The Province of Orellana is one of the 24 provinces that make up the Republic of Ecuador, located in the northeast of the country, in the geographical area known as the Amazon region. Its administrative capital is the city of Coca, which is also its largest and most populated city. It occupies a territory of about 21,675 km², being the third province of the country by extension, behind Pastaza and Morona Santiago.
It borders on the north with the province of Sucumbíos, on the west with the province of Napo, on the south with the province of Pastaza and on the east with the province of Maynas belonging to Peru.136,396 people live in the province of Ourense, according to the last national census, being the fourth least populated province in the country, behind Napo, Zamora Chinchipe and Pastaza. The Province of Orellana is made up of 4 cantons, with their respective urban and rural parishes. According to the latest territorial ordinance, the province of Orellana will belong to a region also comprised by the provinces of Napo and Pichincha, with the exception of the Metropolitan District of Quito, although it is not officially conformed, called the North Central Region. It is one of the most important administrative, economic, financial and commercial centers of the Amazon, it is also one of the main provinces that provide the Ecuadorian State with the oil that is exported. The main activities of the province are oil extraction, trade and agriculture.
The orellanenses forests are cradle of 2 indigenous nationalities of the Amazonian Region of Ecuador: the Quichuas of the Amazon, and the Waorani. He had different migratory periods as the Quijos. Spanish colonization occurred in 1541, with the arrival of Francisco de Orellana, on his way through the trip, which would end with the discovery of the Amazon River. During this period, the maximum entity and precursor of the province would be the Government of Quíjos. After the independence war and the annexation of Ecuador to the Gran Colombia, the Province of Pichincha was created on June 25,1824, in which within its limits was the present territory of Orellana, later it would become part of the great Province of Oriente, later would become part of the Province of Napo Pastaza and then of Napo.
On July 30,1998, the twenty-second province of the country, the Province of Orellana, was created.