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Guayaquil
Home » Ecuador » Ecuador: Major Cities and Regions » GuayaquilGuayaquil is the most populous city in Ecuador, with a population of over 2 million. It also serves as the main seaport for the country, as it is located on the Pacific Ocean in the costa region. This city is the capital of the province Guayas. Many religions have major churches and centers of worship in Guayaquil, and the city is the country’s center for the fishing and manufacturing industries. Guayaquil has a sister city in the United States: Houston, Texas.
Guayaquil was an instrumental location in a war that took place between Ecuador and Peru in 1941. The Peruvian army, which dominated the brief war, quickly took occupation of Guayaquil, thereby controlling the most important port city of the Ecuadorians. Ecuadorian soldiers were no longer able to receive the items that we so important to their survival, and the war quickly came to a close.
Ecuadorian architecture, and particularly that of buildings in Guayaquil, has a very popular feature that is being imitated by architects in other parts of the world. These features, called the “saportales,” are beautiful colonnades which people can use as either shade from the extremely close equatorial sun or as protection from the abundant, torrential rainfall. The saportales have been made to be a beautiful, unobtrusive part of many of the buildings in downtown Guayaquil, which contributes to their popularity.
Related Ecuador: Major Cities and Regions Articles
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