HOUSTON, TX — Welcome to part two of the Houston Sister Cities. If you missed the first one, you might want to read that first.
A sister city or twin city is a long-term partnership between two towns, cities, provinces, or countries all across the globe. We’ll explore each one of them in this miniseries.
1. Aberdeen, Scotland
Aberdeen is a city located northeast of Scotland and the third most populous city in Scotland. Houston is a sister city to the former region of Grampian, of which Aberdeen is the regional center since 1979. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in 1969, Aberdeen has been known as the off-shore oil capital in Europe.
Traditionally, Aberdeen was home to fishing, textile mills, shipbuilding, and paper-making. These industries have been largely replaced. Now, these industries are replaced with high technology development in the electronics design and development industry, research in agriculture and fishing, and the oil industry.
2. Guayaquil, Ecuador
Guayaquil has been Houston’s sister city since 1987. It is the capital of Guayas Province and the largest city in Ecuador, located on the west bank of the Guayas River.
Their main sources of income came from formal and informal trade, business, agriculture, and aquaculture. The port of Guayaquil is Ecuador’s most important commercial port, with most international import and export passed through this port.
3. Huelva, Spain
Huelva, Spain, has become the sister city of Houston since 1969. Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous community of Andalusia.
After 25 years, the city was declared a Polo de Desarrollo Industrial in 1964, and since that, its population had nearly doubled
4. Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey and the center of the country’s economic, cultural and historical center and has been the sister city of Houston since 1988. The city straddles the Bosphorus Strait and lies in both Europe and Asia.
Istanbul is known for Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, and Dolmahbahçe Palace. Most of the architecture was heavily influenced by the Byzantine era.
5. Karachi, Pakistan
Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan and the capital of the Pakistani province of Sindh, has been Houston’s sister city since 2009. It is Pakistan’s premier industrial and financial center, with an estimated GDP of $164 billion in 2019.
Located near the Arabian Sea, Karachi serves as a transport hub and home to Pakistan’s two largest seaports, the Port of Karachi and the Port of Bin Qasim, and Pakistan’s busiest airport, the Jinnah International Airport.