Geography - Ecuador

Continental Ecuador is divided into three clearly delimited geographical areas from east to west. The coast, known as Costa, covers a third of the western region, stretching for 800 km from the foothills of the Andes all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The mountain range, or Sierra, seems to split the country in half. Many mountains in this area reach dizzying heights, including Chimborazo (6310 m), the country’s highest peak, and the mythical Cotopaxi, the world’s tallest active volcano, with an altitude of 5897 meters. This region is also home to the country capital, Quito, as well as many other of the country’s important urban areas. The Oriente is the region starting along the eastern slopes of the mountains that is covered by the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. With such luxuriant vegetation, the Oriente is relatively hard to reach, and is therefore sparsely populated.

It is important to mention the Galapagos archipelago, a group of 48 volcanic islands located 960 km from the Ecuadorian coast: these islands’ rich biodiversity earned them the status of UNESCO world heritage site.