Ecuador (Listeni/ˈɛkwədɔr/ e-kwə-dawr), officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador [reˈpuβlika ðel ekwaˈðor], which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator") is a representative democratic republic in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Ecuador also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) west of the mainland, which borders Costa Rica's Cocos Island.

Ecuador's official language is Spanish, which is spoken by 94 percent of the population; thirteen indigenous languages are also recognized, including Quichua and Shuar. Ecuador has a land area of 283,520 km2 and a population of approximately 15.2 million. Its capital city is Quito, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 1970s for having the best preserved and least altered historic center in Latin America. The country's largest city is Guayaquil. The historic center of Cuenca, the third-largest city in the country in size and economically, was also declared a World Heritage Site in 1999 as an outstanding example of a planned, inland Spanish-style colonial city in the Americas. Wikipedia