The republic in the northwest of South America is not only one of the most diverse countries in terms of landscape on Earth: The western coastal area, Costa, consists of alluvial plains and a low coastal mountain range, and is traversed by the Río Guayas. In the central Andes region, Sierra, lies the capital Quito, while the eastern Amazon lowland is called Oriente. 1,000 kilometers off the coast are the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, whose unique nature has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1978.