, motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente
en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_relief = 1 , pushpin_map_caption = , pushpin_mapsize = , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ecuador , subdivision_type1 =

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

, subdivision_name1 = Guayas , subdivision_type2 = Canton , subdivision_name2 =

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

, established_title = Spanish foundation , established_date = , founder =

Francisco de Orellana Francisco de Orellana Bejarano Pizarro y Torres de Altamirano (; 1511 – November 1546) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. In one of the most improbably successful voyages in known history, Orellana managed to sail the length of the Amaz ...

, named_for = Guayas and Quil , established_title2 = Independence , established_date2 = , parts_type = Urban parishes , parts_style = coll , parts = 16 urban parishes , government_type = Mayor and council , leader_party = , leader_title = Governing body , leader_name =

Municipality of Guayaquil The Guayaquil Canton, officially the Municipality of Guayaquil, is a canton in the center of the Guayas Province in western Ecuador. The canton was named after its seat, the city of Guayaquil, the most populous city in Ecuador. Political divisio ...

, leader_title1 =

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

, leader_name1 =

Cynthia Viteri Cynthia Fernanda Viteri Jiménez de Váscones (born 19 November 1965) is an Ecuadorian lawyer, journalist and politician. On March 24, 2019, she was elected Mayor of Guayaquil, the second-largest city in Ecuador, in the sectional elections of Ecu ...

, leader_title2 = Vice-Mayor , leader_name2 = Josué Sánchez , area_footnotes = , area_magnitude = 1 E9 , area_total_km2 = 344.5 , area_total_sq_mi = 133.01 , area_land_km2 = 316.42 , area_land_sq_mi = 122.17 , area_water_km2 = 28.08 , area_water_sq_mi = 10.84 , area_metro_km2 = 2493.86 , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 4 , elevation_ft = 13.2 , population_as_of = 2019 , population_total = 2,698,077Population Projections 2010–2020
" Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos. Retrieved on January 12, 2019. , population_metro = 3,113,725 , population_density_km2 = auto , population_density_sq_mi = auto , population_demonym = Guayaquileño , timezone = ECT , utc_offset = −5 , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = EC090150 , area_code = (0)4 , registration_plate = G , blank_name = Languages , blank_info = Spanish , blank1_name =

Climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

, blank1_info = Aw , website
Municipality of Guayaquil
Plano de Guayaquil en 1741, grabado por Paulus Minguet - AHG

Guayaquil (; qu, Wayakil), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the second largest city in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

and also the nation's main port. The city is the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

Guayas Province Guayas () is a coastal province in Ecuador. It is bordered to the west by Manabí, Santa Elena, and the Pacific Ocean (as the Gulf of Guayaquil); to the east by Los Ríos, Bolívar, Chimborazo, Cañar, and Azuay; to the north by Los R� ...

and the seat of

Guayaquil Canton The Guayaquil Canton, officially the Municipality of Guayaquil, is a canton in the center of the Guayas Province in western Ecuador. The canton was named after its seat, the city of Guayaquil, the most populous city in Ecuador. Political divisio ...

. The city is located on the west bank of the

Guayas River The Guayas River also called Rio Guayas is a major river in western Ecuador. It gives name to Guayas Province and is the most important river in South America that does not flow into the Atlantic Ocean or any of its marginal seas. Its total lengt ...

, which flows into the Pacific Ocean at the

Gulf of Guayaquil The Gulf of Guayaquil is a large body of water of the Pacific Ocean in western South America. Its northern limit is the city of Santa Elena, in Ecuador, and its southern limit is Cabo Blanco, in Peru. The gulf takes its name from the city of Gua ...

History

Guayaquil was founded on July 25, 1538 by Spanish conqueror

in the location of a native village and given the name ('Most Noble and Most Loyal City of Santiago of Guayaquil'). On April 20, 1687, Guayaquil was attacked and looted by English and French

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

s under the command of

George d'Hout George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

(English) and Picard and Groniet (French). Of more than 260 pirates, 35 were killed and 46 were wounded; 75 defenders of the city died and more than 100 were wounded. In 1709, the English captains

Woodes Rogers Woodes Rogers ( 1679 – 15 July 1732) was an English sea captain, privateer, Atlantic slave trade, slave trader and, from 1718, the first List of colonial heads of the Bahamas, Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of ...

, Etienne Courtney, and

William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...

, along with a crew of 110, looted Guayaquil and demanded ransom; however, they departed suddenly and without collecting the ransom after an epidemic 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 ...

broke out. In colonial times Guayaquil was the chief Spanish shipyard in the Pacific, although some navigators considered that

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...

(now in Chile) had better conditions. Guayaquil was a stopover point in the commerce between Asia and Latin America conducted by Philippines-based

Manila Galleon fil, Galyon ng Maynila , english_name = Manila Galleon , duration = From 1565 to 1815 (250 years) , venue = Between Manila and Acapulco , location = New Spain (Spanish Empire) ...

s, which had links to Acapulco in Mexico and terminated with a node in Callao, Peru. Enslavement in the region was centred on Guayaquil, where a variation of slavery known as (daily payment) had developed. The owners were in charge but enslaved had some freedoms in exchange for paying their owners a fee (the ) every day. Slaves like

María Chiquinquirá María Chiquinquirá Díaz ( 1794) was an Afroecuadorian woman who went to court in 1794 to reclaim her freedom and that of her daughter. She was able to persuade the court in that her case held merit. After the case was ruled against her, she ...

would work in people'so houses and lots of slaves worked alongside free workers in the shipyards. Chiquinquirá is a hero because she successfully went to court in 1794 to argue her freedom. On October 9, 1820, almost without bloodshed, a group of civilians, supported by soldiers from the "Granaderos de Reserva" battalion quartered in Guayaquil, led by the Peruvian Colonel Gregorio Escobedo, overwhelmed the resistance of the Royalist guards and arrested the Spanish authorities. Guayaquil declared independence from Spain, becoming " Provincia Libre de Guayaquil", and

José Joaquín de Olmedo José Joaquín de Olmedo y Maruri (20 March 1780 – 19 February 1847) was President of Ecuador from 6 March 1845 to 8 December 1845. A patriot and poet, he was the son of the Spanish Captain Don Miguel de Olmedo y Troyano and the Guayaquilean An ...

was named (Civilian Chief) of Guayaquil. Departing from Guayaquil, General

Antonio José de Sucre Antonio José de Sucre y Alcalá (; 3 February 1795 – 4 June 1830), known as the "Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho" ( en, "Grand Marshal of Ayacucho"), was a Venezuelan independence leader who served as the president of Peru and as the second pr ...

, sent by

Simón Bolivar Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genu ...

and supported by a division promised by

José de San Martín José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (25 February 177817 August 1850), known simply as José de San Martín () or '' the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru'', was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and cent ...

, led the allied independence army in the

Battle of Pichincha The Battle of Pichincha took place on 24 May 1822, on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, 3,500 meters above sea-level, right next to the city of Quito, in modern Ecuador. The encounter, fought in the context of the Spanish American wars of in ...

that sealed the independence of the

Gran Colombia Gran Colombia (, "Great Colombia"), or Greater Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: ''República de Colombia''), was a state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 18 ...

and also what would become the future Republic of

. On July 26, 1822, generals

and Simón Bolívar held a meeting in Guayaquil to plan how to the complete the independence of Perú and with it all of Spanish South America. In 1829, the city was invaded by the Peruvian Army, which occupied it for seven months. In 1860, the city was the site of the Battle of Guayaquil, the last of a series of military conflicts between the forces of the Provisional Government, led by

Gabriel García Moreno Gabriel Gregorio Fernando José María García Moreno y Morán de Butrón (24 December 1821 – 6 August 1875), was an Ecuadorian politician and aristocrat who twice served as President of Ecuador (1861–65 and 1869–75) and was assassinated d ...

and General

Juan José Flores Juan José Flores y Aramburu (19 July 1800 – 1 October 1864) was a Venezuelan-born military general who became the first (in 1830), third (in 1839) and fourth (in 1843) President of the new Republic of Ecuador. He is often referred to as "The ...

, and the forces of the Supreme Chief of Guayas, General

Guillermo Franco Guillermo "Guille" Luis Franco Farquarson (born 3 November 1976) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Argentina, he represented the Mexico national team. Early life Guillermo Franco was born in Corrientes, th ...

, whose government was recognized as possessing sovereignty over the Ecuadorian territory by Peruvian president

Ramón Castilla Ramón Castilla y Marquesado (; 31 August 1797 – 30 May 1867) was a Peruvian ''caudillo'' who served as President of Peru three times as well as the Interim President of Peru (Revolution Self-proclaimed President) in 1863. His earliest pr ...

. Moreno's forces were victorious, countering Peruvian influence over Ecuador. In 1896, large portions of the city were destroyed by a fire. On July 8, 1898, the Guayaquil City Hall officially recognized the anthem written by José Joaquín de Olmedo in 1821, with the music composed by Ana Villamil Ycaza in 1895, as the or , most widely known now as the ('Guayaquil Anthem'). In 1922, workers in the city went on a general strike lasting three days, ending after at least 300 people were killed by military and police. In 2020, the city was hit hard by the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

. Its medical and mortuary services were overwhelmed to the point where bodies lay in the streets. Almost 6,000 more deaths were recorded in the first two weeks of April than the average for the same period in other years.

Economy

''Guayaquileños main sources of income are formal and informal trade, business, agriculture and aquaculture. Most commerce consists of

small and medium businesses Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

, adding an important informal economy occupation that gives thousands of guayaquileños employment. The Port of Guayaquil is Ecuador's most important commercial port; most international import and export merchandise passes through the Gulf of Guayaquil. As the largest city in the country, most industries are located either in the city or its peripheral areas. Ongoing projects seek urban regeneration as a principal objective of the growth of the city's commercial districts, as the increase of capital produces income. These projects in the city driven by the recent mayors have achieved this goal after investing large sums of money. The current municipal administration aims to convert Guayaquil into a place for first-class international tourism and multinational businesses.

Government

Guayaquil's mayor was

, the second elected female mayor in the city's history, the first being Elsa Bucaram in 1988. Previous mayor Jaime Nebot supported her. He began a campaign of construction projects for the city in the early 2000s to attract tourism, that included the "urban regeneration" plan which reconstructed the city's main tourist streets' sidewalks and upgraded the city's chaotic transit system with multiple infrastructure projects (speedways, bridges, overhead passages, tunnels, etc.). In August 2006, the city's first rapid transit bus system, Metrovia, opened to provide a quicker, high-capacity service. One of the main projects was called '' Malecón 2000'' , the renovation of the waterfront

promenade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cl ...

(''malecón'') along the Guayas River. Another project was the creation of the'' Nuevo Parque Histórico'', a park in a housing development area that is called ''Entre Ríos'' because it lies between the Daule and Babahoyo Rivers (which merge to form the Guayas River), in a

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

area. The park cost the city about

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

7 million. In 2013, the national government led by

Rafael Correa Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (; born 6 April 1963), known as Rafael Correa, is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who served as President of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation ...

built two pedestrian bridges connecting downtown Guayaquil, Santay Island, and the town of Durán, to allow people to make

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

trips and return the same day.

Geography

Guayaquil is the nation's second largest city and the capital of Guayas Province. It is on the Guayas River about north of the Gulf of Guayaquil, near the Equator. Guayaquil faces major earthquake threats due to its soil stratigraphy and location on the ring of fire and the south of the North-Andean subduction zone. The city can be easily damaged by earthquakes as its weak and compressible soil is composed of deep soft sediments over hard rocks and deposits in a brackish environment. Also, the city itself is strongly affected by the subduction of the active Ecuadorian margin, an intraplate region where active faults locate; and the Guayaquil-Babahoyo strike-slip fault system, formed as the North Andean Block drifts northward. The tsunami threat is caused by the nearby Gulf of Guayaquil which also is one of the major locations on the Earth where earthquakes tend to happen all the time. It has complex tectonic features such as the Posorja and the Jambeli –two major east–west trending detachment systems; the Puna-Santa Clara northeast-southwest trending fault system; and the Domito north-south trending fault system; that have developed since the Pleistocene times. Tsunami threats are only predicted for coastal farming zones, not the main populated areas. Guayaquil, along with most of the coastal region, was impacted by the April 16, 2016 earthquake of 7.8 magnitude. A bridge that was above a major artery, Avenida de las Americas, collapsed in the early evening of April 16, killing two people.

Guayaquil city sectors

Parque Histórico Guayaquil - Banco Territorial

Here you can find the list o
Neighborhoods and Parishes of Guayaquil

Demographics

Climate

Guayaquil features a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(

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 ...

: ''Aw''). Between January and April, the climate is hot and humid with heavy rainfall, especially during

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date L ...

years when it increases dramatically and flooding usually occurs. The rest of the year (from May through December), however, rainfall is minimal due to the cooling influence of the Humboldt Current, with usually cloudy mornings and afternoons, and evening breezes.

Food

Typical Guayaquil cuisine includes mostly seafood dishes such as

encebollado Encebollado ( Spanish: ''cooked with onions'') is a fish stew from Ecuador, where it is regarded as a national dish. Although known throughout Ecuador, the dish is most popular in the country's coastal region. It is served with boiled cassava and ...

ceviche Ceviche () is a Peruvian dish typically made from fresh raw fish cured in fresh citrus juices, most commonly lime or lemon. It is also spiced with '' ají'', chili peppers or other seasonings, and julienned red onions, salt, and cilantro are al ...

cazuela Cazuela ( or ) is the common name given to a variety of dishes, especially from South America. It receives its name from the ''cazuela'' (Spanish for cooking pot) – traditionally, an often shallow pot made of unglazed earthenware used for c ...

, and encocado (shrimp or tuna with a coconut sauce and rice). During breakfast, patacones and bolon (fried plantain with cheese mashed and given a rounded shape) play a big role.

Pan de yuca Pan de yuca (''Spanish for Cassava bread'') is a type of bread made of cassava starch and cheese typical of western Ecuador and southern Colombia History An 1856 watercolor by Manuel María Paz shows cassava bread being prepared by members of th ...

is a typical snack in Guayaquil. Some other typical dishes of Guayaquil are the ball soup (based on peanuts and green plantains creating a green plantain ball filled with meat and other ingredients). El bollo is another typical dish of this city that also the main ingredient is the green plantain and seafood. Just to mention others are the biche, sango de mariscos, Arroz con pezcado frito (rice with fried fish), Arroz con menestra y carne asada (rice with stew and roast meat), Ayaca, Guatita, Caldo de mondongo, Humitas, Maduro lampriado, Maduro con queso, Tripita, and many more.

Notable people

Arts and literature

* Daniela Alcívar Bellolio (b. 1982, Guayaquil) * Félix Arauz (b. 1935, Guayaquil) *

Theo Constanté Theo Constanté Parra (May 11, 1934 in Guayaquil, Ecuador – April 27, 2014) was a master Latin American painter part of the Abstract Informalist Movement in Ecuador. In 2005, Constanté won the country's most prestigious award for art, lit ...

(1934–2014, Guayaquil) * José de la Cuadra (1903, Guayaquil – d. 1941, Guayaquil) *

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco (October 12, 1908 – May 1, 1993) — born Alfredo Pareja y Díez Canseco — was a prominent Ecuadorian novelist, essayist, journalist, historian and diplomat. An innovator of the 20th-century Latin American nove ...

(1908, Guayaquil – d. 1993, Quito) * Carmen Febres-Cordero de Ballén (b. 1829, Guayaquil – d. 1893, Valparaíso) *

Araceli Gilbert Araceli Gilbert de Blomberg (1913 in Guayaquil, Ecuador – 1993 in Quito), was an Ecuadorian artist. Gilbert enrolled in the School of Fine Arts in Santiago de Chile in 1936, studying under Jorge Caballero and Hernán Gazmurri, well-know ...

(b. 1913, Guayaquil – d. 1993, Quito) *

Enrique Gil Gilbert Enrique Gil Gilbert (July 8, 1912 – February 21, 1973) was an Ecuadorian novelist, journalist, poet, and a high-ranking member of the Communist Party of Ecuador. Gil Gilbert was born and died in the coastal city of Guayaquil, and was the young ...

(1912, Guayaquil – d. 1973, Guayaquil) *

Julio Jaramillo Julio Alfredo Jaramillo Laurido (October 1, 1935 – February 9, 1978) was a notable Ecuadorian singer and recording artist who performed throughout Latin America, achieving great fame for his renditions of boleros, valses, pasillos, tangos, a ...

(b. 1935, Guayaquil – d. 1978, Guayaquil)* *

Joaquín Gallegos Lara Joaquín Gallegos Lara (April 9, 1909 – November 16, 1947) was an Ecuadorian social realist novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist. Biography Joaquín Gallegos Lara was born in Guayaquil in 1909, the son of Emma Lara Calderon and Joa ...

(b. 1909, Guayaquil – d. 1947, Guayaquil) * Numa Pompilio Llona (b. 1832, Guayaquil – d. 1907, Guayaquil) * Demetrio Aguilera Malta (b. 1909, Guayaquil – d. 1981, Mexico) * Luis Miranda (b. 1932, Guayaquil) *

Luis Molinari Luis Molinari (1929 in Guayaquil, Ecuador – 1994 in Quito, Ecuador) (Luis Molinari-Flores) was a member of the VAN Group (Vanguardia Artística Nacional), a collective of informal constructivist artists founded by Enrique Tábara and Aníb ...

(b. 1929, Guayaquil) *

Xavier Blum Pinto Xavier Blum Pinto (born 1957 in Guayaquil) is an Ecuadorian artist. From 1974 to 1976 he studied architecture at the Universidad Catolica Santiago de Guayaquil, in Ecuador. In 1981, obtained his MA in Fine Arts from the Universitė of Paris VIII ...

(b. 1957, Guayaquil) *

José Martínez Queirolo José Martínez Queirolo (March 22, 1931 – October 8, 2008) was an Ecuadorian playwright and narrator. He was the 2001 recipient of the Premio Eugenio Espejo in Literature, awarded to him by President Gustavo Noboa. Martínez Queirolo, k ...

(b. 1931, Guayaquil – d. 2008, Guayaquil) * Víctor Manuel Rendón (b. 1859, Guayaquil – d. 1940, Guayaquil) *

Enrique Tábara Luis Enrique Tábara (21 February 1930 – 25 January 2021 Jorge Velarde Jorge Velarde (Guayaquil, Ecuador, 1960) is a Contemporary Latin American painter from Ecuador. Velarde has been drawing and painting since he was a child. At the age of 15 Velarde knew that he was meant to be a painter. Velarde is a co-founder of ...

(b. 1960, Guayaquil) *

Juan Villafuerte Juan Villafuerte (July 19, 1945 – August 15, 1977) (Juan Antonio Villafuerte Estrada) was an artist known for his transmutated drawings and paintings. Villafuerte is among the ranks of other prominent Latin American painters such as Eduard ...

(b. 1945, Guayaquil – d. 1977, Barcelona, Spain) *

Eugenia Viteri Blanca Eugenia Viteri Segura (4 July 1928 – 21 September 2023) was an Ecuadorian writer, anthologist, women's rights activist, and teacher. She has been described as "a grand dame of Ecuadorian literature." Early life Eugenia Viteri was bo ...

(b. 1928, Guayaquil)

Others

* Olga Álava, Miss Ecuador Earth 2011, Miss Earth 2011 *

Noralma Vera Arrata Noralma Vera Arrata (born 28 August 1936) is a former Ecuadorian prima ballerina and choreographer. Vera Arrata was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador where she grew up as the only daughter among three sons of the distinguished politician and former Cul ...

, ballerina and choreographer * Frederick Ashton, British choreographer and dancer * Geovanni Camacho, football player *

María Elisa Camargo María Elisa Camargo (; born in Guayaquil, Ecuador) is an Ecuadorian actress and activist. She started out as a contestant on The X Factor Colombia. She decided to knock on doors and start appearing in musical telenovelas after studying theatre as ...

, actress * Danilo Carrera, actor and model *

Fernanda Cornejo Fernanda is a Portuguese, Spanish and Italian feminine equivalent of Fernando, a male given name of Germanic origin, with an original meaning of "adventurous, bold journey". __TOC__ People *Fernanda Abreu (born 1961), Brazilian popular singer *Fe ...

, fashion model and Miss International 2011 * Beatriz Parra Durango, opera singer *

Felipe Caicedo Felipe Salvador Caicedo Corozo (born 5 September 1988) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Saudi Arabian club Abha. A full international from 2005 to 2017, Caicedo represented Ecuador at the Copa América in 20 ...

, footballer *

María Capovilla María Esther Heredia Lecaro de Capovilla, known internationally as María Capovilla (14 September 1889 – 27 August 2006), was an Ecuadorian supercentenarian, and, at the time of her death at age 116 years, 347 days, was recognized by Guinne ...

, oldest person * Jorge Delgado, swimmer * Beatriz Parra Durango, opera singer * Jenny Estrada, writer * Jorge Perrone Galarza, politician * Karina Galvez, poet *

Adalberto Ortiz Adalberto Ortiz - born Adalberto Ortiz Quiñones (February 9, 1914 – February 1, 2003) was a novelist, poet and diplomat born in Esmeraldas, a province of Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur'' ...

, poet *

Gerardo Gerardo may refer to: People Given name Gerardo is the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian form of the male given name Gerard. * Gerardo Amarilla (born 1969), Uruguayan politician * Gerardo Bonilla (born 1975), Puerto Rican-born professional race ...

, rapper *

Andrés Gómez Andrés Gómez Santos (; born 27 February 1960) is an Ecuadorian former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the French Open in 1990. His son, Emilio Gómez, is a professional tennis player. His nephew Nicolás Lapent ...

, tennis player * Mike Judge, American animator and television writer *

Guillermo Lasso Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza (; born 16 November 1955) is an Ecuadorian businessman, banker, writer and politician who has served as the 47th president of Ecuador since 24 May 2021. He is the country's first centre-right president i ...

, former President of Ecuador * Rita Lecumberri, writer * Demetrio Aguilera Malta, writer *

Roberto Manrique Roberto Manrique (born April 23, 1979) is an Ecuadorian model, and actor best known for his roles in telenovelas. Starting his career in Ecuador, and later doing telenovelas for Telemundo in Colombia. Biography He was born April 23, 1979, in ...

, actor *

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell Debbie Jessika Mucarsel-Powell (born January 18, 1971) is an Ecuadorian-born American politician and academic administrator who served as a U.S. representative for from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, her district covered the w ...

, American politician * Francisco Nazareno, footballer *

Albert Paulsen Albert Paulsen (born Albert Paulson; 13 December 1925 in Guayaquil, Ecuador – 25 April 2004 in Los Angeles, California) was an Ecuadorian-American actor who appeared in many American television series beginning in the 1960s, playing charac ...

, actor *

Joao Plata Joao Jimmy Plata Cotera (; born March 1, 1992) is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays for Delfín. Club career LDU Quito Plata began his career in the youth ranks of hometown club Barcelona before joining the Alfaro Moreno Academia in Guayaqui ...

, footballer * Jorge Saade, violinist *

Hugo Savinovich Hugo Savinovich (born February 15, 1959) is an Ecuadorian sports commentator and retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. He is currently signed to Lucha Libre AAA as a Spanish commentator. He is best known as part of t ...

, wrestler *

Pancho Segura Francisco Olegario Segura (June 20, 1921 – November 18, 2017), better known as Pancho "Segoo" Segura, was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but m ...

, tennis player * Benjamín Urrutia, academic *

Pedro Jorge Vera Pedro Jorge Vera (1914 in Guayaquil – 1999) was an Ecuadorian writer and Communist Party of Ecuador politician. He contributed to several newspapers and magazines of controversial character " La Calle", with the writer Alejandro Carrión, ...

, writer * Alex Jimbo Viteri, violinist *

Rosa Borja de Ycaza Rosa Borja Febres-Cordero (Guayaquil, July 30, 1889 – Guayaquil, December 22, 1964) known as Rosa Borja de Ycaza was an Ecuadorian writer, essayist, dramatist, sociologist, poet, novelist, feminist and activist. Biography Rosa Borja de Ycaza w ...

, writer * Presley Norton Yoder, archeologist * María del Tránsito Sorroza, midwife and formerly enslaved woman

Education

SageoEG - Biblioteca Municipal de Guayaquil 001

Biblioteca Municipal de Guayaquil (Municipal Library of Guayaquil) serves as the public library of Guayaquil. The city has several universities, including the

University of Guayaquil The University of Guayaquil (Spanish: ''Universidad de Guayaquil''), known colloquially as the ''Estatal'' (i.e., "the State niversity), is a public university in Guayaquil, Guayas Province, Ecuador. Estatal was founded in 1883. It is the old ...

(founded in 1867), the

Universidad Catolica de Santiago de Guayaquil Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

, the Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (ESPOL), and the Universidad de Especialidades Espiritu Santo.

Religion

The largest religion in Guayaquil is

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

Sports

There are two major

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

clubs; the

Barcelona Sporting Club Barcelona Sporting Club () is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. Internationally known as Barcelona de Ecuador, in Ecuador it is simply referred as Barcelona, El Idolo (BSC) or Barce. T ...

and the Club Sport Emelec. Each club has its own stadium; the

Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha The Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha is a football stadium located in the parish of Tarqui in northern Guayaquil, Ecuador. An aerial lift or cable car currently under construction will connect the stadium with the "Aerovia" Julian Coronel statio ...

is the home of the "Barcelonistas" while the

Estadio George Capwell Estadio Banco del Pacífico Capwell is a multi-purpose stadium in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Un ...

is the home of the "Emelecistas". These two teams have a long history of rivalry in Guayaquil and when these two teams play against each other the game is called "El Clásico del Astillero". The city is the birthplace of Francisco Segura Cano; and

and

Nicolás Lapentti Nicolás Alexander Lapentti Gómez (; born 13 August 1976) is a former professional tennis player from Ecuador. His brothers, Giovanni Lapentti, Giovanni and Leonardo, uncle Andrés Gómez, Andrés, and cousins Roberto Quiroz, Roberto and Emil ...

, Ecuador's two most successful tennis players, now both retired. The "Abierto de Tenis Ciudad de Guayaquil" is a tennis tournament organised in Guayaquil by Gómez and Luis Morejon, and held annually in November. Another major event in the city is the Guayaquil Marathon, which has been held every year on the first weekend of October since 2005. These race is certified by the (AIMS)

Association of International Marathons and Distance Races The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, also known as AIMS, is an association of the organisers of long-distance road running races. It was founded in 1982 at a meeting in London of marathon race directors. Its membership w ...

. The sports & Ecological Park calle
Parque Samanes de Guayaquil
is a park with courts for soccer, tennis, volleyball, and basketball, two lakes, a soccer stadium and an amphi theatre for open air concerts and events. It is connected to a forest reserve with trails for cycling and walking, as well as installations for

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done fo ...

and

zip-lining A zip-line, zip line, zip-wire, flying fox, or death slide is a pulley suspended on a cable, usually made of stainless steel, mounted on a slope. It is designed to enable cargo or a person propelled by gravity to travel from the top to the bo ...

Universities

Some of Guayaquil's main universities are: * Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral *

Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo (UEES) is a non-profit private university in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Its campus is in Samborondón, Greater Guayaquil. One distinctive program of UEES is the College of International Studies, home to the International Careers Program (ICP), which ...

Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, UCSG, is a private, catholic, higher education center, along with Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador in Ecuador. History UCSG was created on May 17, 1962, at the request of the board of C ...

* Universidad Laica Vicente Rocafuerte *

Universidad Casa Grande Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

* Universidad Tecnológica Ecotec * Universidad Santa María * Blue Hill College *

Universidad Del Pacífico – Ecuador Universidad Del Pacífico – Ecuador : Escuela de Negocios (UPACIFICO) is an Ecuadorian non-profit private university. History The ''Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Cultura Empresarial'' was founded in 1992 as a non-profit organiza ...

Institute of Graphics Arts and Digital Science An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

* Universidad Politécnica Salesiana

Transport

Guayaquil is located along national Highway 40 and is near Highway 25. Among Guayaquil's major trading points are the seaport, the largest in Ecuador and one of the biggest handlers of shipping on the shores of the Pacific; and

José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional José Joaquín de Olmedo; ) is an international airport serving Guayaquil, the capital of the Guayas Province and the second most populous city in Ecuador. I ...

. José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport, though using the same runways, had its passenger terminal completely rebuilt in 2006 and was renamed. The old passenger terminal is now a convention centre. Guayaquil is served by a

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

system, Metrovia, which opened in 2006. The system has three lines and is supplemented by 35 feeder routes, carrying a total of 400,000 daily passengers. The

Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos The Ferrocarriles del Ecuador Empresa Pública (Ecuadorian Railways Company) is the national railway of Ecuador. The railway system was devised to connect the Pacific coast with the Andean highlands. After many decades of service the railway was se ...

offers tourist rail service to Quito from the neighboring city of

Durán, Ecuador Durán, is a canton located in the province of Guayas, Ecuador, near the confluence of the Daule & Babahoyo rivers, where the Guayas River enters the ocean. It is located across the Guayas River from Guayaquil. Its township or capital is Eloy Al ...

, located across the Guayas River from Guayaquil.

Twin towns – sister cities

Guayaquil is twinned with: *

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, United States (1987) * *

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China (2001) *

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, Chile

References

External links

*
Images of Guayaquil before and After

Municipalidad de Guayaquil
{{Authority control Guayaquil Canton Populated places in Guayas Province Populated coastal places in Ecuador Port cities in Ecuador Provincial capitals in Ecuador Populated places established in 1538 1538 establishments in the Spanish Empire