Standing on the real Equator

La Mitad Del Mundo

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November 4th 2007
Ecuador’s claim to fame (hence its name) is its location right on the equator. So I went north from Quito to La Mitad Del Mundo (The middle of the Earth) to check it out. La Mitad Del Mundo is apparently the place where Charles-Marie de la Condamine made the measurements in 1736 showing that this was indeed the equatorial line. His expedition’s measurements gave rise to the metric system and p ... read more

South America » Ecuador

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The "Republic of the Equator" was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Colombia and Venezuela). Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors. A b... ... read more