Izabal Department
Izabal is bordered to the north by Belize, to the northeast by the Gulf of Honduras, to the east by Honduras, and by the Guatemalan departments of Petén to the northwest, Alta Verapaz to the west, and Zacapa to the south.
The Izabal Department surrounds Lake Izabal (or Lago de Izabal), which is Guatemala's largest lake (about 48 km long and 24 km wide, with an area of about 590 km). The Spanish Colonial fort of San Felipe, now a Guatemalan national monument, overlooks the point where the lake flows into the Río Dulce.
The small town of Izabal is on the south shore of the lake; before the construction of the ports of Livingston and Puerto Barrios in the 19th century this was Guatemala's main Caribbean Sea port and was the original seat of Izabal department; nowadays, however, Izabal town is a remote village that gets little traffic.
From the area around Lake Izabal, the Department of Izabal stretches along the Río Dulce to the coast of the Caribbean Sea.
The department of Izabal includes the ports of Puerto Barrios (the departmental seat), Santo Tomás de Castilla, Livingston and Guatemala's free trade zone Zolic. Izabal also includes the Pre-Columbian Maya ruins of Quirigua.
Municipalities
See also
- Guatemala portal
- Geography portal
- Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio
- EXMIBAL
- Franja Transversal del Norte
- Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán
- José María Orellana
- Puerto Barrios
- Quiriguá
- Rafael Carrera
- Santo Tomás de Castilla
- United Fruit Company
References
- ^
- In Guatemala, to the north, Petén, to the west, Alta Verapaz, to the south, Zacapa; in Honduras, to the south, Copán, to the southeast, Santa Bárbara, to the east, Cortés department. In the Caribbean Sea, to the northeast, Amatique Bay in the Gulf of Honduras; and in Belize to the north, Toledo.
- ^ Citypopulation.de Population of departments in Guatemala
External links
- Media related to Izabal Department at Wikimedia Commons
- Interactive department map
- Izabal, Green Caribbean
- ^ SEGEPLAN. "Municipios de Izabal, Guatemala". Secretaría General de Planificación. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.