Samborondón is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

and town in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

’s

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

. It is the seat of Samborond%C3%B3n Canton, which consist of 105 localities and two urban parishes (''La Puntilla'') and Samborondón Town (Cabecera cantonal) and one rural

(''Tarifa''). La Puntilla's parish is one of the most exclusive residential and entertainment districts in

. It has many Gated Communities (''urbanizaciones cerradas''), and several retail developments are located in the

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

. Its close proximity to the country's largest city,

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

(merely crossing a bridge), allows many of its residents to work there. Most of the upper-class families in Guayaquil live at La Puntilla's

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in Samborondón.

History

Samborondón was founded on May 24, 1776 and achieved its independence on October 10, 1822. Since October 31, 1955 the suburb has been a canton. The name Samborondón comes from Saint Brendan, in Spanish "San Borondón". The name of the Saint was commonly used in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and subsequently in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

for towns and villages. The name "Samborondón", in general usage, often refers to the rich downtown area of the canton called ''La Puntilla''. In fact, Samborondón consists of a much larger area than just ''La Puntilla'', which is a

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

between the rivers Babahoyo and Daule (where the River Guayas is formed).

Health care

A new branch of the ''Kennedy Hospital'', a private hospital chain, was finished in 2007 and is now in use. There are also a few building complexes specially built for medical practices.

Retail and entertainment

The local shopping center, ''Riocentro Entrerios'' has many retail stores, a hypermarket, a food court, and a cinema. The ''Village Plaza'' was inaugurated in August 2010. A hypermarket from the ''Supermaxi'' chain and other 90 stores have been announced. ''Bocca'', ''La Piazza'', ''La Torre'', Las Terrazas, Plaza Lagos, Alhambra, Piazza, and Plaza Navona are smaller shopping centers, mainly around exclusive restaurants, gyms, nightclubs and stores. The theater Teatro Sánchez Aguilar is also in this area.

Tourism

The'' Parque Histórico'', a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

and zoo of the local

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

and

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

with reconstructions of historical buildings, is one of the main tourist attractions of Guayaquil.

Education

Due to the increasing growth of the area, many schools have relocated or established branch campuses from Guayaquil and Quito to Samborondón. Most of them are exclusive

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

s, among the
Colegio Menor
Abdon Calderon, Torremar and Delta (belonging to Opus Dei), Nuevo Mundo, Liceo Panamericano, Moderna Sergio Pérez Valdez, Centro Educativo Naciones Unidas, La Moderna, CREAR and Monte Tabor. The German School Guayaquil inaugurated a second kindergarten in Samborondón on April 13, 2009. There are 23 public elementary schools in the Canton. The first

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

located in the suburb was the '' Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo'', which opened its doors on 1994. Another university, Ecotec has relocated to the suburb. Since 2000 the ESPOL (''Technical University of the littoral'') has an annex called PROTCOM in Samborondón, though it only offers 2 courses, leading to a technical

associate degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

Climate

Samborondón has 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 ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Aw'').

Gallery

Village Plaza.JPG, Teatro Sanchez Aguilar.jpg, Riocentro Entre Ríos.JPG, Plaza Lagos Town Center (5).JPG, Parque Histórico Guayaquil - Café 1900.JPG,

References

www.inec.gov.ec

External links

Local government of Samborondón

Article
of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation about the impact of the new city concept of security on young wealthy people from Samborondón (Spanish)
Parque Histórico de Guayaquil (spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samborondon Populated places in Guayas Province