Ecuador is located on the northwestern coast of South America, between Peru to the south and east and Colombia to the north.Ecuador also owns her islands, located approximately 1,000 kilometers off the coast. Ecuador covers 256,370 square kilometers of land and is the smallest country in South America after Uruguay and the Guianas.

Capital : Quito - founded in 1534.

History : The coastal region and the high Andean basins of what is now Ecuador were inhabited by Indian tribes when the first Europeans reached the area's Pacific coast in 1526. The Inca Empire extended over the highland region to an area near to Quito. The first Spanish settlement in Ecuador was established in 1534 at Quito on the site of an important Inca town of the same name. Another settlement was established four years later near the mouth of the river Guayas on the site of Guayaquil.

Expeditions initaited by Francisco Pizarro, who discovered and conquered Peru, founded the settlements and extended Spanish rule over the highland basins and coastal lowlands. Ecuador was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru until 1740, when it was transferred to the Viceroyalty of New Granada. (together with Colombia and Venezuela)