Posted
on July 25, 2015
Guayaquil
was founded on on this date in 1538. At least, that's what the
official story is. In a way, it was founded earlier than that,
because native peoples lived on the site in a small village. The 1538
founding date was the date that a Spanish Conquistador recorded
naming the city.
You
know how sometimes a long city name becomes shortened, because
shorter names are just easier? Well, just as El Pueblo de la Reyna
de los Angeles / El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de
Porciuncula was shortened to Los Angeles, this Spanish city was
first named Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil.
That basically means “Most Noble and Most Loyal City of St. James
of Guayaquil.”
Thank
goodness, for the sake of our maps, this was shortened drastically to
just Guayaquil! (In some places, I have seen this city still listed
as Santiago de Guayaquil.)
This
town is known for its many artists born in the 1900s, its several
universities, its parks, and its popular shopping areas. The fact
that Guayaquil is the nation's largest city and a port, but is not
the nation's capital, reminds me of the fact that the largest city in
the United States is New York City, which is also a port and is also
not the U.S. capital.
Take
a peek at Guayaquil:
This
statue is sometimes called the Statue of Liberty, but in addition to
the female holding a lantern and (I presume) representing liberty and
independence, four founding fathers of the city are depicted. Another
name for the statue is Heroes of Independence or Column of Heroes.
The arts district is called Las Peñas. Many of the buildings here are 400-year-old houses that have been converted into galleries and studios.
In
Guayaquil, you can feed seeds to the pigeons and mango slices to the
iguanas!
The
Mercado Artesanal is a building that holds about 240 different shops!
Also
on this date:
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