ECUADOR, i•k'w:1,16r, Span. pron. iikw:1-mair' (Sp., Equator, so called because the country is crossed by the equator). A republie of South America. situated on the western coast of the continent and bounded on the north and cast by Colombia, on the south by Peru, and on the AN e-t by the Pacific Ocean (see accompanying map). The area of Ecuador is about I1S,500 square miles; it cannot be stated with accuracy, owing to the pending boundary disputes with Peru and Colombia. The Galapagos Islands in the Pacific belong to Ecuador.
'1 oeomtAI II Y. may be divided into three physiographic regions, the coast, the An dean highland, and the eastern plains. The coastal region includes a strip of varying width, but averaging about eighty miles between the base of the Andes and the Pacific shores. It is crossed by several small] rivers and by mountain spurs of the Andes. The highland region is de lined by two parallel ranges or cordilleras con nected by a number of mountain knots (the most important of which is the Loja knot, near the Peruvian frontier), and traversing the country in a direction from north to south. The Western Cordillera contains the highest peak in Ecuador, Chimborazo, 20,498 feet, but its summits are generally lower than the eastern range, which is crowned by Cotopaxi. 19,613 feet; Antisana, 19.
335; Cayambil, 19,186; and by several others (Altar, Sangay, Tungurag,ua) exceeding 16,000 and 17,000 feet. The Pacific range is crossed by the lofty Tambo Pass at an altitude of 10,400 feet. _Most of the higher elevations are vol canoes, Cotopaxi being the highest active cone in the world. In the western range, near Quito, is the volcano Pichincha, 15,91S feet. Between the parallel ranges and their connecting ridges lie elevated basins, the centres of agricul ture and population, which have an average height of about S000 feet. East of the Andes the surface falls rapidly to the vast Montana or forests of the Amazonian plains. Ecuador is watered by many streams, which flow either into the Pacific or the Amazon. Those of the latter system are the more important and include the Napo (with its affluents, the Aguarieo and Cara ray), the longest river of Ecuador; the Putu mayo, Pastaza, Mo•ona, and Santiago. Most of them, being interrupted by rapids, are navigable but for short distances. The western rivers are of little consequence. The chief among them are the Mira and Estneraldas. In the south, the Guayas reaches the Gulf of Guayaquil through a long estuary out which is located the city of Guaympiil (q.v.). Lakes are numerous, but mostly small.