ECUADOR - high on the Equator
43 images Created 10 Jun 2018
Ecuador, a South American country straddling the Equator, boasts diverse landscapes from the Andes Mountains to the Amazon rainforest and the Galapagos Islands, known for their unique wildlife.
Ecuador is a patchwork of ethnic identities, a complex legacy of its indigenous and colonial past.
Long the heartland of a series of native Andean civilisations, it was taken over by the Peru-centred Inca Empire in the 15th Century, and then Spanish conquerors a century later.
It won independence from Spain in the early 19th Century.
Traditionally a farming country, Ecuador's economy was transformed after the 1960s by the growth of industry and the discovery of oil. There was rapid growth and progress in health, education and housing.
Ecuador has many geographical zones, including Andean peaks, tropical rainforests and - 1,000km (600 miles) off the coast - the volcanic Galapagos Islands, home to the animals and birds whose evolutionary adaptations shaped Charles Darwin's theories.
Violent crime has risen dramatically in recent years and Ecuador has become a hub for drugs gangs due to its location between Colombia and Peru, the top two producers of cocaine in the world.
Ecuador is a patchwork of ethnic identities, a complex legacy of its indigenous and colonial past.
Long the heartland of a series of native Andean civilisations, it was taken over by the Peru-centred Inca Empire in the 15th Century, and then Spanish conquerors a century later.
It won independence from Spain in the early 19th Century.
Traditionally a farming country, Ecuador's economy was transformed after the 1960s by the growth of industry and the discovery of oil. There was rapid growth and progress in health, education and housing.
Ecuador has many geographical zones, including Andean peaks, tropical rainforests and - 1,000km (600 miles) off the coast - the volcanic Galapagos Islands, home to the animals and birds whose evolutionary adaptations shaped Charles Darwin's theories.
Violent crime has risen dramatically in recent years and Ecuador has become a hub for drugs gangs due to its location between Colombia and Peru, the top two producers of cocaine in the world.
