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Manzanillo, Mexico

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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A town and port on the Pacific coast of Mexico, in the state of Colima, 52 m. by rail W.S.W. of the city of that name. It is situated on a large harbour partly formed and sheltered by a long island extending southwards parallel with the coast. Southward also, and in the vicinity of the town, is the large stagnant, shallow lagoon of Cayutlan which renders the town unhealthy. Manzanillo is a commercial town of comparatively recent creation. Its new harbour works, the construction of which was begun in 1899, and its railway connexion with central Mexico, promise to make it one of the chief Pacific ports of the republic. These works include a breakwater 1300 ft. long, with a depth of 12 to 70 ft. and a maximum breadth of 320 ft. at the base and 25 ft. on top, and all the necessary berthing and mechanical facilities for the handling of cargoes. A narrow-gauge railway was built between Colima and Manzanillo toward the end of the nineteenth century, but the traffic was only sufficient for a tri-weekly service up to 1908, when the gauge was widened and the railway became part of the Mexican Central branch, completed in that year from Irapuato through Guadalajara to Colima. The exports include hides and skins, palm leaf hats, Indian corn, coffee, palm oil, fruit, lumber and minerals.