Costa (Ecuador)
Costa (Ecuador)
Costa (Ecuador), the coastal lowland region of Ecuador, comprising approximately one-quarter of the nation (roughly 27,000 square miles) in a strip ranging from 12 to 100 miles wide along the Pacific Ocean. The provinces of the costa—Esmeraldas, Manabí, Los Ríos, Guayas, and El Oro—contain about half of the nation's population. The port city of Guayaquil in Guayas is the nation's commercial center and largest city. Historically, the rivalry between the commercially oriented and politically liberal coast and the isolated and conservative sierra (site of the national capital of Quito) has shaped national politics. The costa developed close ties with international markets, and at various times was the world's leading producer of cacao and bananas. It is culturally distinct—less Andean, traditional, Catholic, and provincial than the rest of Ecuador.
See alsoEcuador, Geography; Quito.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Linda Alexander Rodríguez, The Search for Public Policy: Regional Politics and Government Finances in Ecuador, 1830–1940 (1985).
Osvaldo Hurtado Political Power in Ecuador, translated by Nick D. Mills, Jr. (1985).
Preston James, Latin America (1986).
David W. Schodt, Ecuador: An Andean Enigma (1987).
Theodor Wolf, Geography and Geology of Ecuador, translated by James Flanagan (1933).
Ronn F. Pineo