Get to know Ecuador's Great Destinations: Inca, Quito, Rainforest And Galapagos

By Wesley Vanderhill

Ecuador is around twice as big as Pennsylvania, USA, or about 50 % of the seize of France, totaling about 280 thousand sq km. For tourism schedules, Ecuador is quite pleasant, since most distances can be reached by road within a day's travel. Buses are inexpensive and for just a bit more money you can buy a a very comfortable bus ride. From Quito it's possible to fly quite a few cities in the country on flights that typically take 30-45 minutes, facilitating efficient and comfortable tourism schedules.

Continental Ecuador is split into three very distinct zones, the coastal lowlands, the Andean mountains along with the eastern Amazon lowlands. Since the earth isn't perfectly round and a bit wider at the Equator, the length from the center of our planet is larger at the equator than at the poles. Therefore, Mount Chimborazo with 6,267 m above sea level, is further away from the midst of our planet than Mount Everest. Volcanic activity is considerable in the Andes Mountains and on the Galapagos Islands.

There are 7 distinct climatic regions in Ecuador, which consist of very humid along the outer Andes mountains to very dry in the south, while temperatures vary from rather hot in the lowlands to cold at the higher altitudes. The Central Andes are known for their comfortable spring-like climate.

Many cultures prospered in Ecuador millenniums before they were occupied by the Incas in the late 14 hundreds. A variety of native dialects are continue to be alive, besides official language Spanish along with the Inca language Quichua. Ingapirca is the is the main historic monument from the Incas, as the Spanish mined most buildings for construction materials. Diseases coming over with the colonizers killed tens of thousands of Indians in the first decades of colonization. The "encomienda", the forced labor system of the colonizers was also a significant cause of high mortality during the colonial period.

For a short period, Ecuador was part of the Inca empire until the Spanish overthrew Inca rule in 1533. The UNESCO World Heritage site of Ingapirca is the| main remnant of that period, because so many pre-colonial buildings were destroyed by the Spanish conquerors. The indigenous population was decimated by disease in the first decades of Spanish rule - a period when many Indians were forced into the "encomienda" labor system for the Spanish landlords. In 1563, Quito became the seat of a royal "audiencia" (administrative district) of Spain and formed part of the Vice-royalty of New Granada in 1717, which included the territories of present day Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. The territory became independent in 1822 under the name of Gran Colombia.

Ecuador split off from the Federation in 1830. Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador fought and lost several wars with its neighboring countries and with that a great deal of territory, while several border issues remained in dispute. The latter were permanently settled in 1999 after a brief war with Peru in 1995. The latter had triggered negotiations under the auspices of Brazil, Argentina, Chile along with the USA. Ecuador currently has experienced about forty years of democracy.

Ecuador carries a population of about 15 million inhabitants which has been concentrated in the central Andes until a few decades ago. Currently, the population is distrubuted about equally among the Andes and the coast. Much of the population has gone to the cities which now occupy about 60% of the inhabitants, with Guayaquil - 2,600,000 - and Quito - 1.8 million - being the major metropoles. In the Amazon region, the "Oriente" (East) the populace remains very low at (3%).

The Ecuadorian economy is mostlybased on petroleum export, manufacturing, primarily for the domestic market, commerce, and agriculture production for both domestic consumption and export. Principal exports are oil, bananas, shrimp, flowers, and also other primary agricultural products. In 2010, crude and refined oil products accounted for 56% of the total export earnings. Ecuador is the world's largest exporter of bananas and plantains (about $2 billion) and a major exporter of shrimp ($800 million) and cacao ($400 million). Exports of non-traditional products like flowers ($600 million), canned fish ($600 million), and cars ($375 million).

Over the last two decades or so, Ecuador has become a major tourist destination with highlights Galapagos, Colonial Quito, the colonial part of Cuenca, Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, Cajas National Park, Cotopaxi and also the Otavalo Indian market. Cuyabeno has been rapidly building a reputation as the best place worldwide to go to enjoy rainforest.

About the Author:

Discover why Ecuador is such a charming place to go on vacation. For 4 decades Wesley Vanderhil has lived in South America and tells you about the great things to see inEcuador.