Ecuador vs Colombia

Why people mix them up

Ecuador and Colombia are neighbours in northwestern South America, and both were once part of Gran Colombia along with Venezuela. As a result, their flags are almost the same: horizontal yellow, blue and red stripes, with the yellow band taking up the top half. Both are Spanish-speaking Andean countries, so people frequently mix up the flags and ask how to tell the countries apart.

How to tell them apart

• Ecuador's flag carries a coat of arms with a condor in the centre; Colombia's flag has no emblem.
• Colombia has coastlines on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific; Ecuador only faces the Pacific.
• Colombia is much larger, more than four times the area of Ecuador.
• The capitals are Bogotá (Colombia) and Quito (Ecuador), both high in the Andes.
• Ecuador uses the US dollar; Colombia uses the Colombian peso.
• The Galápagos Islands belong to Ecuador, roughly 900 km out in the Pacific.

Memory hook

Ecuador is named after the Equator, which runs through it just north of Quito. Colombia is the big one with two coasts and a plain flag; Ecuador's flag wears a badge.

On the map

Find the northwestern corner of South America. Colombia is the large country at the top, connected to Panama, facing both the Caribbean to the north and the Pacific to the west. Ecuador is the smaller country directly south of Colombia, squeezed between it and Peru along the Pacific coast. If the country you are tapping touches Panama or the Caribbean, it is Colombia.