of different climatic areas, which differ mainly in terms of different amounts and times of precipitation. In addition to tropical arid and semi-arid areas in the southern Costa in the area of ​​influence of the Humboldt Current, there are humid tropical regions in the northwest and in the Orient, as well as subtropical, temperate and cold areas with strong day-night temperature fluctuations in the Sierra. Ecuador is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire on the border between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate . This results in numerous active and extinct volcanoes , including Chimborazo (6310 m) the furthest point from the center of the earth and Cotopaxi (5897 m) the highest active volcanic cone on earth. Ecuador is home to the world's second most valuable mega- diversity center with the extremely diverse mountain rain, cloud and cloud forests on the eastern slopes of the Andes, and thus ranks among the 17 mega-diversity countries .

Boundaries and area

Ecuador is located in the northwest of the South American continent between 01 ° 27 '06 "north and 05 ° 00' 56" latitude and 75 ° 11 '49 "and 81 ° 00' 40" west longitude . Ecuador is bordered by Colombia to the north, Peru to the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west . The border with Colombia measures 590 km, the border with Peru 1420 km and the coastline 2237 km. The country measures about 600 km from north to south, and almost as much from east to west. With an area of ​​283,560 km² (including the Galápagos) - of which 6720 km² is water - Ecuador is the fourth smallest state in South America after Suriname , Uruguay and Guiana and about the same size as West Germany. The neighboring states of Peru and Colombia are both about four times the size of Ecuador, and Brazil is almost 30 times the size.

Costa

Tropical coastal region near Agua Blanca.

The Costa (German: coast ) is the western part of Ecuador and is about 80,000 km² in size. About half of the Ecuadorians live on a quarter of the country's area.

Geology and orography

The Costa consists of fertile alluvial plains and undulating hilly landscapes of around 500 km in length and up to 200 km in width. The up to 900 m high coastal mountain range Cordillera Costanera runs through the Costa, which merges into the Cordillera de Chongón-Colonche mountain range in Guayas . The southern Costa is characterized by the river system of the 60 km long Río Guayas and its tributaries Río Babahoyo and Río Daule , the largest water catchment system on the American Pacific coast with more than 36,000 km² . The delta of the Río Guayas forms the largest natural harbor on South America's west coast. The discharge averages 1144 m³ / s, which is about half of the Rhine . This means that 39% of all precipitation in the Costa flows through the Río Guayas. Further north, the Río Esmeraldas , the Río Cayapas and the Río Chone flow towards the Pacific and in the far south the Río Jubones . Climatically, it can be divided into two regions, the border of which runs around Manta : the tropical, humid north and the semi-arid south. The reason for the division is the Antarctic Humboldt Current , which turns away from the South American coast at about 1 degree south latitude and turns west into the vastness of the Pacific.

Political structure

The Costa is composed (from north to south) of the provinces Esmeraldas , Manabí , Los Ríos , Guayas and El Oro , and together. In addition, geographically important parts of Pichincha are to be counted on the Costa. With Guayaquil , the Costa is also the largest city and the economic center of the country. Other important cities in the coastal region are the Esmeraldas oil port , the Manta fishing port, Portoviejo , the Machala banana transshipment point and Durán on the other side of the river from Guayaquil.

Agriculture

The most important agricultural products are coffee (170,000 hectares of cultivated area, mainly in Manabí), cocoa (130,000 hectares in Los Ríos and Guayas), bananas (50,000 in El Oro and Guayas), rice (200,000 hectares in Guayas and Los Ríos), hard corn ( maíz duro ) (100,000 ha in Manabí, Los Ríos and Guayas), sugar cane (40,000 ha in Guayas), oil palm (30,000 ha in western Pichincha) and cotton (30,000 ha in Guayas and Manabí). Apart from oil and cut flowers, practically all export products are produced in the Costa, be they agricultural or industrial products. The shrimp Horse Owning threatens the mangrove woods are on the coast. Highly controversial in the region is also the US military base in Manta, which for Coca -combat in Colombia as part of Plan Colombia is used.

In total, only 87,000 hectares of agricultural land are irrigated in Ecuador. With more than 10% of the country's area, Ecuador has relatively the largest agricultural area in South America.

Sierra

The Cotopaxi and the Rumiñahui in the Sierra
The Chimborazo

The Andean region of the country is called the Sierra ( mountains ) in Ecuador and is more than 80,000 km² in size. Traditionally the most populous region, 38% of Ecuadorians still live here today.

geology

The Sierra consists of the two mountain ranges Cordillera Occidental and Cordillera Real or Central or Oriental as well as the high valley lying in between (sometimes called altiplano ). The Cordillera Occidental is generally lower, but is home to the highest mountain in Ecuador, the Chimborazo . The highest mountain in the Cordillera Central is the almost 5900 m high Cotopaxi . The high valley is at an altitude of 1,800 to 3,200 m and is around 500 km long and 20–30 km wide and is home to a number of medium-high interandine mountains. Due to the active volcanism, Alexander von Humboldt called the valley section between Quito in the north and Riobamba in the south in 1802 the "Road of the Volcanoes". The high valley is divided into seven or eight basins ( cuencas or hoyas ) by mountain bars ( nudos ) ; other authors count up to twelve such cauldrons. With the exception of Guaranda , all major cities in the region are located in such basins. The cuencas are named after rivers and places, namely (from north to south) the Río Chota (see Chota Valley ), the Río Guayllabamba , the Río Pastaza , the Río Paute , the place Girón (or the place and river Río Yunguilla ) and the Río Catamayo (or the Catamayo and the Río Chira as a binational basin with Peru). In the Guayllabamba Basin lies Quito, the second highest capital in the world after La Paz (Bolivia). In the south of Ecuador, the two Cordilleras are less clearly distinguishable than in the center and in the north.

Political structure

Administrative division (provinces)

Politically, the Sierra is divided into the provinces of Azuay , Bolívar , Cañar , Carchi , Cotopaxi , Chimborazo , Imbabura , Loja , the eastern Pichincha and Tungurahua . The main cities of the Sierra are (from north to south) Tulcán , Ibarra , Otavalo , Quito , Latacunga , Ambato , Riobamba , Azogues , Cuenca and Loja . Quito lies at an altitude of 2800 m and is therefore the second highest capital in the world after La Paz (Bolivia) .

Agriculture

The main agricultural products of the region are milk , potatoes (about 40,000 ha), dry corn ( maíz seco ) (about 100,000 ha), barley (25,000 ha in Chimborazo), Manila hemp ( abaca ) (14,000 ha in Pichincha) and cut flowers, before especially roses (northern Pichincha near Cayambe and Chimborazo). Large parts of the Sierra, with dairy cows and green pastures, have a landscape that is not unlike the Bavarian Prealps .

Oriente

Bridge over the Río Pastaza between Macas and Puyo
Roots of a " jungle giant " in the tropical rainforest
Pipeline in the Orient near Lago Agrio

geology

In the east of the country, the Oriente ( east ), are the rainforests of the Amazon basin . The region is almost 100,000 km², but only extremely sparsely populated. Through the war with Peru in 1941/42, Ecuador lost about 200,000 km² of the Amazon region (40% of the land area at that time) and access to the Amazon ; however, this area was never under effective state influence. The Oriente can be divided into the densely forested foothills of the Andes with the three volcanoes Sumaco , Pan de Azúcar and Reventador of the sub - cordillera Galeras-Napo and Cordillera del Cóndor as well as the lower (less than 400 m) and flat Amazon plain. All rivers of the Orient are tributaries of the Amazon. The most important of them are the 850 km long Napo , the Coca , the Pastaza , the border river with Colombia Putumayo and the Aguarico . At Agoyán , the Río Pastaza forms the largest waterfall in Ecuador with a drop of 60 meters. The region has a hot, humid tropical climate .

Political structure

Politically, the region is divided into six provinces, from north to south Sucumbíos , Napo , Orellana , Pastaza , Morona Santiago and Zamora Chinchipe , with parts of the western provinces belonging to the Sierra. The most important cities are located on the eastern slopes of the Andes ( Tena , Puyo , Macas , Zamora ) and in the oil production area in Sucumbíos ( Nueva Loja with the old name Lago Agrio ). While the eastern slopes of the Andes have been under state influence for a long time and are connected to the sierra by roads, this has only been the case for the oil regions since the 1960s and only to a limited extent for the south-eastern areas to this day.

Agriculture and Petroleum

Apart from cassava ( yuca ), agricultural production is only important for the local market. 1967 was found by the US consortium Texaco-Gulf in the Oriente oil. Since a pipeline to the Pacific was completed five years later, Ecuador has been an important oil producer. Ecuador produces 509,000 barrels of oil a day (25 million tons per year). It thus produces around 0.6% of world production and is 30th worldwide and fourth in South America after Venezuela , Brazil and Argentina . Ecuador uses around 160,000 barrels a day, exporting almost 70% of its production. The secured reserves amount to 4.5 billion barrels, the theoretical production range thus around 25 years. In terms of reserves, Ecuador ranks 25th worldwide and third in South America (ahead of Argentina).

The oil is transported to the Pacific via two pipeline systems that are a total of 3,346 km long. The first pipeline ( Sistema de Oleoductos Trans-ecuatoriano de Petroecuador , SOTE) was inaugurated in 1972 and ends at the Balao oil port near Esmeraldas. It runs from Nueva Loja over the Paso de Papallacta through the south of Quito to Esmeraldas and has a capacity of 400,000 bpd . In 1987 the pipeline was out of service for more than six months due to an earthquake damage. The second major pipeline Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados (OCP) was inaugurated in 2003. The OCP was co-financed by WestLB and has been criticized by environmentalists. It also runs from Nueva Loja to Esmeraldas, but not parallel to the SOTE all the time. The capacity of the OCP is 450,000 bpd, the total length is 503 km. In addition, the Oleoducto Transandino de Colombia (or TransAndino), which brings the oil to the Pacific via Tumaco , is used on a smaller scale .

More than 99% of the production is mined in the Orient , almost everything in Sucumbíos . 86% of it promotes Petroecuador , the rest a number of foreign companies. The most important fields are called Shushufindi-Aguarico , Sacha and Libertador . The country's refining capacity is currently 177,000 bpd, 110,000 of which in Esmeraldas, 46,000 in La Libertad and 21,000 in the Oriente. A fourth refinery with 200,000 bpd is planned. Oil and natural gas cover 70% of the country's primary energy needs , the rest is covered by biomass and hydropower .

Galápagos

Galápagos Island Bartolomé
iguana

Main article: Galápagos Islands

geology

The fourth geographical zone of Ecuador are the Galápagos Islands , located about 1000 km from the mainland in the Pacific , officially called Archipiélago de Colón . Similar to Hawaii , the islands are geologically very young (between 700,000 and 3 million years) and of oceanic-volcanic origin, which means that they have never had contact with the mainland in their history. The total area of ​​the 320 km scattered archipelago is more than 8000 km², of which more than half is on the main island of Isabela . In the northern part of the islands, exactly on the equator, lies the Wolf volcano (1707 m), the highest point in the Galápagos.

fauna and Flora

A world-wide unique flora and fauna has been preserved on the archipelago, including the giant turtles , from which the islands owe their name ( lat. Galopegoes for turtles, first used in 1574), iguanas and South American sea lions .

Settlement and economy

Galápagos was used as a base by pirates from the end of the 16th century , by whalers from the end of the 18th century , until permanent settlement began at the end of the 19th century. Today the archipelago has almost 30,000 inhabitants and has no significant agricultural or industrial production. The tourism plays a paramount role in economically more than 80,000 visitors a year.

climate

Climate diagram of Guayaquil in the Costa
Climates
Climate diagram of Quito in the Sierra
The Humboldt Current flows northward on the Pacific coast of South America
Climate diagram of Puyo in the Oriente
Tropical rain in Tena in the Orient
Climate diagram of Galápagos

The climate of Ecuador is extremely diverse. The climate is characterized on the one hand by extreme regional temperature differences due to different altitudes (0 to 6310 m). On the other hand, the amounts of precipitation are extremely different, due to differences in topography as well as the Antarctic Humboldt Current and, to a lesser extent, the north-equatorial Panama Current . Due to the proximity to the equator , the temperature distribution is relatively even over the year. Especially in the Sierra there are pronounced day-night temperature fluctuations. The climatic differences are clear even within a short distance. The north of Quito is much warmer and drier than the south. The summit of Illinois Sur is also glaciated, while the neighboring and practically the same height Illinois Norte is mostly free of snow.

Climates

In Ecuador, a distinction is made along the elevation profile between Tierra Caliente (up to 1000 m), Tierra Templada (up to 2000 m), Tierra Fría (up to 3000 m), Tierra Helada (up to 4800 m) and Tierra Nevada (above). An alternative nomenclature is Tierra Tropical / Tierra Montoñosa / Tierra Andina / Tierra Helada / Tierra Nevada . Within the first three of these altitude sectors (up to 3000 m) the climate differs through very different amounts of precipitation, above all regions are rich in precipitation. Within the Tierra Caliente there is a humid tropical climate (Oriente, north coast of Esmeraldas), tropical monsoon climate (south coast of Esmeraldas and north coast of Manabí, inland of Guayas and Los Ríos), tropical savannah climate (Portoviejo, Guayaquil and El Oro) and tropical dry climate (coastal strip of Guayas). Within the Tierra Templada there is a subtropical-humid climate ( Zamora and Baez), a subtropical-semi-humid climate ( Baños ) and a subtropical dry climate ( Chota Valley , Guayllabamba and Macará ). The climate of the Tierra Fría ranges from moderately humid (southern Quito) to moderately semi-humid (Otavalo, northern Quito) to moderately dry (Ibarra, Ambato).

Rainy seasons

In the northern coastal region with a tropical monsoon climate, there is a pronounced rainy season from January to May. In the Andean highlands there is no pronounced rainy season, but the months from November to May are considered to be the rainier. The rainy seasons are called "winter" and the dry seasons "summer", despite the average temperature being slightly above average. In recent years these "seasons" have become more and more irregular. Many Ecuadorians see this in the context of global warming .

Rainfall

In the southern coastal strip there is precipitation of less than 250 mm per year. On the western Andean slopes of the Costa up to 5000 mm, on the eastern slopes of the Oriente even up to 6000 mm of precipitation. In the Sierra, the basins experience only 250–500 mm of precipitation per year, while altitudes often come to over 2000 mm. Except at extreme altitudes above 4800 m, precipitation almost always falls as rain or hail .

Galapagos

Although located directly on the equator, the climate in the Galápagos Islands is not tropical. In the first half of the year (December / January to May / June) the north-east trade wind dominates , bringing the mild air from the north-equatorial Panama Current (24 to 27 ° C). In the second half of the year, trade winds from the southeast and thus the cool Antarctic Humboldt Current (17 to 20 ° C) dominate. The climate of cool fog and drizzle is called garúa .

Nature reserves

Cuyabeno reserve
Cajas National Park
Altensteinia virescens (Orchideaceae), Pululahua

The UNESCO has three areas of Ecuador to biosphere reserves declared:

In addition to the three biosphere reserves, Ecuador has the following 9 national parks :

There are also other, subordinate nature reserves of various types ( reservas ecológicas, reservas biológicas, reservas faunísticas, monumentos naturales, areas nacionales de recreación ):

If there are conflicts between nature conservation and economic use, the latter is often given priority in Ecuador. A road is currently being built through the Sangay National Park.

Mountains and volcanism

Location of the most famous volcanoes in Ecuador
summit height Mountains province
Chimborazo 6267 Cordillera Occidental Chimborazo
Cotopaxi 5897 Cordillera Central Cotopaxi
Cayambe 5790 Cordillera Central Pichincha
Antisana 5758 Cordillera Central Napo
El altar 5319 Cordillera Central Chimborazo
Iliniza Sur 5263 Cordillera Occidental Cotopaxi
Sangay 5230 Cordillera Central Morona Santiago
Iliniza Norte 5116 Cordillera Occidental Pichincha
Tungurahua 5023 Cordillera Central Tungurahua
Carihuairazo 5018 Cordillera Occidental Tungurahua

The Andes owe their existence to the collision of two tectonic plates . The Nazca plate moves eastwards from Colombia to Patagonia at about nine cm per year, while the South American plate moves westwards at five cm per year and pushes itself over the Nazca plate. As a subduction zone, the entire Andean Cordillera is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire . A direct consequence of this in Ecuador is a large number of active and extinct volcanoes . A total of 55 volcanoes were counted, of which 18 were classified as active. In contrast, earthquakes are less frequent and less violent than in Chile, for example. The only still active volcano of the Cordillera Occidental is the 4778 m high Guagua Pichincha west of Quito. Cotopaxi, Tungurahua and Sangay are the active volcanoes of the Cordillera Central. Eleven volcanoes of Ecuador are currently actively monitored, including the Cotopaxi, the Guagua Pichincha and the Tungurahua classified as dangerous.
See also List of Mountains in Ecuador

Administrative division

Administrative division of Ecuador

The state of Ecuador is divided into

In 2007 there are 22 provinces, 219 cantons and around 1300 parroquias (the number of parroquias changes very frequently). Each canton has one or more urban parroquias, which form a municipality (i.e. a city) as the capital, and a varying number of rural communities. In every canton there is a jefe político (dt. Political head ) who is appointed by the state president and represents him. In the main town (the municipality) there is also a mayor elected by the residents and a city council. The municipalities belonging to the canton each elect a municipal assembly ( junta parroquial ). As part of the decentralization of the Ecuadorian state, the citizens of each Parroquia elect a junta parroquial (community assembly) every four years , which has certain powers in regulating local public life.

No. province Capital region population Area in km² Population
density 		Population 1950 Population growth relative to total growth (294%) in%
1 Azuay Cuenca Sierra 599,546 8,639 69 250,975 47
2 Bolívar Guaranda Sierra / Costa 169,370 3,254 52 109,305 19th
3 Cañar Azogues Sierra 206.981 3,908 53 97,681 38
4th Carchi Tulcán Sierra 152.939 3,699 41 76,595 34
5 Chimborazo Riobamba Sierra 403.632 5,287 76 218.130 29
6th Cotopaxi Latacunga Sierra 349,540 6,569 53 165.602 38
7th El Oro Machala Costa 349,540 5,988 58 89,306 99
8th Esmeraldas Esmeraldas Costa 385.223 15,216 25th 75,407 140
9 Galápagos Baquerizo Moreno Galapagos 18,640 8,010 2 1,346 437
10 Guayas Guayaquil Costa approx. 4,076,034 20.503 210 582.144 218
11 Imbabura Ibarra Sierra 344.044 4,599 75 146.893 46
12 Loja Loja Sierra 404.835 11,027 37 216,802 30th
13 Los Ríos Babahoyo Costa 650.178 6.254 104 150.260 113
14th Manabí Portoviejo Costa 1,186,025 18,400 64 401.378 67
15th Morona Santiago Macas Oriente 115.412 25,690 4th 21,046 -
16 Napo Tena Oriente 79.139 13,271 6th 25,425 -
17th Orellana Coca Oriente 86,493 20,733 4th 0 -
18th Pastaza Puyo Oriente 61,779 29,520 2 0 -
19th Pichincha Quito Sierra approx. 2,108,817 12,938 185 386,520 176
20th Santa Elena Santa Elena Costa approx. 235,000 3,763 63 0 -
21st Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas Santo Domingo de los Colorados Sierra / Costa approx. 280,000 3,857 0 -
22nd Sucumbíos Nueva Loja Oriente 128.995 8,331 15th 0 -
23 Tungurahua Ambato Sierra 441.034 3,333 132 187.942 46
24 Zamora chinchipe Zamora Oriente 76,601 23,111 3 0 -
Costa 6,880,000 66,361 104 1,298,495 146
Sierra 5,460,738 63,253 86 1,856,445 66
Oriente 548.419 120,656 5 46,471 121
Ecuador Quito - 12,907,797 258.280 50 3,276,942 100

Cities

Map of Ecuador
Old Quito

The two largest agglomerations in Ecuador by far are Guayaquil with a population of 3.3 million and the capital Quito with a population of 1.9 million. This means that 43% of the country's people are concentrated in both cities. Guayaquil is the traditional economic center of the country and has the largest port in Ecuador. Santo Domingo is the fastest growing city in the country. More than 60% of all Ecuadorians live in the 15 largest cities in the country.

Cities in Ecuador
rank city Residents province
1982 census 1990 census 2001 census 2005 estimate
1. Guayaquil 1,199,344 1,508,444 1,985,379 2,157,853 Guayas
2. Quito 866.472 1,100,847 1,399,378 1,516,353 Pichincha
3. Cuenca 152.406 194.981 277.374 305.772 Azuay
4th Santo Domingo 69,235 114,422 199,827 238.325 Santo Domingo
5. Machala 105,521 144.197 204,578 228.351 El Oro
6th Duran 51.023 82,359 174,531 212.924 Guayas
7th manta 100,338 125.505 183.105 201,700 Manabí
8th. Portoviejo 102,628 132.937 171,847 187.369 Manabí
9. Ambato 100,454 124.166 154.095 165,541 Tungurahua
10. Riobamba 75,455 94.505 124,807 135,588 Chimborazo

See also List of Cities in Ecuador

population

Population development since 1961
Marginal settlement "bastión Popular" in Guayaquil (2002)

Ecuador has almost 14 million inhabitants and is one of the central states in South America. The population is half as large as that of Peru, a good quarter as large as Colombia's, almost twice as large as Bolivia's and less than a fifth as large as Germany's. About 40% of the population is under 15 and only 5% over 65. The average age is 23 (42 in Germany) - in South America only Bolivians and Paraguayans are younger. The life expectancy of 73 years for men is only three years below that of Germany. The working population is a good four million people. The average population density is 50 inhabitants per km²; This means that Ecuador has the highest population density in South America - more than Colombia, twice as much as Peru and six times as much as Bolivia. However, the uneven distribution and the strong urbanization make this information relatively meaningless: In the Orient the population density is only 4 inhabitants per km². Population growth has declined from around three percent a year - one of the highest rates in Latin America - to 1.5 percent over the past few decades, still one of the highest rates in South America.

Relocation from Sierra to Costa

In 1820 Ecuador had a little over half a million inhabitants and by 1900 about a million. Since the last third of the 19th century, the country has experienced a drastic and long-term population shift from the Sierra to the Costa. Up to the middle of the 19th century, 80-90% of Ecuadorians lived in the Sierra and only 10-20% in the Costa. Within the Sierra, almost all of the settlements were in the easy-to-build basins. In 1950 the Sierra / Costa ratio was 58 to 41%, in 1990 it was 49 to 47% and in 2005 it was a clear 38 to 51%. The Costa has been the most populous region in Ecuador since the early 1970s. The reason for this is the agricultural booms of cocoa between 1880 and 1925 and of bananas between 1947 and the 1960s. Another reason is the attraction of the industrial and commercial center of Guayaquil .

urbanization

Baños , town in the central sierra

Since the middle of the 20th century, the population migration from Sierra to Costa has been overshadowed by a second phenomenon: migration from rural areas to urban centers , above all to Quito and Guayaquil . The proportion of the Sierra provinces in the total population has gone from 58% to 38% since 1950, while the proportion of Pichinchas (whose capital is Quito) rose from 12% to 17%. The share of the Costa provinces rose from 40% to 51%, but Guayas (with Guayaquil) alone was responsible for the increase, whose share jumped from 18% to 31%; the other Costa provinces lost relatively in population. Despite rapid urbanization, Ecuador's urbanization is one of the lowest in South America at 61%, only Paraguay and Guiana are less urbanized.

International labor emigration

In the past 40 years, around 2.5 million Ecuadorians have emigrated as migrant workers , more than half of the country's current workforce. While this population shift has not reached the proportions of urbanization or land-to-land migration within Ecuador, it is relatively one of the larger emigration movements in modern history. The most important destinations are the USA , Spain , Italy , the Benelux countries, Great Britain , Canada , Chile and Switzerland . About 800,000 Ecuadorians live in Spain and in Spanish schools Ecuadorians form the largest minority , ahead of Moroccans . Other authors name 500,000 Ecuadorians in Spain, of whom just 180,000 have a residence permit. In New York , 600,000 Ecuadorians make up the largest Latin American population. This makes New York the third largest city in Ecuador. Another 100,000 live in Chicago and Los Angeles , respectively, and another 60,000 in Washington, DC There are 60,000–120,000 Ecuadorians in Italy. According to a 2002 survey, 45% of the adult population would like to emigrate. The emigrants are typically between 18 and mid-30s and nearly a third of urban emigrants have a university education. In total, Ecuador has lost around 200,000 well-educated workers and citizens.

Language and religion

In addition to the official language Spanish, Kichwa (also Quichua ) is of great importance with around two million speakers, especially in the Sierra and the Oriente. Kichwa is a dialect of Quechua , the lingua franca of the Incas , which they introduced after the conquest of the region in the 15th century. In addition, some local indigenous languages ​​and dialects are spoken in the northern Costa and in the Orient. The most common of these is Shuar from the southern Oriente and Chibchan . More than 90% of the population specifies Roman Catholic as a denomination. The Catholic Church of Ecuador is considered one of the most conservative in Latin America.
See also: History of Ecuador

Ethnic composition

The country's ethnic composition is extremely heterogeneous, but it is very difficult to quantify. In general it can be said that, as in the other Andean countries, the proportion of the indigenous population is very high. This can be explained on the one hand by the dense settlement by indigenous peoples under the rule of the Incas , on the other hand by the fact that there was hardly any European immigration to Ecuador, except from Spain - unlike Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil or Chile. According to the 2004 census, 20% of the population are indigenous , 35% mestizo , 25% European, 15% mulatto and 5% African American . According to the indígena organization CONAIE , the proportion of indígenas is up to 50%. Others estimate the proportion of the indigenous population at 40%, that of the mestizo at another 40%, that of people of European descent at 10–15% and that of African-Americans at 5–10%.

There are also great regional differences with regard to the ethnic composition of the population: while the proportion of the kichwas-speaking indigenous population is particularly high in the Sierra, people of African origin are concentrated in the Esmeraldas province and in the Chota Valley ( Imbabura and Carchi provinces ) Northwest of the country. In the Costa there are more mestizos who are culturally and linguistically more assimilated, and only a few culturally autonomous indigenous cultures. In the Orient, the Lowland Quechua , Siona , Secoya , Huaorani and Cofán still live largely traditionally. In the Sierra, this applies to the Otavalos and Salasacan cultures.

See also

literature

  • Volker Feser: Ecuador . Michel Müller, Erlangen 2005, ISBN 3-89953-189-2 .
  • Nelson Gómez E .: Nuevo Atlas del Ecuador . Edugquias, Quito 2004, ISBN 9978-89-009-2 (Spanish).
  • Karl-Dieter Hoffmann: Ecuador . In: Dieter Nohlen and Franz Nuscheler (ed.): Handbook of the Third World . 2 (South America). JHW Dietz Nachf., Bonn 1995, ISBN 3-8012-0189-9 .
  • Günter Schmudlach: Mountain Guide Ecuador: Hikes around Quito, trekking tours, medium mountain tours, snow mountains, climbing mountains, combined tours, jungle mountains . Panico-Alpinverlag, Köngen, Switzerland 2001, ISBN 3-926807-82-2 .
  • David W. Schodt: Ecuador: an Andean enigma . Westview Press, Boulder 1987, ISBN 0-8133-0230-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ U Texas ( Memento of the original from November 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.crwr.utexas.edu
  2. ^ Nelson Gómez E .: Nuevo Atlas del Ecuador . Edugquias, Quito 2004, ISBN 9978-89-009-2 , pp. 54-56; the information is relatively rough
  3. ↑ English Wikipedia
  4. ↑ a b c d CIA World Factbook
  5. ^ Nelson Gómez E .: Nuevo Atlas del Ecuador. Edugquias, Quito 2004, ISBN 9978-89-009-2 , pp. 54-56.
  6. ↑ CIA World Factbook
  7. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.amazonwatch.org
  8. ↑ http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Network/2251/petroleo.htm ( Memento of October 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ; [1]
  9. ↑ Volker Feser: Ecuador . M. Müller, Erlangen 2005, ISBN 3-89953-189-2 , pp. 18-19
  10. ^ Nelson Gómez E .: Nuevo Atlas del Ecuador . Edugquias, Quito 2004, ISBN 9978-89-009-2 , pp. 28 .
  11. ↑ source and date missing; possibly 2001 census?
  12. ↑ Schodt (1987): 6
  13. ↑ z. B. Azuay, at 139%, had less than half the population growth rate of Ecuador with 294%. Calculation user: Prissantenbär
  14. ↑ founded in 1953, before that part of Santiago-Zamora together with Zamora Chinchipe
  15. ↑ founded in 1959, before that part of Napo-Pastaza together with Pastaza
  16. ↑ founded in 1998, before that part of Napo
  17. ↑ founded in 1959, before that part of Napo-Pastaza together with Napo
  18. ↑ founded in 2007, before that part of Guayas
  19. ↑ founded in 2007, before that part of Pichincha
  20. ↑ founded in 1989, before that part of Napo
  21. ↑ founded in 1953, before that, together with Morona Santiago, part of Santiago-Zamora
  22. ↑ Figures are the sums of the Costa provinces, although the provincial boundaries do not always coincide with the regional borders (Pichincha, Bolívar and Santo Domingo both have a share in Sierra and Costa; in this summary they are added to the Sierra)
  23. ↑ As of January 1, 2005
  24. ↑ The population figures refer to the respective urban settlement in the narrower sense - the geographical urban area - not to the city or municipality in the political sense.
  25. ^ Karl-Dieter Hoffmann: Ecuador . In: Dieter Nohlen, Franz Nuscheler (Ed.): Handbook of the Third World . tape 2 , South America, ISBN 3-8012-0189-9 , pp. 340-41 .
  26. ↑ CXI Asamblea Plenaria Conferencia Epispocal Ecuatoriana (2003), p. 15
  27. ↑ Volker Feser: Ecuador . M. Müller, Erlangen 2005, ISBN 3-89953-189-2 , p. 14-16 .
  28. ↑ CXI Asamblea Plenaria Conferencia Epispocal Ecuatoriana (2003), pp. 24-26, 40
  29. ^ David W. Schodt: Ecuador: an Andean enigma . Boulder: Westview Press, 1987., ISBN 0-8133-0230-7 , p. 3

Web links

to cities

oil

fauna and Flora