Ecuador has three main geographic regions, plus an insular region in the Pacific Ocean:
- La Costa, or the coast, comprises the low-lying land in the western part of the country, including the Pacific coastline.
- La Sierra ("the highlands") is the high-altitude belt running north to south along the center of the country, its mountainous terrain dominated by the Andes mountain range.
- El Oriente ("the east") comprises the Amazon rainforest areas in the eastern part of the country, accounting for just under half of the country's total surface area, though populated by under 5 percent of the population.
- The Región Insular is the region comprising the Galápagos Islands, some 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) west of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.
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