Santo Tomás de Castilla, officially known as Mátías de Gálvez though it popularly retains its former name, is a

port city A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

in the

Izabal Department Izabal () is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. Its coastal areas form part of the homeland of the Garifuna people. Izabal is bordered to the north by Belize, to the north east by the Gulf of Honduras, and to the east by Honduras, and by th ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. It lies at

Amatique Bay Amatique Bay is a large bay in the Gulf of Honduras, along the eastern coast of Guatemala and Belize. It stretches from Santo Tomás de Castilla in the south to Punta Gorda in the north, where it opens to the Caribbean Sea. Its south-eastern l ...

off the

Gulf of Honduras The Gulf or Bay of Honduras is a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. From north to south, it runs for approximately 200 km (125 miles) from Dangriga, Belize, to La Ceiba, Honduras. ...

and is administratively a part of

Puerto Barrios Puerto Barrios () is a city in Guatemala, located within the Gulf of Honduras. The city is located on Bahia de Amatique. Puerto Barrios is the departmental seat of Izabal department and is the administrative seat of Puerto Barrios municipality. ...

Belgian colony

In the 1840s Santo Tomás was settled by

Belgians Belgians ( nl, Belgen; french: Belges; german: Belgier) are people identified with the Kingdom of Belgium, a federal state in Western Europe. As Belgium is a multinational state, this connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultur ...

in a colonial enterprise after the European nation supported

Rafael Carrera José Rafael Carrera y Turcios (24 October 1814 – 14 April 1865) was the president of Guatemala from 1844 to 1848 and from 1851 until his death in 1865, after being appointed President for life in 1854. During his military career and presiden ...

in his drive for independence of the country."Santo Tomas de Castilla
''Encyclopaedia Britannica The territory was authorized in 1843 "in perpetuity" by the Guatemalan parliament to be administered by the ''Compagnie belge de colonisation'', a private Belgian company under the protection of King Leopold I of Belgium. It replaced the failed British Eastern Coast of Central America Commercial and Agricultural Company."New Physical, Political, Industrial and Commercial Map of Central America and the Antilles"
Library of Congress, World Digital Library, accessed 27 May 2013 Many of the Belgians who settled there died of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

and

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

, which were

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the region. Most were buried in a Belgian cemetery near Santa Tomás. In 1854 the Belgian company withdrew because of financial losses.

After 1960

In the early 1960s the port, which has been officially renamed Matías de Gálvez in 1958, became the primary base for the new Guatemalan Navy. Admiral Manuel Sosa Avila, of the Navy of Guatemala, was the first port commander for the newly founded Navy, which consisted of a frigate and two fast attack boats. The fast attack boats were donated to Guatemala by the United States. The frigate was purchased by the government of Guatemala in Sweden. The purchase was conducted by Ian Moon, an Irishman who was the son-in-law of the then-President of Guatemala Idigoras Fuentes. The frigate was delivered to Guatemala by a Swedish crew. Eventually, the frigate was scuttled by the Guatemalan Navy near Puerto Barrios, in shallow water, where the ship's structure can still be seen there today by ships passing by. The frigate was scuttled by Francisco Sigui Lira, an officer of the Guatemalan Navy. A highway connects the port with Guatemala City, and it is also served by a railroad, which was originally built by the Banana Fruit Company. Due to lack of funds for maintenance, Guatemala did not operate the railroad for many years. It briefly operated again in 2006 with American financing, but due to conflicts with its administration, the American capital investors abandoned the project.

Seaport

The

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

of the city was built in 1976, after an earthquake had severely damaged the port of

. Today it is among the busiest in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and currently expanding. The port is located next to a

free trade zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re- exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to cus ...

, the Zona de Libre Industria y Comercio Santo Tomás de Castilla, called Zolic. The port currently employs 2,100 workers. In 2004, 4.56 million tons of trading goods went through the port from 1,372 ships.

Cruise industry

In 2004, a cruise ship terminal was completed and Santo Tomás de Castilla started receiving cruise ships. The cruise ship terminal has been a tremendous boost for the Guatemalan

tourism industry Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

. Four cruise ships a month, carrying 1,500 passengers each, make a stop here. Cruise ship passengers visit Guatemala chiefly for its Mayan culture, which sites are located throughout the country.

Puerto Barrios Airport Puerto Barrios Airport ( es, Aeropuerto de Puerto Barrios, ), formerly Izabal Air Base (''Base Aérea de Izabal''), serves the city of Puerto Barrios, the port of Santo Tomás de Castilla and the Guatemalan Caribbean. It is operated and adminis ...

is being refurbished in order to handle small planes to transport ship passengers for day trips to

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Co ...

or other places in Guatemala. Nearby attractions include Rio Dulce,

Lake Izabal Lake Izabal (), also known as the Golfo Dulce, is the largest lake in Guatemala with a surface area of 589.6 km² (145,693 acres or 227.6 sq mi) and a maximum depth is 18 m (59 ft). The Polochic River is the largest river that drai ...

, the towns of

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

and

San Felipe Castle San Felipe Castle is an eighteenth-century star fort protecting Puerto Cabello in Venezuela. It was named in honour of Philip V, King of Spain at the time of its construction in the 1730s. It has an alternative name ''Castillo Libertador'', e ...

, and the

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

n ruins of Quirigua.

References

Bibliography

External links

official website of the port

Seaport Commission of Guatemala

official website of the Zolic free trade zone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santo Tomas de Castilla Populated places in the Izabal Department Ports and harbours of Guatemala Port settlements in Central America Port cities in the Caribbean Former Belgian colonies