Machala

Machala is located in southwestern Ecuador, on the Pacific coast. The city and its port, Puerto Bolivar , are a major commercial, transport and banking center of southern Ecuador. Through the port, bananas, coffee, cocoa and shrimp are exported. Puerto Bolivar is the largest port for the export of Ecuadorian bananas, and Machala is called the "banana capital." In the city and its environs there are numerous enterprises for the processing of agricultural products. Machala has a small airport ( Aeropuerto General Manuel Serrano ).

The population of Machaly is 228.351 people (as of 2005). The city is the administrative center of the province of El Oro .

Machala was first mentioned in 1537 as a small Indian settlement. The current city was built by the decree of the governor of Guayaquil, published in 1763, aimed at enhancing the settlement policy of the Spanish colonial authorities, which attracted immigrants from Spain to the fertile areas of southern Ecuador. In 1784, the royal audience of Quito forms Machala County in the province of Guayaquil and contributes to the creation of extensive cocoa plantations there.

After the independence of Guayaquil in 1820, Machala joined him. In 1824, it is a separate canton of the state of New Granada , in 1830 - part of Ecuador. In 1883, the harbor of Puerto Bolivar was built, 7 kilometers from the city center, on the Pacific Ocean. In 1884, Machala became the administrative center of the province of El Oro formed in the same year. In 1900, a railway line was laid to the city. During the Peruvian-Ecuadorian war , in 1941, the city and port were heavily bombarded by the Peruvian Air Force, and then were captured by Peruvian troops. Peruvian units were withdrawn only in 1942, after the conclusion of a peace treaty in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Since 1969, Machala has been the center of the Catholic bishopric.