-------------+---------+----------+----------+----------+---------- | AREA, | | | | ALTITUDE, PROVINCES |in square|POPULATION| CAPITALS |Population| in feet | miles | | | | -------------+---------+----------+----------+----------+---------- Esmeraldas | 5,465 | 20,000 |Esmeraldas| 6,000 | [5] Manabí | 7,892 | 100,000 |Portoviejo| 8,000 | [5] Guayas | 8,330 | 120,000 |Guayaquil | 94,000 | [5] Los Rios | 2,296 | 32,800 |Babahoya | 7,000 | [5] El Oro | 2,340 | 35,000 |Machala | 6,000 | [5] Carchi | 1,495 | 36,000 |Tulcán | 8,000 | 9,765 Imbabura | 2,415 | 70,000 |Ibarra | 10,000 | 7,298 Pichincha | 6,217 | 200,000 |Quito | 100,000 | 9,348 León | 2,595 | 110,000 |Latacunga | 15,000 | 9,187 Tungurahua | 1,686 | 107,000 |Ambato | 14,000 | 8,554 Chimborazo | 2,989 | 125,000 |Riobamba | 20,000 | 9,177 Bolívar | 1,160 | 45,000 |Guaranda | 8,000 | 8,751 Cañar | 1,520 | 74,000 |Azogues | 10,000 | 8,321 Azuay | 3,874 | 150,000 |Cuenca | 40,000 | 8,465 Loja | 3,706 | 100,000 |Loja | 15,000 | 7,281 | | | | | TERRITORIES | | | | | El Oriente |80,000 | 200,000 |Archidona | 1,000 | unknown Galápagos | 2,868 | 1,000 | | | -------------+---------+----------+----------+----------+---------- [5] These capitals are at or near sea level. The bulk of the population is frankly mestizo and Indian. The mestizos may be more than one half of the population, the Indians perhaps one quarter. The Indian population may be regarded as in three principal classes of widely different character: those of the coast, of the highlands, and of the Amazon Basin. The Indians of the coast region were of various tribes speaking different languages. Superficially christianized, most of them have become more or less amalgamated with the whites or with negroes, but in the forests of Esmeraldas where the Indians, living under similar conditions, closely resemble those of the Napo district, the Cayapas retain their language and customs, continuing to live apart from and to avoid the whites. If not molested they are hospitable and affable with strangers.