Ecuador document photos online

On 9 January 2000, after the sucre lost two-thirds of its value in a single year and crashed past 25,000 to the dollar, Ecuador did something almost no nation dares: it scrapped its own money entirely and adopted the US dollar as legal tender. The sucre — named for independence hero Antonio Jose de Sucre — vanished from wallets within months. Today the country mints its own centavo coins in identical sizes to US cents, yet circulates American Sacagawea and Presidential dollar coins so heavily that millions have been shipped south. A quarter-century on, Ecuador is one of the largest economies on Earth that simply borrows another country's banknotes.

• Currency Ecuador has used the US dollar as its official currency since 2000, but still strikes its own 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 centavo coins sized exactly like US cents so the two circulate interchangeably.
• Currency US one-dollar coins and even 50-cent pieces — rarely seen in America itself — change hands daily in Ecuador, where large shipments of Sacagawea and Presidential dollars have been sent to keep cash flowing.
• Passport The Ecuadorian passport ranks 48th worldwide on the Henley Passport Index (2025), giving holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to around 93 destinations.
• Citizenship Ecuador's 2008 constitution enshrines 'universal citizenship' and calls for the gradual end of the legal status of 'foreigner,' declaring that no human being is illegal and granting migrants the same rights as nationals.
• Birthright Anyone born on Ecuadorian soil automatically becomes a citizen under jus soli, regardless of their parents' nationality or immigration status.
• Travel quirk You cannot fly straight to the Galapagos from abroad: every visitor must first clear mainland Ecuador and buy a $20 INGALA Transit Control Card before boarding a domestic flight to the islands.
• Name origin Ecuador is the only country on Earth named after a geographical feature — the Equator — even though Brazil, Kenya and Indonesia all sit on the same line.
• World record The Galapagos Islands were among the very first sites ever inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1978 and the first natural site in the world to receive the designation.
• Legal first With its 2008 constitution Ecuador became the first country on the planet to grant legally enforceable rights to nature itself, recognizing Pachamama (Mother Earth) as a rights-bearing entity.