Ecuador: Physical Geography

Ecuador lies on the Pacific coast of northwestern South America, straddling the Equator from which it takes its name and bordering Colombia to the north and Peru to the east and south. The mainland is divided into three parallel regions running north to south: the Costa along the Pacific, the Sierra formed by the Andes Mountains, and the Oriente, which descends into the Amazon Basin. A fourth region, the Galápagos Islands, lies roughly 1,000 kilometers off the coast in the Pacific Ocean.

The Sierra contains two main Andean cordilleras enclosing high basins known as hoyas, where cities including the capital, Quito, are situated. The range includes numerous volcanic peaks, among them Chimborazo, the country's highest point at 6,267 meters, and Cotopaxi, one of the world's highest active volcanoes. Because Ecuador sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, earthquakes and volcanic activity are frequent across the highlands.

The Costa consists of coastal lowlands drained chiefly by the Guayas River system, which flows to the Gulf of Guayaquil near the country's largest city, Guayaquil. East of the Andes, the Oriente is covered largely by tropical rainforest and drained by rivers such as the Napo, which flows toward the Amazon River. The Galápagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago famed for the wildlife observations that influenced Charles Darwin, add a distinct insular dimension to the country's geography.