Last Updated on May 12, 2021 by Jim Ferri
As it turns out, the equator in Ecuador isn’t where it’s supposed to be…
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
By Jim Ferri
If you ever want to stand right on the equator, what better place to go than Ecuador? After all, in Spanish even the word “ecuador” means “equator.” The problem though, is just where to go to stand on the real Ecuador equator.
La Mitad del Mundo (the Middle of the World), the huge Equatorial monument north of Quito — the place the tourist office sends you to, the one all the tour companies shuttle you off to, the one that thousands of tourists are brought to every year — isn’t on the equator at all. The real equator is about 250 yards away.
It’s a sham, although it was never intended to be, since the screw-up was caused by a French expedition in 1736 that marked the wrong spot. And get this, the mistake wasn’t realized until just a few years ago when the Global Positioning System (GPS) was invented.
Unfortunately, the Ecuadorian government had already built La Mitad del Mundo on the present spot to lure tourists. It’s a nearly 100-foot tall monument that’s mildly interesting, and which contains a small museum about the ethnic cultures of Ecuador.
But if you want to visit the “real equator” you need to go to the Inti Nan museum, which is about five minutes away. The “museum” is more like a mini-carnival for those who visit it and is labeled a “tourist trap” by others. But still, it’s interesting and fun.
Come here and you can stand on the line painted on the “real equator,” and do all sorts of magical equator-like things such as balancing an egg on the head of a nail, and falling over sideways as you attempt to walk the line with your eyes closed. A lot of it is sham for sure, but fun nevertheless.
I have to think that the government does as much as it can to keep the whole misplacement of the Ecuador Equator monument and the competition from the Inti Nan museum quiet.
That’s likely since the area not only lures tourists but is also used for various special events, such as the Miss Universe pageant back in 2004.
I had heard of the misplacement some time ago and wanted to visit the “real” spot when we were in Quito.
When we were there I had told our guide (who was from the largest tour company in Ecuador) on three different occasions that we wanted to visit the Inti Nan site. But each time he down-played the idea and it wasn’t until we were at the government Ecuador Equator monument when I told him very directly again that he agreed to take us there.
But even then he said we had to do it fast and tried to hurry us along after just a few minutes at the site.
To add to all this equator confusion, some say that neither spot marks the real equator and that the correct location is even further away.
But I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. After all, GPS also shows that the Prime Meridian is about 100 yards from the exact place it’s supposed to be at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, as well.
And one other note…before or after your search for the real equator you may want to spend some time in Quito, or beautiful and almost-magical Cuenca, or spend a few days in the incredible Galapagos Islands.
This is for sure interesting! Thank you for giving the great insight .
It was a very interesting trip. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Here is a good recent 2019 review of the monument and museum. Most of the simulations at the museum are faked.
https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/ecuadorian-equatorial-pseudoscience/?fbclid=IwAR1uBlzucp5y3ueRlGVij3cOZ4MkmGoSlIAD8S9sDauEV06vh7goHl6pUDs
Thanks for sharing this Derek. It’s very interesting.
I am not a scientist, but the hubs is and mentioned that there actually is a slight Coriolis effect on water drainage after I mentioned the links and replies to your post… we are headed to the “Fake Middle of the Earth” in a few weeks and I have been reading about it.
At any rate, while in New Zealand I actually filmed the toilet flushing counter clockwise so I am going with the hub’s version. Wish I could include the video, it was quite visible and we all had a good laugh that I was spending my time filming flushing toilets. Oh well, it was fun and it will be fun to go to the monument and maybe film flushing a toilet there??? LOL
Hi Olivia,
I’m not a scientist either!. You’ll find the Coriolis effect there as well. To the uninitiated, the Coriolis effect.
A brief (and simplified) explanation: the Coriolis effect Olivia is referring to is water draining to the right (the whirlpool effect) in toilets and drains in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern. It’s also important in weather systems in both hemispheres.
I would enjoy seeing both videos if you are able to send them. Just remember that away from the equator – perhaps in Quito or further south – the water should drain as in NZ. On the Equator it should go straight down.
My wife surprised me with a trip to the Galapagos Islands for my 50th birthday and the cruise company took us to the Inti Nan Museum as part of the tour in Quito. I was fascinated by the water circling the drain vs. going straight down, having heard so much about water circling in different directions on opposite sides of the equator. But even then, my science brain perceived that something was off with the demonstrations…not as off as the taxidermy, but still a little suspicious.
I made this video for my research students challenging them to skeptically examine the claims made at the museum.
Which Way Does Water Circle the Drain on the Equator? Thinking About the Coriolis Effect
https://youtu.be/qn1zer-LkDk
The “Prime Meridian” is not a good example… it’s a man-made construct (gee, let’s set 0 degrees longitude through Greenwich, England! That’s kind of self-serving to the Englishmen who invented it), whereas the equator is halfway between the upper and lower points of our planet’s rotational axis. Anyway, I’m in Quito now and tomorrow I’m going to check out the various monuments and compare it with my GPS. Either way, it will be within plus/minus 15 feet from wherever the GPS indicates, due to fluctuations in the earth’s axis. As a geography nerd I’m very excited!
Hi Jonathan,
That’s so cool. I’d love to know the results.
Jim
I wish Ecuador was a pun 🙂
That’s very funny! Perhaps it should be.
Jim
Inti Ñan is not on the Equator. You should recomend the scientific spot.
http://www.quitsato.org
Thank you Rafael!
We drove to the Quito “middle of the world” equator site in the mid-1950s. A family member worked at a tracking station on Cotopaxi preliminary to NASA. The equator area was just dirt with what appeared to be an official marker; no surrounding structures or other people visible. I did stand with my feet on opposite sides of what I believed to be the equator but we did not conduct any tests as described in your article. Suddenly, a small wizened local woman appeared from the rough natural shrubbery growing around the cleared area. She demanded in Spanish-sounding admonitions a donation, then became quite threatening waving her arms, pointing at us spewing curses on all of us when we did not respond as quickly as she deemed we should have. We chose to leave at that point not unsympathetic but hardly with a predilection toward her demands.
I wonder now if we were at what you describe as having been determined to be the fake site? The area apparently became developed in the decades following when we were there if that was the site where we were. Can you confirm whether or not there would have been any structures at that current fake site in the 1950s to verify for me that’s where we actually were?
FWIW I blog at “Along The Way”. URL: https://joared-along.blogspot.com
Hi Joared — a quick Google search shows it was built in 1982.