Ecuador Ecuador’s official name is the Republic of Ecuador, it’s a country located in northwestern of South America. Bordered on the north by Colombia, on the south and east of Peru and the west by the Pacific Ocean.
Its capital is San Francisco de Quito, seat of the principal state entities and the national government. Its largest city is Santiago de Guayaquil, the main seaport and major economic center. It is divided into 24 provinces and divided also into 4 natural regions: The Amazon, Coast, Highlands and Islands. In Ecuador there are 70 volcanoes, 14 in active states, 14 not active volcanoes and 42 in a passive state, being the highest volcano the Chimborazo with about 6310 m above the sea level. It is the country with the highest concentration of rivers per square kilometer in the world. Also it is the biggest exporter of bananas worldwide and one of the leader in exporting flowers, shrimp (prawns) and cacao.
Indigenous communities in Ecuador are integrated into a conventional culture, but it is also necessary to emphasize that the aborigines of the most remote areas of the Amazon basin are still living quite marginalized from the rest of the Ecuadorian society and largely also practice their own traditions. Afro – Ecuadorians are less integrated in most conventional cultures, and they are particularly affected by unemployment, lack of real opportunities, poor access to higher education and poverty, and suffering from a chronic lack of public services in their respective sectors.
The official language of intercultural relations is Spanish, with its peculiarities and idioms of each area or region. Quichua, Shuar, the Tsáfiqui and the “other ancestral languages are in official use for indigenous people, in terms established by the government”.
According to the last census in 2001, 94% of the population speaks Spanish and 4.8% speak a native language (3.8% speak native language and Spanish, 1.1% speak a native language only). 13 native languages were counted by the mentioned census, Quechua is spoken by 4.1% of the population and it’s the most common native language. The second native language is Shuar, spoken by 0.4% of the population
