Guayaquil, officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador, as well as that nation's main port. Guayaquil is on the west margin of the Guayas River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Guayaquil. The climate is hot and generally humid. Though during El Niño years rainfall is very heavy between January and April and flooding usually occurs, from May to December and outside El Niños, there is almost no rain as the city is influenced by the Humboldt Current. Fog is a normal occurrence during the dry months, so that sunshine hours are actually a little higher during the "wet" season.
Guayaquil is at 2.21°S 79.90°W, about 250 km south-southwest of the capital of Ecuador, Quito. According to the most recent census (2008), its population was 2,985,379. However, the built up area population with Eloy Alfaro (174,531 hab.) was 3,359,911 .
Guayaquil is the capital of the Ecuadorian province of Guayas and the seat of the namesake canton. (In Ecuador, a cantón (canton) is a second-order subnational entity below a first-order province.)
The city is the center of Ecuador's fishing and manufacturing industries.
The city's new airport, José JoaquÃn de Olmedo International Airport (IATA airport code: GYE), 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. |
