Portal:Guatemala

The Guatemala portal

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

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...)

Selected article -

Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales (Spanish pronunciation: [mi(ˈ)ɣel ˈaŋxel asˈtuɾjas]; 19 October 1899 – 9 June 1974) was a Guatemalan poet-diplomat, novelist, playwright and journalist. Winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1967, his work helped bring attention to the importance of indigenous cultures, especially those of his native Guatemala.

Asturias was born and raised in Guatemala though he lived a significant part of his adult life abroad. He first lived in Paris in the 1920s where he studied ethnology. Some scholars view him as the first Latin American novelist to show how the study of anthropology and linguistics could affect the writing of literature. While in Paris, Asturias also associated with the Surrealist movement, and he is credited with introducing many features of modernist style into Latin American letters. In this way, he is an important precursor of the Latin American Boom of the 1960s and 1970s. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated)

• ... that the Central American government voted for annexation to the First Mexican Empire after a request from Regent Agustín de Iturbide?
• ... 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?

Subcategories

Guatemala

Guatemala-related lists

Buildings and structures in Guatemala

Culture of Guatemala

Economy of Guatemala

Education in Guatemala

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Geography of Guatemala

Government of Guatemala

Health in Guatemala

History of Guatemala

Organizations based in Guatemala

Guatemalan people

Politics of Guatemala

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Guatemala stubs

WikiProjects

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Good article -

This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

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Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado led the initial efforts to conquer Guatemala.

The Spanish conquest of the Maya was a protracted conflict during the Spanish colonisation of the Americas, in which the Spanish conquistadores and their allies gradually incorporated the territory of the Late Postclassic Maya states and polities into the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Maya occupied the Maya Region, an area that is now part of the modern countries of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador; the conquest began in the early 16th century and is generally considered to have ended in 1697. Before the conquest, Maya territory contained a number of competing kingdoms. Many conquistadors viewed the Maya as infidels who needed to be forcefully converted and pacified, despite the achievements of their civilization. The first contact between the Maya and European explorers came in 1502, during the fourth voyage of Christopher Columbus, when his brother Bartholomew encountered a canoe. Several Spanish expeditions followed in 1517 and 1519, making landfall on various parts of the Yucatán coast. The Spanish conquest of the Maya was a prolonged affair; the Maya kingdoms resisted integration into the Spanish Empire with such tenacity that their defeat took almost two centuries. The Itza Maya and other lowland groups in the Petén Basin were first contacted by Hernán Cortés in 1525, but remained independent and hostile to the encroaching Spanish until 1697, when a concerted Spanish assault led by Martín de Urzúa y Arizmendi finally defeated the last independent Maya kingdom. (Full article...)

Selected image -

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  A view of Flores, El Petén
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  Lake Atitlán, from a dock in San Juan La Laguna
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  A camioneta or chicken bus, a typical mode of transportation in Guatemala
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  A low impact trail built for ecotourists to protect an archeological site in Guatemala
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  View 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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  Station and Customs of Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, Northern Railway, 1896
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  A view of the beach in Livingston, Guatemala
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  Tikal Temple II
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  Jaguar Temple Tikal, Guatemala

More did you know -

• ... that the Chiquimula Department of Guatemala contains the Black Christ of Esquipulas, one of the most important centres for religious pilgrimage in Central America?

Featured article -

This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia..

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In habitat in Oaxaca

Pinguicula moranensis /pɪŋˈɡwɪkjʊlə ˌmɒrəˈnɛnsɪs/ is a perennial rosette-forming insectivorous herb in the flowering plant family Lentibulariaceae. It is native to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. A species of butterwort, it forms summer rosettes of flat, succulent leaves up to 10 centimeters (4 in) long, which are covered in mucilaginous (sticky) glands that attract, trap, and digest arthropod prey. Nutrients derived from the prey are used to supplement the nutrient-poor substrate that the plant grows in. In the winter the plant forms a non-carnivorous rosette of small, fleshy leaves that conserves energy while food and moisture supplies are low. Single pink, purple, or violet flowers appear twice a year on upright stalks up to 25 centimeters long.

The species was first collected by Humboldt and Bonpland on the outskirts of Mina de Morán in the Sierra de Pachuca of the modern-day Mexican state of Hidalgo on their Latin American expedition of 1799–1804. Based on these collections, Carl Sigismund Kunth described this species in Nova Genera et Species Plantarum in 1817. The extremely variable species has been redefined at least twice since, while several new species have been segregated from it based on various geographical or morphological distinctions, although the legitimacy of some of these is still debated. P. moranensis remains the most common and most widely distributed member of the Section Orcheosanthus. It has long been cultivated for its carnivorous nature and attractive flowers, and is one of the most common butterworts in cultivation. (Full article...)

List of Featured articles
Quiriguá El Señor Presidente Spanish conquest of Guatemala Spanish conquest of Petén

General images -

The following are images from various Guatemala-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  Day laborers pay day in Santa Rosa, ca. 1890, according to the Day Laborer Regulations established by Barrios (from History of Guatemala)
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  Marinalá power plant advertisement during Arbenz government (from History of Guatemala)
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  1861 map of the boundary between British Honduras (now Belize) and Guatemala (from History of Guatemala)
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  Proclamation Coin 1847 of the independent Republic of Guatemala (from History of Guatemala)
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  Chiltepe, a common pepper used on some Guatemalan dishes. (from Culture of Guatemala)
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  Chipilín Tamal, a common dish usually eaten at dinner. (from Culture of Guatemala)
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  The Jurun Marinalá power plant was conceived during the Arbenz government to compete with the generation of the Electricity Company of Guatemala, which at that time was an American company and was using foreign oil instead of natural resources in Guatemala. Construction was not completed until 1968, fourteen years after Arbenz was removed in a CIA sponsored coup d'état. (from History of Guatemala)
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  Location of Franja Transversal del Norte -Northern Transversal Strip- in Guatemala (from History of Guatemala)
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  General Carrera portrait celebrating the foundation of the Republic of Guatemala in 1847 (from History of Guatemala)
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  Manuel Estrada Cabrera ruled Guatemala between 1898 and 1920. (from History of Guatemala)
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  Maya city of Tikal (from History of Guatemala)
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  Barrigones sculpture (from History of Guatemala)
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  Inauguration of colonel Jacobo Árbenz as president of Guatemala in 1951 (from History of Guatemala)
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  Finance Center in 2011. In 1981, a powerful bomb exploded in the basement of the building, leaving it without windows for several years. The owners -Industrial Bank- decided to keep it open to the public to defy the leftist guerrilla. (from History of Guatemala)
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  Captain General Rafael Carrera after being appointed president for life of the Republic of Guatemala in 1854 (from History of Guatemala)
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  Plaza Central of Antigua Guatemala in 1829. The old "Palacio de la Capitanía General" was still destroyed after the 1773 earthquake. (from History of Guatemala)
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  Map of railway lines in Guatemala and El Salvador, which were owned by the IRCA, the subsidiary of the United Fruit Company that controlled the railroad in both countries, while the only Atlantic port was controlled by the Great White Fleet, also a UFCO's company (from History of Guatemala)
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  State coat of Los Altos, carved in stone on the grave of heroes in the Cemetery of Quetzaltenango (from History of Guatemala)
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  Central America in the 16th century before Spanish conquest (from History of Guatemala)
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  Coat of Arms of the Republic of Guatemala between 1858 and 1871. A replica was carved on the front side of the Carrera theater before it was remodeled in 1892. (from History of Guatemala)
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  Guatemalan National Penitentiary, built by Barrios to incarcerate and torture his political enemies (from History of Guatemala)
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  Guatemala territory during Rafael Carrera and Vicente Cerna conservative regimes. Soconusco territories were given to México in exchange for their support to the Liberal revolution in 1871 by Herrera-Mariscal treaty of 1882. (from History of Guatemala)
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  Route Map of the Great White Fleet of the United Fruit Company, which had the monopoly of freight and passenger maritime transportante to and from Puerto Barrios in Guatemala since 1903 (from History of Guatemala)
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  Map of Guatemala in 1829. Note that borders with Mexico, Yucatán and Chiapas are not defined. (from History of Guatemala)
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  Criollos rejoice upon learning about the declaration of independence on 15 September 1821. Painting by Rafael Beltranena. (from History of Guatemala)
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  General Francisco Morazán (from History of Guatemala)

Topics

Departments

Departments and municipalities

Guatemala is divided into 22 departments (departamentos) and sub-divided into about 332 municipalities (municipios).

The departments include:

Departments of Guatemala

Alta Verapaz Baja Verapaz Chimaltenango Chiquimula Petén El Progreso El Quiché Escuintla Guatemala Huehuetenango Izabal

Jalapa Jutiapa Quetzaltenango Retalhuleu Sacatepéquez San Marcos Santa Rosa Sololá Suchitepéquez Totonicapán Zacapa

Related portals

Things you can do

Here are some things you can do for WikiProject Guatemala:

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Recognized content

Featured articles

• Carlos Castillo Armas
• 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
• Oscar Isaac
• Maya civilization
• Mayan languages
• Operation PBHistory
• Pinguicula moranensis
• Quiriguá
• El Señor Presidente
• Spanish conquest of Guatemala
• Spanish conquest of Petén
• Turkey vulture

Good articles

• 5to Piso
• 2010 Guatemala City sinkhole
• Adentro
• Gómez de Alvarado
• El Amor (Ricardo Arjona song)
• Francisco Javier Arana
• Jacobo Árbenz
• Ricardo Arjona
• La Blanca, Peten
• Bartolomé de las Casas
• Central America under Mexican rule
• Como Duele (Ricardo Arjona song)
• El Chal
• Fuiste Tú
• Guatemala at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
• Guatemalan Revolution
• Haʼ Kʼin Xook
• Independiente (Ricardo Arjona album)
• Itzam Kʼan Ahk II
• Iximche
• Kʼinich Yat Ahk II
• Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk I
• Manche Chʼol
• Marta (Ricardo Arjona song)
• Mi Novia Se Me Está Poniendo Vieja
• Mixco Viejo
• Motul de San José
• Mundo Perdido, Tikal
• North Acropolis, Tikal
• Poquita Ropa
• Puente (song)
• Quién Dijo Ayer
• Quién (Ricardo Arjona song)
• Quiero (Ricardo Arjona song)
• Battle of Roatán
• Simplemente Lo Mejor
• Spanish American wars of independence
• Spanish conquest of Yucatán
• Spanish conquest of the Maya
• Te Quiero (Ricardo Arjona song)
• Tikal
• Trópico (Ricardo Arjona album)
• Vida (Ricardo Arjona song)
• White-lipped peccary
• Yoʼnal Ahk III
• Zaculeu

Featured pictures

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  Cinnamon hummingbird (Amazilia rutila) in flight Los Tarrales
• 
  Emerald swift (Sceloporus malachiticus) Finca El Pilar
• 
  Ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata) male Peten

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

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  Wikiversity
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  Wikivoyage
  Free travel guide

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  Wiktionary
  Dictionary and thesaurus

Guatemala news

The current date and time in Guatemala is Saturday, May 18, 2024, 13:46.
News media:

• The Guatemala Times
• La Prensa Libre (in Spanish)
• Wikinews Guatemala portal

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