General
Information:Complete name: Republic of Ecuador
Area: 283,520 km2 (175,780 mi2)
Population: 11,700,000 (growth rate: 2%)
Capital: Quito (1.5 million inhabitants)
Main Port:Guayaquil (2 million inhabitants)
Race: 40% mestizo, 40% indian, 15% coming from spaniards, 5% coming
from africans
Language: spanish, quechua, quichua and other indigenous languages
Religion:More than 90% catholic, and a minority of other christian
churches
Ecuador is located
in the northeastern region of South America and its boundaries are Colombia
at the north, Peru at the south and west and the Pacific Ocean at the
east. Its main cities are Quito, the capital, located in the center of
the country and at a few kilometers from the ecuadorial line, Guayaquil,
the second city and main port of the country and Cuenca at the so. Ecuador
has three main regions: the Coast, the Andean Region and the Amazonic
Region, as well as the Galapagos Islands.
Culture
The
ancient cultures' highlights of Ecuador are mainly its colorful pieces
of pottery and figures, paintings, sculptures and gold and plate pieces.
The
spaniards brought their techniques of religious art to the indigenous
people, which marvellous results can be observed mainly in the colonial
churches, as well as in the museums with crafts of the "Quito School",
that was developed between the XVII and XVIII centuries.
Quito
was named Cultural Patrimony of the Humanity by the UNESCO in 1978, thanks
to the high level of conservancy and its immense quantity of colonial
crafts.
The
traditional andean music has been spreaded worldwide, as well as handicrafts
as wind instruments, leather fashion, timber, ceramics, jewels .