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Ecuador: Hispanic Reading Room Country Guide

This guide provides curated Library of Congress resources for researching Ecuador, including digitized primary source materials in a wide variety of formats, books and periodicals, online databases, and tips for searching.

Introduction

Bananas being rafted down a tributary of the Guyas River. [between 1890 and 1923]. Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The Library of Congress holds thousands of collection materials about and from Ecuador. Curated by librarians in the Hispanic Reading Room, this guide is part of a series of Country Guides that provide quick references for countries and regions from the Luso-Hispanic world. The Hispanic Reading Room is the Library’s portal to the Caribbean, Latin America, Spain and Portugal; the indigenous cultures of those areas; and peoples throughout the world historically influenced by Luso-Hispanic heritage, including Latinos in the U.S. This guide offers links to diverse resources on Ecuador from across the Library including digitized primary sources, selected books and periodicals, online databases, and tips for searching. For specific questions or assistance using the Library’s resources, use the Ask a Librarian service to contact a reference librarian.

Ecuador: Quick Facts

United States. Central Intelligence Agency. Ecuador. [1973]. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.

Official Name: Republic of Ecuador

Capital: Quito

Date of Independence: August 10, 1809

Head of State/Government: President Daniel Noboa

Population: 17,483,326 (2023 est.)

Languages: Spanish (Castilian) 93% (official), Quechua 4.1%, other indigenous 0.7%, foreign 2.2% (2010 est.)

States: Ecuador is divided into four geographic regions: La Costa ("the coast") composed of Esmeraldas, Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, El Oro, and Santa Elena; La Sierra ("the highlands") consists of Azuay, Cañar, Carchi, Chimborazo, Imbabura, Loja, Pichincha, and Tungurahua; La Amazonía or El Oriente ("the east") consists of Morona Santiago, Napo, Orellana, Pastaza, Sucumbíos, and Zamora-Chinchipe; and La Región Insular (“insular region”) comprising the Galápagos Islands.