Machala (city)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Machala
Coordinates: 3 ° 16 ′  S , 79 ° 58 ′  W
Map: Ecuador
marker
Machala
Machala on the map of Ecuador
Basic data
Country Ecuador
province El Oro
City foundation 1573
Residents 228,351  (2005)
City insignia
Machala Flag.svg
Detailed data
height m
Time zone UTC -5
City Presidency Carlos Falquez Batallas
Website www.machala.gob.ec

Machala is a city in Ecuador with 228,351 inhabitants (2005). It is the capital of the province of El Oro and is known as the commercial and banking center of the southern coastal region of Ecuador. The city and its port of Puerto Bolívar are primarily a transshipment point for bananas , coffee , cocoa and shrimp produced in the region , with Puerto Bolívar being Ecuador's most important banana port and Machala being the "world capital of the banana". In addition to banks and trading companies, there are also industrial companies in the city that primarily process agricultural products.

history

A place called Machala was first mentioned in 1573 as an indigenous settlement of the Machala Indians (27 inhabitants) on the occasion of the establishment of the district ( Tenencia ) Puná des Corregimiento (Bailiwick) Guayaquil by Spanish conquistadors. Today's Machala dates back to a 1763 land allocation and settlement initiative by the Governor of Guayaquil, Juan Antonio Zelaya . In 1784 the Real Audiencia de Quito established the Machala district of the Guayaquil province. During the colonial period, the place increasingly became the center of the fertile environment for the landscape, which was especially important for cocoa cultivation .

When Guayaquil proclaimed its independence in 1820, Machala quickly joined. After 1822, the formation of its own, after the legendary Puná chief Tumbalá named province failed formed Machala 1824 a Canton province of Guayaquil New Granada and from 1830 the new State Ecuador. The city was fundamentally liberal, which can be explained by the export interests of the coastal region. Its leading citizens supported both the Guayaquil March Revolution of 1845, which overthrew President Juan José Flores , and the Liberal Revolution under Eloy Alfaro in 1895. In 1884, Machala officially became the capital of the newly founded province of El Oro, which in 1882 was proclaimed from Zaruma during a civil war . In 1883 the Ecuadorian government officially established the port of Puerto Bolívar (initially as Puerto Huaylá ), 7 km from the city center on the Gulf of Guayaquil in the Pacific. Since 1900 it was connected to Machala and Pasajes by a railway line . Despite repeated efforts, however, the connection of the railway line to the Guayaquil / Durán - Quito line failed .

During the Peruvian-Ecuadorian War , Machala was first bombed by the well-equipped Peruvian troops and occupied at the end of July 1941 after paratroopers had initially taken the port. A major fire that occurred here caused significant damage. The occupation ended after the signing of the Rio de Janeiro Protocol (1942).

Machala has been the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese that belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Cuenca since 1969 .

Sights and infrastructure

Machala Cathedral at night

Despite its long history, the city has no colonial or other representative architecture worth mentioning; urbanization took place during the cocoa boom in the second half of the 19th century and to an even greater extent during the banana boom after the Second World War . The most famous monument and symbol of the city is the statue of the Bananeros , a banana worker with a shoulder full of bananas. Every year in September, the city hosts an international trade fair for bananas and agricultural products, which is advertised by the Ecuadorian tourism authorities and at which the "World Banana Queen" and the "World Banana King" are chosen. Across from Puerto Bolívar is the Jambelí archipelago , which has much-visited sandy beaches on the side facing the open gulf.

Machala has a small, now closed airport ( Aeropuerto General Manuel Serrano , IATA code MCH). TAME maintained flights to Quito and Guayaquil until 2004, which should have resumed in March and June 2007, but remained suspended following a decision by the Ecuadorian Aviation Authority not to open Machala Airport to wide-body aircraft.

In addition to numerous high schools, Machala has a technical university, the state Universidad Técnica de Machala , founded in 1969, which teaches a total of 44 courses with a focus on trade, agriculture and biology.

Individual evidence

  1. Freddy Macas: Tame volará nuevamente a Machala. ( Memento of September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). El Universo (Guayaquil), February 10, 2007, sección “El País” (Spanish).

Web links