Cordillera-occidental meaning

The Maritime Cordillera of Peru has no connexion with the coast ranges of Chile, but is a continuation of the Cordillera Occidental of Chile, which under various local names forms the eastern margin of the coastal desert belt from Atacama northward into Peru.

The eastern chain is known as the Andes of Ecuador, or the Cordillera Oriental, and the western as the Cordillera Occidental (Western Cordillera).

Turning to the Cordillera Occidental and taking the principal peaks in order from south to north, the first to claim attention is Chimborazo (from Chimpu-raza, " mountain of snow "), the highest summit of Ecuador, and once believed to be the culminating point of the Andes.

m., and includes the greater part of the lower plain and the western slopes of the Cordillera Occidental as far north as Iliniza.

At the southern frontier of Bolivia the main chain, which has served as the boundary line between Argentina and Chile, divides into two great ranges, the principal one continuing almost due north along the eastern side of the great Bolivian alto-planicie, and the other forming its western rim, where it is known as the Cordillera Silillica, and then following the trend of the coast north-westward into Peru becomes the Cordillera Occidental.