GuayasCapital: Guayaquil. Most people of the 24 in the 2022 census.
ManabíCapital: Portoviejo. Its largest city is Manta.
EsmeraldasCapital: Esmeraldas. Established in 1847.
Los RíosCapital: Babahoyo. Its largest city is Quevedo.
Santa ElenaCapital: Santa Elena. Created in 2007; its largest city is La Libertad.
El OroCapital: Machala. Established in 1884.
Santo Domingo de los TsáchilasCapital: Santo Domingo. Created in 2007 from part of Pichincha.
GalápagosCapital: Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Fewest people of the 24 provinces.
The Andes 10
PichinchaCapital: Quito, the national capital. Second in people after Guayas.
ImbaburaCapital: Ibarra. One of the seven provinces of 1824.
CarchiCapital: Tulcán. On the border with Colombia; established in 1880.
CotopaxiCapital: Latacunga. Established in 1851.
TungurahuaCapital: Ambato. The smallest province by area.
BolívarCapital: Guaranda. Established in 1884.
ChimborazoCapital: Riobamba. One of the seven provinces of 1824.
CañarCapital: Azogues. Its largest city is La Troncal.
AzuayCapital: Cuenca. One of the seven provinces of 1824.
LojaCapital: Loja. One of the seven provinces of 1824.
The Amazon 6
SucumbíosCapital: Nueva Loja. Established in 1989.
OrellanaCapital: Puerto Francisco de Orellana. Established in 1998.
NapoCapital: Tena. Established in 1959.
PastazaCapital: Puyo. The largest province by area.
Morona-SantiagoCapital: Macas. Second largest province, after Pastaza.
Zamora ChinchipeCapital: Zamora. Established in 1953.
How this list was compiled: The 24 provinces, their capitals, largest cities, areas, 2022 census populations and the year each was established (Pastaza the largest by area, then Morona Santiago; Tungurahua the smallest; Guayas the most people and Galápagos the fewest; seven provinces of 1824; Santa Elena and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas of 2007): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_Ecuador, read 2026-10-09. Guayas, Pichincha and Manabí as the three provinces with the most people in the 2022 census: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos, https://www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec/ecuador-crecio-en-2-5-millones-de-personas-entre-2010-y-2022/, read 2026-10-09. Names and codes: ISO 3166-2:EC as printed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-2:EC (24 provinces), read 2026-10-09. The four regions and the provinces of each (seven on the coast, ten in the Sierra, six in the Amazon, and the Galápagos Islands about 1,000 km west of the mainland), and Quito the capital, in Pichincha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuador (Geography), read 2026-10-09. Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas created in 2007 from territory of Pichincha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Domingo_de_los_Ts%C3%A1chilas_Province, read 2026-10-09. The map was drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, a public-domain map dataset; where a part lies on the map (a coast, a corner, a neighbor) was read from that drawing. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_0_countries (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_0_countries.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Capitals from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_populated_places_simple (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_populated_places_simple.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on 1.8°S 78.1°W. Galápagos moved into an inset. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This interactive Ecuador map quiz asks for the 24 provinces on a blank map, one region at a time: the coast, the Andes, then the Amazon. Galápagos sits in a box at the left and is asked with the coast.
Read the full guide
Three rounds, west to east
The first round has eight: the seven provinces of the coast region and Galápagos. The second climbs the Andes with ten, from Pichincha and the northern border down to Loja. The third asks the six of the Amazon.
Capital or largest city
In five provinces the capital is not the largest city. Manabí is governed from Portoviejo, not Manta, and Los Ríos from Babahoyo, not Quevedo; Cañar, Santa Elena and Galápagos are the other three. Show me the labels first puts all 24 names on the map, and a tap on a province there gives its capital.
Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas has no shore but belongs to the coast region, which takes in every province west of the Andes.
Tungurahua and Bolívar are the two small shapes in the middle of the Andes. Tungurahua is the eastern one.
Typed answers ignore accents, so Manabi, Los Rios and Canar all count.
Questions and answers
How many provinces does Ecuador have?
Twenty-four. The two newest, Santa Elena and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, were created in 2007. All 24 are asked in this quiz, Galápagos included.
What are the four regions of Ecuador?
The coast (La Costa), the highlands of the Andes (La Sierra), the Amazon (La Amazonía) and the Galápagos Islands, about 1,000 kilometers west of the mainland.
Which province is Quito in?
Pichincha, in the northern Andes. Quito is the capital of both the province and the country. Pichincha has the second most people of the 24 provinces, after Guayas on the coast.
What is the largest province of Ecuador?
Pastaza, in the Amazon, is the largest by area, followed by its neighbor Morona-Santiago. Tungurahua, in the middle of the Andes, is the smallest. Guayas has the most people and Galápagos the fewest.