Escuintla () is an industrial city in
Guatemala, its land extension is 4384 km², and it is nationally known for its sugar agribusiness. Its capital is a minicipality with the same name. Citizens celebrate from December 6 to 9 with a small fair in honor to
The Immaculate Conception.
In 2002 the city had a population of 86,678. It is located on the border of the central highlands and the Pacific coastal plain.
Etymology
Many of the names of the
municipalities of Guatemala
The departments of Guatemala are divided into 340 municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to wh ...
consist of one of two things: the name of a
catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
saint to worship the day the city was founded or a description with
Náhuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
roots. These influences are due to the troops in command of
Pedro de Alvarado who
invaded the region in 1520. These troops were composed of Spanish soldiers and indigenous
Tlaxcaltec
The Tlaxcalans, or Tlaxcaltecs, are a Nahua people who live in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala.
Pre-Columbian history
The Tlaxcaltecs were originally a conglomeration of three distinct ethnic groups who spoke Nahuatl, Otomi, and Pinome that compr ...
s.
The name Escuintla, comes from the indigenous language nahuatl «Itzcuintlán», which is a word composed of two words:
· «Itzcuintli»: means “dog”
· «tlan»: means “abundance”
Therefore, Escuintla means “abundance or place of dogs”.
History
Escuintla used to be an important stop for trains going to
Puerto San José until 2007.
Economy
The city is among the more industrialized areas of the country. One of the most important agricultural products of the region is
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...
. Other products are
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
,
seafood, and
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
.
Escuintla is bathed by the waters of the Pacific, and produces about 43 percent of gross domestic product of Guatemala, is statistically the department, province or region in Mesoamerica with lower unemployment and
extreme poverty, this contrasts with the economic and social reality of Guatemala.
Geography
The city of Escuintla consists of 2 villages and 12 surrounding communities. The area includes 7 mountains, 55 rivers, 9 streams, and 21 brooks.
Geographic location
To the north of the municipality of Escuintla is
Yepocapa (municipality of
) and
Alotenango (municipality of
Sacatepequez). To the East is
Palin,
San Vicente Pacaya
San Vicente Pacaya () is a town and municipality in the Escuintla department of Guatemala.
Climate
San Vicente Pacaya has a subtropical highland climate ( Köppen: ''Cwb'').
Geographic location
Films
The municipality was the filming loca ...
, and
Guanagazapa (municipality of
Escuintla
Escuintla () is an industrial city in Guatemala, its land extension is 4384 km², and it is nationally known for its sugar agribusiness. Its capital is a minicipality with the same name. Citizens celebrate from December 6 to 9 with a small fair ...
). To the south is
Masagua
Masagua () is a town, with a population of 16,797 (2018 census),Citypopulation.de
Population of cities & towns ...
(municipality of
Escuintla
Escuintla () is an industrial city in Guatemala, its land extension is 4384 km², and it is nationally known for its sugar agribusiness. Its capital is a minicipality with the same name. Citizens celebrate from December 6 to 9 with a small fair ...
). To the west is
La Democracia,
Siquinalá, and
(municipality of
Escuintla
Escuintla () is an industrial city in Guatemala, its land extension is 4384 km², and it is nationally known for its sugar agribusiness. Its capital is a minicipality with the same name. Citizens celebrate from December 6 to 9 with a small fair ...
).
Transportation
Today, the CA-2 and CA-9
highways
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
cross here.
Municipal Government
The government of the cities of Guatemala are made of a municipal council. This is in accordance with article 254 in the
Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala.
The municipal code, which is similar to the ordinary law and contains disposition that applies to all cities of Guatemala, establishes in article 9 that the municipal council covers the deliberations and decisions of municipal issues.
The municipal council integrates with accordance of what the Constitution declares in article 254 which says that the council consists of a mayor, trustees, and councilors that have been elected and may be reelected by the public for a period of four years. With respect to the municipal code, article 9 of the constitution explains that this system is done in all municipalities in accordance to the stated law.
The mayors of Escuintla:
* 2016-2020: Abrahám Rivera Estévez
Sports
Juventud Escuintleca football club play their home games at the
Estadio Ricardo Muñoz Gálvez. Most recently they have again been playing in the
second tier of Guatemalan football.
Climate
Escuintla has a
tropical monsoon climate
An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Am'').
Geographic location
See also
*
Escuintla Department
Escuintla () is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. The capital of the department is the city of Escuintla. Escuintla covers an area of 4,384 km² and is situated in the coastal lowland region, directly south of Guatemala City, and bord ...
References
External links
Escuintla on prensalibre.com
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the Escuintla Department