Guayaquil, officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest and most populated city in the Republic of Ecuador; also known as the “economic capital of Ecuador “, with a population in its metropolitan area of nearly three million inhabitants. The urban area of Guayaquil, also known as Gran Guayaquil, is aligned among the largest cities in the Americas. It is also an important commercial center with regional influence in finance, politics, culture and entertainment. The city is the cantonal head of the homonymous canton and the capital of the province of Guayas. Located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the coastal region of Ecuador, the east of the city is on the banks of the Guayas River, about 20 kilometers from its mouth on the Pacific Ocean, while it is surrounded by the Estero Salado in its southwestern part and the beginning of the Chongón Colonche mountain range, a medium altitude mountain chain, in the northwest. The Gulf of Guayaquil is the largest water inlet in the Pacific Ocean in South America. Its extreme outcrops are set in Cabo Blanco, Peru, and the province of Santa Elena, Ecuador, covering a distance of 230 km.
The city is divided into 16 urban parishes, although within a new municipal administration, its organization consists of 74 sectors. It is the city with the highest population density in Ecuador, with a total of 2,644,891 inhabitants, in its urban agglomeration, including the urban population of Guayaquil, the urban population of Durán and the urban population of the parish of La Puntilla (excluding the parish of La Aurora). Currently the city of Guayaquil has a floating population that reaches 2,684,016 inhabitants within its metropolitan area, taking into account an average annual population growth rate of 2.70%. The city of Guayaquil is composed of 347 km² of surface, of which 316 km², equivalent to 91.9% of the total, belong to the mainland (soil); while the remaining 29 km², equivalent to 8.1%, belong to the bodies of water that include rivers and estuaries. The conurbation of Guayaquil, which is the metropolitan area of Guayaquil, beyond the limits of the urban agglomeration, includes the cities of Milagro, Daule, Playas, among others, giving it a consolidated population of 3 113 725 inhabitants.
It was definitively founded in 1547 as a shipyard and commercial port at the service of the Spanish Crown, like Santiago de Guayaquil, after several other foundation attempts, it has served as the main point in the nation’s economy. 6 It has been the site of great revolutions and uprisings in the course of history, being the first Ecuadorian city to definitively obtain its independence from Spain in 1820. It was then the capital of the Free Province of Guayaquil, which was later forcibly annexed to Greater Colombia. Since 1830 it has been part of the Republic of Ecuador as an important economic and political center. The March revolution that expelled foreign militarism, the liberal revolution led by General Eloy Alfaro, the May revolution that changed the government and the Constitution of the time, are important events in the history of the nation that have developed in the city.
Santiago de Guayaquil stands out among Ecuadorian cities for its high use of mass transit, and for its total density and diversity of its population. The city’s port is one of the most important on the eastern Pacific coast. 70% of the country’s private exports leave through its facilities, with 83% of imports coming in. In addition, because of its position as a commercial center, the city is traditionally known as the “economic capital” of the country, due to the number of companies, factories and commercial premises that exist throughout the city.
