Guatemala City

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Lore & Background

Human settlement on the present site of Guatemala City began with the native indigenous Maya people, who built a large ceremonial center at Kaminaljuyu. This large Maya settlement, the biggest outside the Maya lowlands in the Yucatán Peninsula, rose to prominence around 2,300 years ago, about 300 B.C., due to an increase in mining and trading of obsidian. Kaminaljuyu then mysteriously collapsed around A.D. 300, though more recent research indicates its economic and political decline occurred during the Late Classic period (AD 550–800), with ultimate collapse in the Terminal Classic period (AD 800–900) driven by agricultural and political instability, severe droughts, and the diminishing lake. The present city was founded by the Spanish after their colonial capital, now called Antigua Guatemala, was destroyed by the devastating 1773 Santa Marta earthquake and its aftershocks. In 1776, the seat of government was moved to the current location. It became the third royal capital of the surrounding Captaincy General of Guatemala, which itself was part of the larger Viceroyalty of New Spain in imperial Spanish America and remained under colonial rule until the nineteenth century.

Reader's Guide

In September 1821, Guatemala City was the site of the famous Act of Independence of Central America, which declared the independence of the region from the Spanish Empire. It was ratified and enacted on 15 September, now celebrated annually as Guatemala's independence day and called the Dias Patrios. For the next several decades, Guatemala City was the federation capital of the newly established and independent government of the United Provinces of Central America, which was later reorganized and renamed the Federal Republic of Central America. In August 1847, Guatemala declared itself an independent republic, separate from the larger federation, and Guatemala City became its national capital. Guatemala City and the surrounding region were almost completely destroyed by the 1917–1918 Guatemala earthquakes and months of continued aftershocks. Reconstructions since have resulted in a more modern architectural landscape, including wider streets and a grid lay-out for new developments, inspired by post-18th century designs of architects in other national capital cities such as Paris, France and Washington, D.C. Today, Guatemala City is the political, cultural, religious and economic center of the Republic of Guatemala and exerts a wide financial, commercial, and cultural influence on the Central America region and beyond, throughout Latin America.

Did You Know?

• The city's formal name is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, derived from the fact that it was a new Guatemala after the old one (La Antigua) was ruined by an earthquake, and Assumption is in honor of the Virgin of the Assumption, whose festivity is 15 August, the city's feast day.
• Kaminaljuyu, the ancient Maya settlement on the site, rose to prominence around 300 B.C. due to increased mining and trading of obsidian, a valuable volcanic glass.
• The city is subdivided into 22 zones (Zonas 1–25, with Zones 20, 22 and 23 not existing), designed by the urban engineering of Raúl Aguilar Batres.
• The 1917–1918 Guatemala earthquakes and months of continued aftershocks almost completely destroyed the city and surrounding region.
• Guatemala City was the site of the Act of Independence of Central America in September 1821, ratified on 15 September, now celebrated as Guatemala's independence day (Dias Patrios).