Although the northern part of South America extends north of the Equator and four-fifths of its landmass is located within the tropics, it also reaches subantarctic latitudes.

Geographically, South America is generally considered a continent forming the southern portion of the landmass of the Americas, south and east of the Colombia–Panama border by most authorities, or south and east of the Panama Canal by some.

Americas, also called America, the two continents, North and South America, of the Western Hemisphere. The climatic zones of the two continents are quite different. In North America, subarctic climate prevails in the north, gradually warming southward and finally becoming tropical near the southern isthmus.

Isthmus of Panama

States with highest Ecuadorian population

• New York – 228,216 (1.2% of state population)
• New Jersey – 100,480 (1.1% of state population)
• Florida – 60,574 (0.3% of state population)
• California – 35,570 (0.1% of state population)
• Connecticut – 23,677 (0.7% of state population)
• Illinois – 22,816 (0.2% of state population)

Afro-Ecuadorians or Afroecuatorianos (Spanish), are Ecuadorians of predominantly Sub-Saharan African descent. Afro-Ecuadorian culture is found primarily in the country’s northwest coastal region.

In the country’s 2010 census, 6.1 percent of the Ecuadorian population identified as white.

The main ethnic groups of Ecuador include a number of indigenous-language-speaking populations (often referred to as indigenous peoples or Amerindians) and highland and lowland Spanish-speaking mestizos (people of mixed indigenous and European descent). Ethnicity in Ecuador is often a matter of self-identification.

Ecuadorians are the 10th-largest population of Hispanic origin living in the United States, accounting for 1% of the U.S. Hispanic population in 2017. Since 2000, the Ecuadorian-origin population has increased 174%, growing from 270,000 to 738,000 over the period.