Definition of Ecuador in English:

proper noun

• An equatorial republic in South America, on the Pacific coast; population 16,100,000 (estimated 2015); languages, Spanish (official), Quechua; capital, Quito.

Ranges and plateaux of the Andes separate the coastal plain from the tropical forests of the Amazon basin. Formerly part of the Inca empire, Ecuador was conquered by the Spanish in 1534 and remained part of Spain's American empire until, after the first uprising against Spanish rule in 1809, independence was gained in 1822