Izabal Department

Izabal (Spanish pronunciation: [isaˈβal]) is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. Its coastal areas form part of the homeland of the Garifuna people.

Izabal Department Departmento de Izabal
Department of Guatemala
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
Flag Coat of arms
Izabal
Coordinates: 15°44′0″N 88°36′0″W
Country	Guatemala
Capital	Puerto Barrios
Municipalities	5
Government
• Type	Departmental
Area
• Department of Guatemala	9,038 km2 (3,490 sq mi)
• Water	590 km2 (230 sq mi)
Population  (2018)[1]
• Department of Guatemala	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 is bordered to the north by Belize, to the north east by the Gulf of Honduras, and to the east by Honduras, and by the Guatemalan departments of Petén to the north west, Alta Verapaz to the west, and Zacapa to the south.

The Izabal Department surrounds Lake Izabal (or Lago de Izabal), Guatemala's largest lake (about 48 km long and 24 km wide, with an area of about 590 km²). 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.