ECUADOR ECUADOR
Bartolomé Island, Galapagos, Ecuador	Tungurahua Volcano, Ecuador	Cotopaxi Volcano, Ecuador	Quilotoa Volcano, Ecuador

Ecuador (República del Ecuador) is a presidential republic located along the equator in the north-west of South America, is washed by the Pacific to the west, north borders with Colombia, east and south with Perù, is part of the country also the Galapagos archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. Ecuador is the country of volcanoes, the high peaks of the Andean chain, the Galapagos Islands, but its territory is formed also by a coastal plain, large-no more than 150 km, which faces the Pacific Ocean, in this area along the Guayas River, is the most populated city and the largest port and commercial center of the country, Guayaquil (3,200,000 inhabitants).

To the east of the Andes is the Ecuador part of the Amazon basin, a wild area, rich in forests and sparsely populated, but also the wider area of the country. Numerous are rivers in the country, flowing towards the Pacific Ocean are the Esmeraldas and Guayas, while are part of the Amazon basin the Napo, Pastaza, Tigre and Putumayo, which marks the border with Colombia.

Agriculture is a basis sector of the economy, but it's conducted with technical backward, and it is still an underdeveloped sector and only along the coastal the activity becomes profitable here are produced cocoa (the second American producer after Brazil), bananas (among the major producers in the world), coffee, sugar cane, cotton, tobacco, fruit (mangoes, pineapples, oranges, tangerines, lemons, grapefruits, coconuts, papaya), the tagua (a type of palm). In the interior are grown instead barley, corn, wheat, rice, cassava, potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts, soya. Good resources are the subsoil, the most important is undoubtedly oil, which the country has substantial deposits, then are extract natural gas and gold. Several are the oil refineries. Remarkable is also the richness of the forest from which timber is obtained (Ecuador is the greatest world producer of balsa wood) and rubber. Important fishing for shrimp, lobster and tuna. Regarding the breeding is raise cattle, sheep, pigs and lamas. The industry has developed in the textiles, food and tobacco industries. Many are, finally, the tourist attractions, at the first place the Galapagos Islands, an important natural and ecological paradise.