ABSTRACT
Introduction Though geographically small with only 284,000 square kilometers within its borders, Ecuador is a diverse nation. The Pacific littoral plain at the western edge of the country is warm and home to almost half of Ecuador’s inhabitants, many of whom make their living in shrimp and large-scale fruit cultivation, two of Ecuador’s primary export industries (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos del Ecuador 2013).1 The Andean highlands to the east of the Pacific coast rise to heights of 6,000 meters, and feature fertile volcanic valleys and slopes suitable for agriculture, an activity that employs close to a quarter of all Ecuadorians in the early twenty-first century. Continuing east, the Andes fall away into the Amazon Basin, the least populated portion of the country, but one of supreme strategic and cultural importance as it is home to a diverse array of indigenous peoples and most of Ecuador’s significant oil and mineral wealth.
