The Guayaquil canton is an Ecuadorian subnational territorial entity, capital of the province of Guayas, in the Republic of Ecuador. With more than 2 350 915 inhabitants, according to statistics of 2010. Its cantonal head is the city of Santiago de Guayaquil, where more than 85% of its total population is grouped. Its main urban nucleus is located to the west of the Guayas River, and crossed by a mountainous chain of minor elevations that do not exceed 400 meters and cross the northwest part of the canton.
The limits of the canton separate it to the north of the cantons Lomas de Sargentillo, Nobol, Daule, and Samborondon, while to the south of the Gulf of Guayaquil and the province of El Oro and Azuay. To the west it borders the province of Santa Elena and the canton Palyas, and to the east with the cantons Durán, Naranjal and Balao. Since the definitive foundation of the city in 1547 served as a shipyard and commercial port in the service of the Spanish Crown, has served as the main point in the policy and economy of the nation. It has been the seat of great revolutions and uprisings in the course of its history, originating the beginning of the definitive independence of the current Ecuador of Spain in 1820. Then it was the capital of the Free Province of Guayaquil, although later it was forced to join the Great Colombia.
Since 1830 it has been part of the Republic of Ecuador as an important political axis. The March revolution that drove out foreign militarism, the liberal revolution led by General Eloy Alfaro, the May revolution that changed the government and the Constitution of the time, and in more recent times the leadership in the regional autonomy project are important points in the history of the nation that have developed in the city. Administratively, the canton is divided into 5 rural parishes: Juan Gómez Rendón, Posorja, El Morro, Tenguel and Puná. In addition to these, there are also 16 urban parishes that make up the city of Guayaquil. One of the Tenguel rural parishes due to its distance on the road from Guayaquil makes this populated center be discarded from the conurbation of Guayaquil.
Even so Tenguel is included because one can be transported from the rural parish to the cantonal canton by boat being whereabouts on Puná Island. Posorja is also another parish with a great distance between her and the cantonal capital of Guayaquil. The inhabitants can both access Guayaquil by sea or by road via the beach resort of Playas. With this result of accessibility between Posorja and Guayaquil, Playas is considered part of the Guayaquil conurbation despite being 97 km from Guayaquil.