Esmeraldas, city, major seaport of northwestern Ecuador. It lies on the Pacific Ocean coast at the mouth of the Esmeraldas River. The city is the chief trading centre for the region’s agricultural and lumbering resources but is only slightly developed industrially. It is the terminus of the 313-mile (504-km) Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline from the oil fields in northeastern Ecuador. An oil refinery was completed in 1977, and new oil port facilities at Esmeraldas were opened in 1979. Important exports are bananas and timber. Tourism has been stimulated by nearby seaside resort facilities, an equable climate, and a good all-weather highway to Quito. A technical university was established in Esmeraldas in 1970. Pop. (2010) 154,035.
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Ecuador, country of northwestern South America. Ecuador is one of the most environmentally diverse countries in the world, and it has contributed notably to the environmental sciences. The first scientific expedition to measure the circumference of the Earth, led by Charles-Marie de La Condamine of France, was based in Ecuador;…
Pacific Ocean, body of salt water extending from the Antarctic region in the south to the Arctic in the north and lying between the continents of Asia and Australia on the west and North and South America on the east. Of…
Petroleum, complex mixture of hydrocarbons that occur in Earth in liquid, gaseous, or solid form. The term is often restricted to the liquid form, commonly called crude oil, but, as a technical term, petroleum also includes natural gas and the viscous or solid form known as bitumen, which is found…
Quito, city and capital of Ecuador. It is situated on the lower slopes of the volcano Pichincha, which last erupted in 1666, in a narrow Andean valley at an elevation of 9,350 feet (2,850 metres), just south of the Equator. The oldest…