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Izabal Department Departmento de Izabal | |
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 Counterclockwise from top: San Felipe Castle, cruise ship in the port city of Puerto Barrios, Livingston, Rio Dulce, Quirigua UNESCO World Heritage Site & 830 meter long bridge of Rio Dulce | |
.png) Flag  Coat of arms | |
![Izabal and its neighbors[a]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aIzabal_and_its_neighbors.svg) Izabal and its neighbors[a] | |
| Coordinates:15°44′0″N88°36′0″W / 15.73333°N 88.60000°W /15.73333; -88.60000 | |
| Country |  Guatemala |
| Capital | Puerto Barrios |
| Municipalities | 5 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Departmental |
| Area | |
| 9,038 km2 (3,490 sq mi) | |
| • Water | 590 km2 (230 sq mi) |
| Population (2018)[1] | |
| 408,688 | |
| • Density | 45/km2 (120/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 167,653 |
| • Ethnicities | Ladino Q'eqchi' Garífuna Afro-Caribbean |
| • Religions | Roman Catholicism Evangelicalism Maya |
| Time zone | UTC-6 |
| ISO 3166 code | GT-IZ |
Izabal (Spanish pronunciation:[isaˈβal]) is one of the 22departments of Guatemala. Its coastal areas form part of the homeland of theGarifuna people.
Izabal is bordered to the north byBelize, to the northeast by theGulf of Honduras, to the east byHonduras, and by the Guatemalan departments ofPetén to the northwest,Alta Verapaz to the west, andZacapa to the south.
The Izabal Department surroundsLake 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 km2). TheSpanish Colonial fort of San Felipe, now a Guatemalan national monument, overlooks the point where the lake flows into theRío Dulce.
The small town ofIzabal is on the south shore of the lake; before the construction of the ports ofLivingston andPuerto Barrios in the 19th century this was Guatemala's mainCaribbean 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 theCaribbean Sea.
The department of Izabal includes the ports ofPuerto Barrios (the departmental seat),Santo Tomás de Castilla,Livingston and Guatemala's free trade zoneZolic. Izabal also includes thePre-ColumbianMaya ruins ofQuirigua.
Guatemala portal
Geography portal
Media related toIzabal Department at Wikimedia CommonsPlaces adjacent to Izabal Department | |
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Capital:Puerto Barrios | ||
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| International corporation in the area | ||
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