CHAPTER V. 



ECUADOR. 



I. 



Extent — Disputed Frontiers, 



F all the Andine republics, Ecuador is the smallest and least popu- 

 lous. On both sides of the equator, from which it takes its 

 name, it occupies not more than five degrees of latitude in a 

 straight line, while from west to east the inhabited part of the 

 country is still more contracted. Of its three natural divisions — 

 Ante-Andina or Cis-Andina, Inter-Andina, and Trans-Andina — the first two 

 alone form the true territory of the republic. The thinly populated Trans- 

 Andine spaces are of small extent, and their population remains almost sta- 

 tionary. 



Certain regions in this division are still absolutely unknown, while towards the 

 east many tracts claimed by Ecuador are contested by her powerful neigh- 

 bours. Beyond the inhabited provinces, the frontiers claimed by Colombia and 

 Peru overlap on the plains inclined towards the Amazons, and apart from arbitra- 

 tion, one or other of these states can hardly fail to get the better of Ecuador, 

 weakest of all the Andine republics. 



Before the recent conventions, which have not yet been definitely ratified, 

 Ecuador had ofiicially a superficial area of 28().000 square miles ; but the actual 

 area cannot be estimated at more than 160,000 square miles. It comprises little 

 more than the plateau less the Trans-Andine territory, and Colombia even 

 threatens to seize a portion of what still remains. Even on the Pacific slope 

 disputes have arisen on the subject of frontiers. In the north Colombia has 

 occupied both sides of the R.io Mira as far as the Mataje creek, although Ecuador 

 claims all the territory up to the left bank of that river. In the south, also, a 

 part of the Rio Achira basin is contested by Peru. 



