Escuintla () is an industrial city in Guatemala, its land extension is 4384 km², and it is nationally known for its sugar agribusiness. Its capital is a minicipality with the same name. Citizens celebrate from December 6 to 9 with a small fair in honor to The Immaculate Conception.
In 2002 the city had a population of 86,678. It is located on the border of the central highlands and the Pacific coastal plain.
Etymology
Many of the names of the
municipalities of Guatemala
The departments of Guatemala are divided into 340 municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to wh ...
consist of one of two things: the name of a
catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
saint to worship the day the city was founded or a description with
Náhuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan languages, Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in ...
roots. These influences are due to the troops in command of
Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado (; c. 1485 – 4 July 1541) was a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala.Lovell, Lutz and Swezey 1984, p. 461. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Juan de Grijalva's exploration of the coasts of the Yucatá ...
who invaded the region in 1520. These troops were composed of Spanish soldiers and indigenous
Tlaxcaltec
The Tlaxcalans, or Tlaxcaltecs, are a Nahua people who live in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala.
Pre-Columbian history
The Tlaxcaltecs were originally a conglomeration of three distinct ethnic groups who spoke Nahuatl, Otomi, and Pinome that comp ...
s.
The name Escuintla, comes from the indigenous language nahuatl «Itzcuintlán», which is a word composed of two words:
· «Itzcuintli»: means “dog”
· «tlan»: means “abundance”
Therefore, Escuintla means “abundance or place of dogs”.
History
Escuintla used to be an important stop for trains going to
Puerto San José
Puerto San José is a town on Guatemala's Pacific Ocean coast, in the department of Escuintla. It has a population of 23,887 (2018 census),
until 2007.
Economy
The city is among the more industrialized areas of the country. One of the most important agricultural products of the region is
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stal ...
. Other products are
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ch ...
,
seafood
Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus a ...
, and
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...
.
Escuintla is bathed by the waters of the Pacific, and produces about 43 percent of gross domestic product of Guatemala, is statistically the department, province or region in Mesoamerica with lower unemployment and
extreme poverty
Extreme poverty, deep poverty, abject poverty, absolute poverty, destitution, or penury, is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, includi ...
, this contrasts with the economic and social reality of Guatemala.
Geography
The city of Escuintla consists of 2 villages and 12 surrounding communities. The area includes 7 mountains, 55 rivers, 9 streams, and 21 brooks.
Geographic location
To the north of the municipality of Escuintla is Yepocapa (municipality of
Chimaltenango
Chimaltenango is a city in Guatemala with a population of 96,985 (2018 census).Citypopulation.de Population o ...
) and
Alotenango
Alotenango (''Alo-tenamitl-co''; translation "in the wall of the parrots") (variation: Atchalan) is a town and municipality in the Guatemalan department of Sacatepéquez. According to the 2018 census, the town has a population of 23,358. The mu ...
Palin
The surname Palin is a name of British origin, either English or Welsh. Possible derivations include an anglicization of the Welsh patronymic ''ap Heilyn'' ("son of Heilyn") or a reference to the English placenames Poling, West Sussex or Sea Pall ...
Siquinalá
Siquinalá is a town, with a population of 18,150 (2018 census), and a municipality in the Escuintla department of Guatemala. The population of the municipality is 22,968 (2018 census).Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa (municipality of Escuintla).
Transportation
Today, the CA-2 and CA-9
highways
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
cross here.
Municipal Government
The government of the cities of Guatemala are made of a municipal council. This is in accordance with article 254 in the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala. The municipal code, which is similar to the ordinary law and contains disposition that applies to all cities of Guatemala, establishes in article 9 that the municipal council covers the deliberations and decisions of municipal issues.
The municipal council integrates with accordance of what the Constitution declares in article 254 which says that the council consists of a mayor, trustees, and councilors that have been elected and may be reelected by the public for a period of four years. With respect to the municipal code, article 9 of the constitution explains that this system is done in all municipalities in accordance to the stated law.
The mayors of Escuintla:
* 2016-2020: Abrahám Rivera Estévez
Estadio Ricardo Muñoz Gálvez
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
tropical monsoon climate
An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...
Escuintla Department
Escuintla () is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. The capital of the department is the city of Escuintla. Escuintla covers an area of 4,384 km² and is situated in the coastal lowland region, directly south of Guatemala City, and bord ...