Ecuador

Republic of Ecuador República del Ecuador  (Spanish)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Dios, patria y libertad"  (Spanish) "Pro Deo, Patria et Libertate"  (Latin) "God, homeland and liberty"
Anthem: Salve, Oh Patria  (Spanish) Hail, Oh Fatherland
Capital		Quito 00°9′S 78°21′W / 0.15°S 78.35°W / -0.15; -78.35
Largest city		Guayaquil
Official language(s)		Spanish1
Ethnic groups		65% Mestizo, 25% Indigenous.[1], 7% Spanish or White, 3% black
Demonym		Ecuadorian
Government		Unitary presidential republic
-	President	Rafael Correa
-	Vice President	Lenín Moreno
Independence
-	declared	August 10, 1809
-	from Spain	May 24, 1822
-	from Gran Colombia	May 13, 1830
-	Recognized by Spain	February 16, 1840
Area
-	Total	283.561 (with Galapagos) km2 (66th) 109,415 sq mi
-	Water (%)	4
Population
-	2010 estimate	14,790,608[2] (65th)
-	Density	53.8/km2 (151st) 139.4/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2010 estimate
-	Total	$114.827 billion[3]
-	Per capita	$8,022[3]
GDP (nominal)		2010 estimate
-	Total	$61.958 billion[3]
-	Per capita	$4,328[3]
Gini		42 (medium)
HDI (2007)		▲ 0.806[4] (high) (49th)
Currency		U.S. dollar2 (USD)
Time zone		ECT, GALT (UTC-5, -6)
Drives on the		right
Internet TLD		.ec
Calling code		+593
1	Quechua and other Amerindian languages spoken by indigenous communities.
2	Sucre until 2000, followed by the U.S. dollar and Ecuadorian centavo coins

Ecuador (pronounced /ˈɛkwədɔr/ ( listen)), officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðel ekwaˈðor]), literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) west of the mainland.

Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name, and has an area of 283.561 km2, 109,415 sq ml. Its capital city is Quito, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1970s for having the best preserved and least altered historic center in Latin America.^[5] The country's largest city is Guayaquil. The historic center of Cuenca, the third largest city in the country, was also declared a World Heritage Site in 1999, for being an outstanding example of a planned inland Spanish style colonial city in the Americas.^[6] Ecuador is also home—despite its size—to a great variety of species, many of them endemic, like those of the Galápagos islands. This species diversity makes Ecuador one of the seventeen megadiverse countries in the world.^[7] The new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.^[8]

Ecuador is a presidential republic and became independent in 1830, after having been part of the Spanish colonial empire and the republic of Gran Colombia. It is a medium-income country with an HDI score of 1.025 (2010), and about 35.1% of the people living below the poverty line.^[9]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Inca Empire 1.2 Colonization 1.3 Independence 1.4 Liberal Revolution 1.5 War with Peru 1.6 Military governments (1972–1979) 1.7 Return to democracy 2 Politics 3 Administrative divisions 4 Military 5 Geography 5.1 Climate 5.2 Biodiversity 6 Economy 7 Transportation 8 Demographics 8.1 Religion 8.2 Population density 8.3 Nations 8.4 Immigration and emigration 9 Culture 10 Cuisine 11 Literature 12 Art 13 Sport 14 Health and education 15 International rankings 16 See also 17 References 18 External links

[edit] History

Evidence of human cultures in Ecuador exists from c. 3500 B.C.^[10] Many civilizations rose throughout Ecuador, such as the Valdivia Culture and Machalilla Culture on the coast, the Quitus (near present day Quito) and the Cañari (near present day Cuenca). Each civilization developed its own distinctive architecture, pottery, and religious interests, although consolidated under a confederation called the Shyris which exercised organized trading and bartering between the different regions and whose political and military power was under the rule of the Duchicela blood line before the Inca invasion. After years of fiery resistance by the Cañaris and other tribes, as demonstrated by the battle of Yahuarcocha (Blood Lake) where thousands of resistance fighters were killed and thrown in the lake, the region fell to the Incan expansion and was assimilated loosely into the Incan empire.

[edit] Inca Empire

Through a succession of wars and marriages among the nations that inhabited the valley, the region became part of the Inca Empire in 1463. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived from the north, the Inca Empire was ruled by Huayna Capac, who had two sons: Atahualpa, being in charge of the northern parts of the empire, and Huascar, seated in the Incan capital Cusco. Upon Huayna Capac's death in 1525, the empire was divided in two: Atahualpa received the north, with his capital in Quito; Huascar received the south, with its capital in Cusco. In 1530, Atahualpa defeated Huascar and conquered the entire empire.

[edit] Colonization

Disease decimated the indigenous population during the first decades of Spanish rule — a time when the natives also were forced into the encomienda labor system for Spanish landlords. In 1563, Quito became the seat of a real audiencia (administrative district) of Spain and part of the Vice-Royalty of Lima, and later the Vice-Royalty of Nueva Granada.

After nearly 300 years of Spanish colonization, Quito was still a small city of only 10,000 inhabitants. It was there, on August 10, 1809 (the national holiday), that the first call for independence from Spain was made in Latin America ("Primer Grito de la Independencia"), under the leadership of the city's criollos like Juan Pío Montúfar, Quiroga, Salinas, and Bishop Cuero y Caicedo. Quito's nickname, "Luz de América" ("Light of America"), comes from the fact that it was the first successful attempt to produce an independent and local government, although for no more than two months, that had an important repercussion and inspiration for the emancipation of the rest of Spanish America. Quito is also known as "La Cara de Dios" ("The Face of God") for the beauty of its religious colonial art and architecture cloistered in the amazing equatorial Andes landscape.

[edit] Independence

On October 9, 1820, Guayaquil became the first city in Ecuador to gain its independence from Spain. On May 24, 1822, the rest of Ecuador gained its independence after Antonio José de Sucre defeated the Spanish Royalist forces at the Battle of Pichincha, near Quito. Following the battle, Ecuador joined Simón Bolívar's Republic of Gran Colombia - joining with modern day Colombia and Venezuela – only to become a republic in 1830.

The 19th century for Ecuador was marked by instability, with a rapid succession of rulers. The first president of Ecuador was the Venezuelan-born Juan José Flores, who was ultimately deposed, followed by many authoritarian leaders such as Vicente Rocafuerte; José Joaquín de Olmedo; José María Urbina; Diego Noboa; Pedro José de Arteta; Manuel de Ascásubi; and Flores's own son, Antonio Flores Jijón, among others. The conservative Gabriel Garcia Moreno unified the country in the 1860s with the support of the Roman Catholic Church. In the late 19th century, world demand for cocoa tied the economy to commodity exports and led to migrations from the highlands to the agricultural frontier on the coast.

[edit] Liberal Revolution

The coast-based Liberal Revolution of 1895 under Eloy Alfaro reduced the power of the clergy and the conservative land owners of the highlands, and this liberal wing retained power until the military "Julian Revolution" of 1925. The 1930s and 1940s were marked by instability and emergence of populist politicians, such as five-time President José María Velasco Ibarra.

[edit] War with Peru

The Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute History of the Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute Gran Colombia–Peru War (1828-1829) Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute of 1857-1860 Ecuadorian-Peruvian War (1941) Paquisha War (1981) Cenepa War (1995)

Control over territory in the Amazon basin led to a long-lasting dispute between Ecuador and Peru. In 1941, amid fast-growing tensions between the two countries, war broke out. Peru claimed that Ecuador's military presence in Peruvian-claimed territory was an invasion; Ecuador, for its part, claimed that Peru had invaded Ecuador. In July 1941, troops were mobilized in both countries. Peru had an army of 11,681 troops who faced a poorly supplied and inadequately armed Ecuadorian force of 2,300, of which only 1,300 were deployed in the southern provinces. Hostilities erupted on July 5, 1941, when Peruvian forces crossed the Zarumilla river at several locations, testing the strength and resolve of the Ecuadorian border troops. Finally, on July 23, 1941, the Peruvians launched a major invasion, crossing the Zarumilla river in force and advancing into the Ecuadorian province of El Oro.

During the course of the war, Peru gained control over part of the disputed territory and some parts of the province of El Oro, and some parts of the province of Loja, demanding that the Ecuadorian government give up its territorial claims. The Peruvian Navy blocked the port of Guayaquil, almost cutting all supplies to the Ecuadorian troops. After a few weeks of war and under pressure by the United States and several Latin American nations, all fighting came to a stop. Ecuador and Peru came to an accord formalized in the Rio Protocol, signed on January 29, 1942, in favor of hemispheric unity against the Axis Powers in World War II favoring Peru with the territory they occupied at the time the war came to an end.

Recession and popular unrest led to a return to populist politics and domestic military interventions in the 1960s, while foreign companies developed oil resources in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In 1972, construction of the Andean pipeline was completed. The pipeline brought oil from the east side of the Andes to the coast, making Ecuador South America's second largest oil exporter. The pipeline in southern Ecuador did nothing, however, to resolve tensions between Ecuador and Peru.

The Rio Protocol failed to precisely resolve the border along a small river in the remote Cordillera del Cóndor region in southern Ecuador. This caused a long-simmering dispute between Ecuador and Peru, which ultimately led to fighting between the two countries; first a border skirmish in January-February 1981 known as the Paquisha Incident, and ultimately full-scale warfare in January 1995 where the Ecuadorian military shot down Peruvian aircraft and helicopters and Peruvian infantry marched into southern Ecuador. Each country blamed the other for the onset of hostilities, known as the Cenepa War. Sixto Durán Ballén, the Ecuadorian president, famously declared that he would not give up a single centimeter of Ecuador. Popular sentiment in Ecuador became strongly nationalistic against Peru: graffiti could be seen on the walls of Quito referring to Peru as the "Cain de Latinoamérica," a reference to the murder of Abel by his brother Cain in the Book of Genesis.^[11]

Ecuador and Peru reached a tentative peace agreement in October 1998, which ended hostilities, and the Guarantors of the Rio Protocol ruled that the border of the undelineated zone was indeed the line of the Cordillera del Cóndor, as Peru had been claiming since the 1940s. While Ecuador had to give up its decades-old territorial claims to the eastern slopes of the Cordillera, as well as to the entire western area of Cenepa headwaters, Peru was compelled to give to Ecuador, in perpetual lease but without sovereignty, one square kilometer of its territory, in the area where the Ecuadorian base of Tiwinza — focal point of the war — had been located within Peruvian soil and which the Ecuadorian Army held as their strong hold all the time during the conflict. The final border demarcation came into effect on May 13, 1999.

[edit] Military governments (1972–1979)

In 1972 a "revolutionary and nationalist" military junta overthrew the government of Velasco Ibarra. The coup d'état was led by General Guillermo Rodríguez and executed by navy commander Jorge Queirolo G. The new president exiled José María Velasco to Argentina. He remained in power until 1976, when he was removed by another military government. That military junta was led by Admiral Alfredo Poveda, who was declared chairman of the Supreme Council. The Supreme Council included two other members: General Guillermo Durán Arcentales and General Luis Leoro Franco. After the country stabilized socially and economically, the Supreme Council held democratic elections and enabled the new democratically elected president to assume the duties of the executive office.

[edit] Return to democracy

Elections were held on April 29, 1979, under a new constitution. Jaime Roldós Aguilera was elected president, garnering over one million votes, the most in Ecuadorian history. He took office on August 10 as the first constitutionally elected president after nearly a decade of civilian and military dictatorships. In 1980 he founded the Partido Pueblo, Cambio y Democracia (People, Change and Democracy Party) after withdrawing from the Concentracion de Fuerzas Populares (Popular Forces Concentration) and governed until May 24, 1981, when he died along with his wife and the minister of defense, Marco Subia Martinez, when his Air Force plane crashed in heavy rain near the Peruvian border. Many people believe that he was assassinated,^{[citation needed]} given the multiple death threats leveled against him because of his reformist agenda, deaths in automobile crashes of two key witnesses before they could testify during the investigation and the sometimes contradictory accounts of the incident.

Roldos was immediately succeeded by Vice President Osvaldo Hurtado who was followed in 1984 by León Febres Cordero from the Social Christian Party. Rodrigo Borja Cevallos of the Democratic Left (Izquierda Democrática or ID) party won the presidency in 1988, running in the runoff election against Abdalá Bucaram (brother in law of Jaime Roldos and founder of the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party). His government was committed to improving human rights protection and carried out some reforms, notably an opening of Ecuador to foreign trade. The Borja government concluded an accord leading to the disbanding of the small terrorist group, "¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!" ("Alfaro Lives, Dammit!") named after Eloy Alfaro. However, continuing economic problems undermined the popularity of the ID, and opposition parties gained control of Congress in 1990.

The emergence of the indigenous population (approximately 25%) as an active constituency has added to the democratic volatility of the country in recent years. The population has been motivated by government failures to deliver on promises of land reform, lower unemployment and provision of social services, and historical exploitation by the land-holding elite. Their movement, along with the continuing destabilizing efforts by both the elite and leftist movements, has led to a deterioration of the executive office. The populace and the other branches of government give the president very little political capital, as illustrated by the most recent removal of President Lucio Gutiérrez from office by Congress in April 2005. Vice President Alfredo Palacio took his place and remained in office until the presidential election of 2006, in which Rafael Correa defeated Alvaro Noboa in a runoff election.^[12]

[edit] Politics

Ecuador is governed by a democratically elected President, for a four year term. The current president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, exercises his power from the presidential Palacio de Carondelet in Quito. The current constitution was written by the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly elected in 2007, and was approved by referendum in 2008.

The executive branch includes 25 ministries. Provincial governors and councilors (mayors, aldermen, and parish boards) are directly elected. The National Congress of Ecuador meets throughout the year except for recesses in July and December. There are 69 seven-member congressional committees. Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the Congress for indefinite terms.

Ecuador has often placed great emphasis on multilateral approaches to international issues. Ecuador is a member of the United Nations (and most of its specialized agencies) and a member of many regional groups, including the Rio Group, the Latin American Economic System, the Latin American Energy Organization, the Latin American Integration Association, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America and the Andean Community of Nations.

[edit] Administrative divisions

Ecuador is divided into 24 provinces (Spanish: provincias), each with its own administrative capital:

Map Key Province Capital 1 Azuay Cuenca 2 Bolívar Guaranda 3 Cañar Azogues 4 Carchi Tulcán 5 Chimborazo Riobamba 6 Cotopaxi Latacunga 7 El Oro Machala 8 Esmeraldas Esmeraldas 9 Galápagos Puerto Baquerizo Moreno 10 Guayas Guayaquil 11 Imbabura Ibarra 12 Loja Loja

Map Key Province Capital 13 Los Ríos Babahoyo 14 Manabí Portoviejo 15 Morona-Santiago Macas 16 Napo Tena 17 Orellana Puerto Francisco de Orellana 18 Pastaza Puyo 19 Pichincha Quito 20 Santa Elena Santa Elena 21 Santo Domingo Santo Domingo 22 Sucumbíos Nueva Loja 23 Tungurahua Ambato 24 Zamora-Chinchipe Zamora

The provinces are divided into cantons, and further subdivided into parishes (parroquias).

[edit] Military

The Ecuadorian Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas del Ecuador), consisting of the Army, Air Force and Navy, have responsibility for the preservation of the integrity and national sovereignty of the national territory. Frequent border conflicts with its neighbours, guerrilla insurgency from Colombia as well as internal problems involving crime, makes the Ecuadorian Armed Forces an essential part of the country's existence. In 2009 the new administration at the Defence Ministry launched a deep restructuring within the forces, increasing spending budget to $1,691,776,803, an increase of 25%.(FY08) ^[13]

[edit] Geography

Ecuador has three main geographic regions, plus an insular region in the Pacific Ocean:

• La Costa, or the coast, comprises the low-lying land in the western part of the country, including the Pacific coastline.
• La Sierra, ("the highlands") is the high-altitude belt running north-south along the center of the country, its mountainous terrain dominated by the Andes mountain range.
• La Amazonía, also known as El Oriente ("the east"), comprises the Amazon rainforest areas in the eastern part of the country, accounting for just under half of the country's total surface area, though populated by less than 5% of the population.
• The Región Insular, is the region comprising the Galápagos Islands, some 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) west of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.

Ecuador's capital is Quito, which is in the province of Pichincha in the Sierra region. Its largest city is Guayaquil, in the Guayas Province. Cotopaxi, which is just south of Quito, features one of the world's highest active volcanoes. The top of Mount Chimborazo (6,310-m above sea level) is considered to be the most distant point from the center of the earth, given the ovoid shape of the planet.^[14]

[edit] Climate

There is great variety in the climate, largely determined by altitude. It is mild year-round in the mountain valleys; Humid Subtropical Climate incoastal and Rain Forests in lowlands. The Pacific coastal area has a tropical climate, with a severe rainy season. The climate in the Andean highlands is temperate and relatively dry; and the Amazon basin on the eastern side of the mountains shares the climate of other rain forest zones.

Because of its location at the equator, Ecuador experiences little variation in daylight hours during the course of a year.^[15]

[edit] Biodiversity

Ecuador is one of seventeen megadiverse countries in the world according to Conservation International.^[7] In addition to the mainland, Ecuador owns the Galapagos Islands, for which the country is most well known. ^[16]

With 1,600 bird species (15% of the world's known bird species) in the continental area, and 38 more endemic in the Galápagos. In addition to over 16, 000 species of plants, the country has 106 endemic reptiles, 138 endemic amphibians, and 6,000 species of butterfly. The Galápagos Islands are well known as a region of distinct fauna, famous as the place of birth of Darwin's Theory of Evolution, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[17]

Despite being on the UNESCO list, the Galapagos are endangered by a range of negative environmental effects, threatening the existence of this exotic ecosystem.^[18] Additionally, oil exploitation of the Amazon rain forest has led to the release of billions of gallons of untreated wastes, gas, and crude oil into the environment, contaminating ecosystems and causing detrimental health effects to indigenous peoples.^[19]

[edit] Economy

Ecuador's economy has heavily depended on exporting resources such as petroleum, fish, shrimp, timber and gold. In addition, it has rich agriculture: bananas, flowers, coffee, cacao, sugar, tropical fruits, palm oil, palm hearts, rice, roses, and corn.^[20] The country´s greatest national export is crude oil.^[21] Fluctuations in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. Industry is largely oriented to servicing the domestic market, with some exports to the Andean Community of Nations.

Deteriorating economic performance in 1997-98 culminated in a severe economic and financial crisis in 1999. The crisis was precipitated by the El Niño weather phenomenon in 1997, a sharp drop in global oil prices in 1997-98, and international emerging market instability in 1997-98. These factors resulted in a 7.3% contraction of GDP, annual year-on-year inflation of 52.2%, and a 65% devaluation of the national currency, the Sucre, in 1999, which helped precipitate a default on external loans later that year. In January 2000, President Jamil Mahuad announced a policy to adopt the U.S. dollar as the official currency of Ecuador, and although Mahuad was forced from office, his successor Gustavo Noboa continued with the plan, and also entered into negotiations with the IMF.

[edit] Transportation

Ecuador has a network of national highways maintained by the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Comunicaciones (Ministry of Public Works and Communication). The Pan-American Highway connects the northern and southern portions of the country as well as connecting Ecuador with Colombia to the north and Peru to the south. The quality of roads, even on truck routes, is highly variable.

There is an extensive network of intercity buses that use these mountain roads and highways. The most modern Ecuadorian Highway connects Guayaquil with Salinas. The Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos is the Ecuadorian national railway. The Interandean Railroad is essentially defunct; only the short "devil´s nose" section is usable. Tourists usually board the train in Alausí, some opt for a longer trip from Riobamba (if available).

[edit] Demographics

2009 estimates put Ecuador's population at 14,573,101.^[22] Ecuador's population is ethnically diverse. The largest ethnic group (as of 2007) is the Mestizos, who are the descendants of Spanish colonists and the indigenous people which constitute the 65% of the population based on a self-determined census. Amerindians account for 25% of the current population. The unmixed descendants of early Spanish colonists, independently of their ethnic Iberian or Mediterranean origin called "Criollos", as well as immigrants from other European countries account for about 7% of the population. Afro-Ecuadorians, including Mulattos and zambos, are also a minority, are largely based in Esmeraldas and Imbabura provinces, and make up 3% of the population.^[1]

[edit] Religion

Approximately 95% of Ecuadorians are Roman Catholic (see List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Ecuador), and 4% are Protestants. In the rural parts of Ecuador, indigenous beliefs and Catholicism are sometimes syncretized. Most festivals and annual parades are based on religious celebrations, many incorporating a mixture of rites and icons.

The Jewish community of Ecuador, which maintains a synagogue, a school and a home for the aged in Quito, has about 500 members. However, this number is decreasing because young people are emigrating to study in Israel or elsewhere abroad and not returning. Since 1948 137 Ecuadorian Jews have emigrated to Israel.^[23]. The "Comunidad de Culto Israelita" reunites the Jews of Guayaquil. This community works independently from the "Jewish Community of Ecuador"^[24]. The city has also synagogue of Messianic Judaism.^[25]. There are some small percentages of Eastern Orthodox Christians, indigenous religions, Muslims (see Islam in Ecuador), Buddhists and Bahá'í. Ecuador also has a rapidly growing number of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about 1.4% of the population or about 185,000 members.^[26][27]

[edit] Population density

The majority of Ecuadorians live in the central provinces inland in the Andes mountains or along the Pacific coast. The tropical forest region to the east of the mountains (El Oriente) remains sparsely populated and contains only about three percent of the population.
City Populations 2010^[28]

• Guayaquil 2,286,800
• Quito 1,619,800
• Cuenca 402,000
• Portoviejo 257,000
• Machala 250,000
• Santo Domingo de los Colorados 231,300
• Ambato 224,700
• Manta 210,700
• Eloy Alfaro 201,000
• Riobamba 189,500

[edit] Nations

The Ecuadorian constitution recognizes the "pluri-nationality" of those who want to exercise their affiliation with their native ethnic groups. Therefore, in addition to criollos, mestizos, and Afro-Ecuadorians, some people belong to the indigenous nations scattered in a few places in the coast, Quechua Andean villages, and the Amazonian jungle.

[edit] Immigration and emigration

A small east Asian Latino community estimated at 2,500 mainly consists of those of Japanese and Chinese descent, whose ancestors arrived as miners, farm hands and fishermen in the late 19th century.^[29]

In the early years of World War II, Ecuador still admitted a certain amount of immigrants, and in 1939, when several South American countries refused to accept the 165 Jewish refugees from Germany aboard the ship "Koenigstein," Ecuador granted them entry permits.

[edit] Culture

Ecuador's mainstream culture is defined by its Hispanic mestizo majority and, like their ancestry, is traditionally of Spanish heritage influenced at different degrees with Amerindian traditions and in some cases with African elements. Since African slavery was not the workforce of the Spanish colonies in the "Terra Firme" (South-America) given the subjugation of the indigenous people through evangelism and encomiendas, the minor African descendant elements are found in the northern provinces of Esmeraldas and Imbabura thanks to the 17th century shipwreck of a slave-trading galleon in front of the northern coast of Ecuador. The few black African survivors swam to the shore and penetrated the then thick jungle under the leadership of Anton, the chief of the group, where they remained as free-men while maintaining their original culture not influenced by the typical elements found on other provinces of the coast or in the Andean region.

Ecuador's indigenous communities are integrated into the mainstream culture to varying degrees,^[30] but some may also practice their own indigenous cultures, particularly the more remote indigenous communities of the Amazon basin. Spanish is spoken as the first language by more than 90% of the population and as first and second language by more than 98%. One part of Ecuador's population can speak Amerindian languages, but just as a second language. Two percent of the population speak only Amerindian languages.

[edit] Cuisine

Ecuadorian cuisine is diverse, varying with altitude and associated agricultural conditions. Most regions in Ecuador follow the traditional 3 course meal of sopa/soup and segundo/second dish which includes rice and a protein such as meat, poultry, pig or fish. Then dessert and a coffee are customary. Supper is usually lighter and sometimes just coffee or agua de remedio/herbal tea with bread. In the mountain regions, pork, chicken, beef, and cuy (guinea pig) are popular and are served with a variety of grains (especially rice and corn or potatoes). Seafood is very popular at the coast, where prawns, shrimp and lobster are key parts of the diet. Plantain- and peanut-based dishes are the basis of most coastal meals. In the rainforest, a dietary staple is the yuca, elsewhere called cassava. Many fruits are available in this region, including bananas, tree grapes, and peach palms.

[edit] Literature

There are many contemporary Ecuadorian writers, including the novelist Jorge Enrique Adoum; the poet Jorge Carrera Andrade; the essayist Benjamín Carrión; the poet Fanny Carrión de Fierro; the novelist Enrique Gil Gilbert; the novelist Jorge Icaza (author of the novel Huasipungo, translated to many languages); the short story author Pablo Palacio; the novelist Alicia Yanez Cossio; the prominent author and essayist, Juan Montalvo, and U.S.-based, half Ecuadorian poet Emanuel Xavier.

[edit] Art

The best known art tendencies from Ecuador belonged to the Escuela Quiteña, which developed from the 16th to 18th centuries, examples of which are on display in various old churches in Quito. Ecuadorian painters include: Oswaldo Guayasamín, Camilo Egas and Eduardo Kingman from the Indiginist Movement; and Manuel Rendon, Enrique Tábara, Aníbal Villacís, Theo Constanté, León Ricaurte and Estuardo Maldonado from the Informalist Movement. The indigenous people of Tigua, Ecuador are also world renowned for their tradicional paintings.

[edit] Sport

The most popular sport in Ecuador, as in most South American countries, is football (soccer). Its best known professional teams include Barcelona and Emelec from Guayaquil; LDU Quito, Deportivo Quito, and El Nacional from Quito; Olmedo from Riobamba; and Deportivo Cuenca from Cuenca. Currently the most succesful football club in Ecuador is LDU Quito and it is the only Ecuadorian club that have won the Copa Libertadores, the Copa Sudamericana and the Recopa Sudamericana, they were also runners-up in the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup. The matches of the Ecuadorian national team are the most watched sporting events in the country. Ecuador qualified for the final rounds of both the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. The 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign was considered a huge success for the country and for its habitants, because it was said that it had changed the people's point of view and mentality of goals that used to be very hard to achieve for Ecuadorians and now they seem much possible;  Ecuador finished in 2nd place on the qualifiers behind Argentina and above the team that would become World Champion Brazil . In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Ecuador finished ahead of Poland and Costa Rica to come in second to Germany in Group A in the 2006 World Cup. Futsal, often referred to as índor, is particularly popular for mass participation.

There is considerable interest in tennis in the middle and upper classes in Ecuadorian society, and several Ecuadorian professional players have attained international fame. Basketball has a high profile, while Ecuador's specialties include Ecuavolley, a three-person variation of volleyball. Bullfighting is practiced at a professional level in Quito, during the annual festivities that commemorate the Spanish founding of the city, and also features in festivals in many smaller towns. Rugby union is found to some extent in Ecuador, with teams in Guayaquil,^[31] Quito,^[32] and Cuenca.

[edit] Health and education

Ecuadorians have a life expectancy of 73 years.^[33] The infant mortality rate is 13 per 1,000 live births,^[33] a major improvement from approximately 76 in the early 1980s and 140 in 1950.^[34] Twenty-three percent of children under five are chronically malnourished.^[33] A significant part of the population has no access to clean water.^[35] There are 686 malaria cases per 100,000 people.^[35] Basic health care, including doctor's visits, basic surgeries, and basic medications, has been provided free since 2008.^[33] However, many hospitals are in poor condition and often lack necessary supplies.^[33] Often, waits to see doctors are extremely long.^[33] Specialist visits are only available in Quito and Guayaquil.^[33]

The Ecuadorian Constitution requires that all children attend school until they achieve a “basic level of education,” which is estimated at nine school years.^[36] In 1996, the net primary enrollment rate was 96.9 percent, and 71.8 percent of children stayed in school until the fifth grade.^[36] The cost of primary and secondary education is borne by the government, but families often face significant additional expenses such as fees and transportation costs.^[36]

Provision of public schools falls far below the levels needed, and class sizes are often very large, and families of limited means often find it necessary to pay for education. In rural areas, only 10% of the children go on to high school. The Ministry of Education states that the mean number of years completed is 6.7. Ecuador has 61 universities, many of which offer graduate degrees. Only 87% of the faculty in public universities have master's degrees, and fewer than 1% have doctorates (i.e. PhD, EdD). About 300 institutes of higher education offer two to three years of post-secondary vocational or technical training.

[edit] International rankings

• Institute for Economics and Peace/Economist Intelligence Unit: Global Peace Index 2009, ranked 109 ^[37]
• Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2009, ranked 146 out of 180 countries^[38]

[edit] See also

• National symbols of Ecuador

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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	Definitions from Wiktionary
	Textbooks from Wikibooks
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Images and media from Commons
	News stories from Wikinews
	Learning resources from Wikiversity

• Maps of Ecuador.
• Global Integrity Report: Ecuador has analysis of corruption and anti-corruption in Ecuador.
• President of Ecuador (Spanish)
• Chief of State and Cabinet Members
• Ecuador entry at The World Factbook
• Ecuador at UCB Libraries GovPubs
• Ecuador at the Open Directory Project
• Wikimedia Atlas of Ecuador
• Ecuador travel guide from Wikitravel

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v • d • e  Ecuador topics Politics and law Constitution · Constitutional Tribunal · Elections · Flag · Foreign relations · Military · National Congress · Political parties · President · Vice President History Gran Colombia  · Ecuadorian–Peruvian War · Paquisha War · Cenepa War · 1998–99 banking crisis · Economic history Geography and environment Birds · Cities · Climate · Islands · Mammals · Mountains · National parks · Provinces · Rivers · Volcanoes Economy and infrastructure Airports · Banking · Central Bank · Coffee production · Communications · Currency · Mining · Transport · Trade unions · Water supply and sanitation Culture and society Cinema · Cuisine · Demographics · Education · Health · Indigenous peoples · Newspapers · Holidays · Music · Notable people · Religion · Social class · Sport · Smoking · Television