Ecuador's geography is exciting and diverse. The country's four regions cover dense Amazon rainforest in the east, the Andes Mountains -- including the world's highest active volcano -- in the middle, 1,400 miles of Pacific coastline to the west, and, off the western coast, the far-flung Galapagos Islands that helped inspire Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

Ecuador is home to about 13 million people, most of whom reside along the coast. The vast majority of Ecuadorians are Indian or mestizo -- of Indian and Spanish descent. About 5 percent are of African descent. Most people speak Spanish, but many also speak one of several indigenous languages, such as Quéchua.

Ecuador placed 72 out of 174 on a recent Human Development Index, a table that ranks countries according to life expectancy, educational attainment and income per person. Roughly 25 percent of the adult population is fully employed; nearly 70 percent is considered underemployed, with 45 percent of the population working in the service sector, 30 percent in agriculture and 25 percent in industry. The average per capita income is approximately $4,500.

Like many of its South American neighbors, Ecuador's history includes conquest and revolution. Even before the Spaniards arrived, the native people of Ecuador were absorbed into the Inca Empire. Inca rule lasted roughly 100 years. The arrival of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1532 effectively marked the end of Inca rule in Ecuador.

The Spanish ruled Ecuador as a colony until the early 1800s. The country's first, short-lived attempt at independence came in 1809. It wasn't until 1822 that Simón Bolívar led a successful movement to oust the Spanish governors from Ecuador. Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Venezuela then joined together to form a confederacy known as Greater Colombia. The union dissolved in 1830, leaving Ecuador an independent nation state.

But independence did not bring stability. Revolts and dictatorships followed. Ecuador had 48 presidents in its first 131 years as a republic. Ecuador's modern history has seen more years of military rule than civilian.

Today, Ecuador is a democratic nation, though political upheaval in recent years has kept the nation from having presidential elections every four years as scheduled. The current president, Gustavo Noboa, does not belong to a political party. Since taking office in January 2000, he has made modernizing the state and economic reform, including making the U.S. dollar the national currency, his government's priorities.

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