El Oro Province

Province of El Oro Provincia de El Oro
flag
Location in Ecuador
Basic data
Capital	Machala
population	583,797 (2005)
- Share in Ecuador	4.4%
- Rank in Ecuador	Rank 6 of 22
- density	97 inhabitants per km²
surface	5,988 km²
- Share in Ecuador	2.3%
- Rank in Ecuador	Rank 15 of 22
License Plate	O
Set up	1884
prefect	Esteban Quirola Bustos
governor	Édgar Cordova
Seats in the National Congress	4 out of 100
structure	14 cantons
ISO 3166-2	EC-O
http://www.eloro.gob.ec/

The province of El Oro ( Spanish Provincia de El Oro , el oro . = Dt the gold ) is a province in Ecuador . It is located in the southwest of the country on the Pacific coast and on the border with Peru . On an area of ​​5988 km² it has about 584,000 inhabitants (as of 2005). The provincial capital is Machala , the "world capital of the banana ". The port of Puerto Bolívar near Machala is the most important banana port in Ecuador.

geography

El Oro is located in the south of the coastal region of Ecuador called costa . It borders in the north on the provinces of Guayas and Azuay , in the east on the province of Loja , in the south also on the province of Loja and Peru ( Tumbes region ) and in the west on the Pacific Ocean ( Gulf of Guayaquil ).

The largest, western part of El Oro is a fertile plain, the southern half of which is dry due to the Humboldt Current, otherwise it is tropical and humid.

The eastern part on the border with the province of Loja is characterized by the Andean slopes, which have a semitropic transitional climate due to the increasing altitude. A variety of bird and orchid species can be found here . The first gold mines in the country, which gave the province its name, are located in Portovelo near Zaruma .

In the south of the province, on the border with the province of Loja and Peru, there is the "Petrified Forest of Puyango", an area of ​​about 27 km² with petrified tree trunks up to eleven meters high and 70 to 100 million years old. Even fossils of sea animals and dinosaurs found here.

The province also includes the Jambelí archipelago off Puerto Bolívar and the island of Santa Clara.

Economy and Infrastructure

El Oro Province is the province with the most significant accumulation of banana plantations in Ecuador. These are grown especially on the plains in the western half of the province. During the global cocoa boom of the 1880s, the province's area was one of the main production areas in the world. Cocoa is still produced today, but in the post-war period the cultivation of bananas replaced it in importance. In recent years, shrimp farming ( shrimps or camarrones ) has also developed into an important industry.

In the higher regions in the east of the province, among other things, coffee is grown. Gold is still mined in the area around Zaruma, and a museum explains the history of the region's gold mines.

In addition, Machala in particular has been a trading center since the cocoa boom, in which English business people played an important role. A large banana fair takes place in Machala every year, at which, among other things, the world banana queen is chosen. Along with Guayaquil , Esmeraldas and Manta, the port of Puerto Bolívar is the most important port in the country: around 85 percent of the national banana production is exported from here.

In addition to agriculture, there is industry in the provincial cities, which is primarily of an agro-industrial nature (food, beverages).

Machala and the other important cities of the province are connected to the cities in the highlands via the western part of the Panamericana in Ecuador, and there is also an expressway along the coast to Guayaquil. In Huaquillas there is a much-used border crossing to Peru. Machala and Santa Rosa have airports that are used for domestic traffic.

history

The province of El Oro was established on April 23, 1884. Since 1882, the establishment of the province had been operated from Zaruma or the province was de facto proclaimed. The capital was to be Machala. The canton of Zaruma previously belonged to the province of Loja, the canton of Machala to the province of Guayas. Until it was founded in 1859, the canton of Santa Rosa belonged to Zaruma and thus to Loja, and since then to Guayas.

The province was officially established in 1884 through a new law on the territorial division of Ecuador. Previously, after the overthrow of President General Ignacio de Veintimilla, three regionally ruling de facto governments in Esmeraldas / Manabí ( Eloy Alfaro ), in Guayaquil ( Pedro Carbo ) and in Quito (junta with the later President José María Plácido Caamaño ) agreed to draft a new constitution and a new law on territorial division.

In July 1941 the province of El Oro was attacked by the Peruvian army in the Peruvian-Ecuadorian War . The Ecuadorian soldiers, who were inferior in equipment and numbers, offered bitter resistance, but could not stop the attacking troops permanently, as they were cut off from supplies and soon ran out of ammunition. The cities of the province suffered severe damage from bombing and shelling, large parts of the population fled inland, the province initially remained occupied. By the protocol of Rio de Janeiro of January 29, 1942, the acts of war ended and El Oro was returned to Ecuador.

politics

El Oro is ruled by its Prefect Montgomery Sánchez from the Partido Roldosista Ecuatoriano (PRE). Mayor of the capital Machala is Carlos Falquez from the Partido Social Cristiano (PRE). These two parties are the dominant political forces in the province.

The governor of the province, appointed by the President of Ecuador, is Édgar Córdova.

Cantons

The province of El Oro is currently divided into 14 cantons . These are (in order of their establishment):

1. Machala (established in 1824 as a canton of the Greater Colombian Department of Guayaquil , capital: Machala)
2. Zaruma (established in 1824 as a canton of the Greater Colombian province of Loja in the Azuay department , capital: Zaruma )
3. Santa Rosa (established in 1859 as the canton of Jambelí in the province of Guayas, capital: Santa Rosa )
4. Pasaje (established in 1894, capital: Pasaje )
5. Piñas (established in 1940, capital: Piñas )
6. Arenillas (established 1955, capital: Arenillas)
7. El Guabo (established in 1978, capital: El Guabo)
8. Portovelo (established in 1980, capital: Portovelo)
9. Huaquillas (established in 1980, capital: Huaquillas )
10. Atahualpa (established in 1984, capital: Paccha)
11. Marcabelí (established in 1986, capital: Marcabelí)
12. Balsas (established in 1987, capital: Balsas)
13. Chilla (established in 1988, capital: Chilla)
14. Las Lajas (established in 1990, capital: La Victoria)

Remarks

1. ↑ POBLACION TOTAL Y TASA BRUTAS DE NATALIDAD, MORTALIDAD GENERAL, MORTALIDAD INFANTIL Y MATERNA ( Memento of October 15, 2005 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 13, 2007.

Web links

• Information on the province of El Oro (span.) - Information on the province of El Oro (span.)
• Danilo Ayala: Mi Provincia - El Oro (span.) - Danilo Ayala: Mi Provincia - El Oro (span.)

Coordinates: 3 ° 32 ′  S , 79 ° 50 ′  W