Guayaquil Founded: Ecuador Gets Its Largest City
Francisco de Orellana planted a Spanish flag on swampland crawling with caimans and declared it "Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil"—Most Noble and Most Loyal City. July 25, 1538. The conquistador who'd later discover the Amazon chose a malarial estuary because it offered something rare: a Pacific port the Inca hadn't fortified. Within decades, Guayaquil's shipyards built the galleons that connected three continents. And Orellana? He never returned to his "noble" city, dying fever-struck on that jungle river he'd found instead. Sometimes explorers build what they won't stay to see.
July 25, 1538
488 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on July 25
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