Portal:Guatemala

Republic of Guatemala
*República de Guatemala* (Spanish)
Republic of Guatemala República de Guatemala (Spanish)
	Flag Coat of arms
	Motto: "Libre Crezca Fecundo" (Spanish); (English: "Grow Free and Fertile");
	Anthem: ; Himno Nacional de Guatemala; (English: "National Anthem of Guatemala");
ISO 3166 code	GT

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The Guatemala portal

Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically bordered to the south by the Pacific Ocean and to the northeast by the Gulf of Honduras.

The territory of modern Guatemala hosted the core of the Maya civilization, which extended across Mesoamerica; in the 16th century, most of this was conquered by the Spanish and claimed as part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence from Spain and Mexico in 1821. From 1823 to 1841, it was part of the Federal Republic of Central America. For the latter half of the 19th century, Guatemala suffered instability and civil strife. From the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United States. In 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to social and economic reforms. In 1954, a US-backed military coup ended the revolution and installed a dictatorship. From 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the US-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by the Guatemalan military. The United Nations negotiated a peace accord, resulting in economic growth and successive democratic elections.

Guatemala's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems includes many endemic species and contributes to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot. Although rich in export goods, around a quarter of the population (4.6 million) face food insecurity. Other extant major issues include poverty, crime, corruption, drug trafficking, and civil instability.

With an estimated population of around 17.6 million,0 Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America, the 4th most populous country in North America and the 11th most populous country in the Americas. Its capital and largest city, Guatemala City, is the most populous city in Central America. (Full article...)

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Rafael Spínola (1866 – 4 October 1901 in Guatemala City) was a writer, journalist, politician and public speaker from Guatemala. Director of the well known cultura magazine La Ilustración Guatemalteca in 1896 and 1897, was Secretary of Infrastructure in Manuel Estrada Cabrera first presidential term. He also created the "Fiestas Minervalias", which were a celebration to the studious youth and the president Estrada Cabrera rule. He was also the one that signed the treaty granting the American company "The Central American Improvement Co. Inc." to finish the Northern Railroad -which had been left unfinished after president José María Reina Barrios assassination on 8 February 1898–, which would be the stepping stone for the operations of the United Fruit Company in Guatemala. He was the father of Guatemalan poetesse Magdalena Spínola (1896–1991). (Full article...)

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... that the Adelaide L. T. Douglas House, built for a New York City socialite, housed the United States Olympic Committee before being sold to Guatemala?
... that the Central American government voted for annexation to the First Mexican Empire after a request from Regent Agustín de Iturbide?

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The period in the history of Guatemala between the coups against Jorge Ubico in 1944 and Jacobo Árbenz in 1954 is known locally as the Revolution (Spanish: La Revolución). It has also been called the Ten Years of Spring, highlighting the peak years of representative democracy in Guatemala from 1944 until the end of the civil war in 1996. It saw the implementation of social, political, and especially agrarian reforms that were influential across Latin America.

From the late 19th century until 1944, Guatemala was governed by a series of authoritarian rulers who sought to strengthen the economy by supporting the export of coffee. Between 1898 and 1920, Manuel Estrada Cabrera granted significant concessions to the United Fruit Company, an American corporation that traded in tropical fruit, and dispossessed many indigenous people of their communal lands. Under Jorge Ubico, who ruled as a dictator between 1931 and 1944, this process was intensified, with the institution of harsh labor regulations and a police state. (Full article...)

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Francisco Javier Arana Jacobo Árbenz Carlos Castillo Armas Haʼ Kʼin Xook Ricardo Arjona Mixco Viejo El Chal Zaculeu Tikal Fuiste Tú Motul de San José Iximche North Acropolis, Tikal Yoʼnal Ahk III Kʼinich Yat Ahk II Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk I Spanish conquest of the Maya Poquita Ropa Puente (song) Manche Chʼol Independiente (Ricardo Arjona album)

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Image 1A view of the beach in Livingston, Guatemala
Image 2Station and Customs of Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, Northern Railway, 1896
Image 3Jaguar Temple Tikal, Guatemala
Image 4Tikal Temple II
Image 5A view of Flores, El Petén
Image 6Lake Atitlán, from a dock in San Juan La Laguna
Image 7A camioneta or chicken bus, a typical mode of transportation in Guatemala
Image 8A low impact trail built for ecotourists to protect an archeological site in Guatemala
Image 9View from the top of the Lost World Pyramid, Temple IV on the right and top of pyramid 5C-49 (also known as the Talud-Tablero Temple) in the Plaza of the Lost World

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... that Pascual Abaj, near Chichicastenango in Guatemala, is a sculpted stone idol that survived the Spanish conquest but was badly damaged in the 1950s by religious activists?

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El Señor Presidente (Mister President) is a 1946 novel written in Spanish by Nobel Prize-winning Guatemalan writer and diplomat Miguel Ángel Asturias (1899–1974). A landmark text in Latin American literature, El Señor Presidente explores the nature of political dictatorship and its effects on society. Asturias makes early use of a literary technique now known as magic realism. One of the most notable works of the dictator novel genre, El Señor Presidente developed from an earlier Asturias short story, written to protest social injustice in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in the author's home town.

Although El Señor Presidente does not explicitly identify its setting as early twentieth-century Guatemala, the novel's title character was inspired by the 1898–1920 presidency of Manuel Estrada Cabrera. Asturias began writing the novel in the 1920s and finished it in 1933, but the strict censorship policies of Guatemalan dictatorial governments delayed its publication for thirteen years. (Full article...)

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Quiriguá Spanish conquest of Guatemala Pinguicula moranensis Spanish conquest of Petén

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