📰 Guatemala City

Guatemala City (Ciudad de Guatemala), also known colloquially by the nickname Guate, is the national capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala corpus.[8]1 It serves as the municipal capital of the surrounding Guatemala Department.2 Its metropolitan area is also the largest in Central America.3 The city is located in a mountain valley called Valle de la Ermita (Hermitage Valley) in the south-central part of the country.4

Guatemala City is the site of the native Mayan city of Kaminaljuyu in Mesoamerica, which was occupied primarily between 1500 BCE and 1200 CE.5 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.[9]6 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.7

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.8 It was ratified and enacted on 15 September, now celebrated annually as Guatemala's independence day and called the Dias Patrios.9 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.[10]10 In August 1847, Guatemala declared itself an independent republic, separate from the larger federation, and Guatemala City became its national capital.[11]11

Guatemala City and the surrounding region were almost completely destroyed by the 1917–1918 Guatemala earthquakes and months of continued aftershocks.12 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.13

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.14

Names

Guatemala City (Ciudad de Guatemala) is known colloquially by Guatemalans as La Capital or Guate.15 Its formal name is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción[12] (New Guatemala of the Assumption).16 The latter name is derived from the fact that it was a new Guatemala after the old one (La Antigua) was ruined by an earthquake.17 Also, Assumption is in honor of the Virgin of the Assumption, whose festivity is 15 August, the city's feast day.18

History

Main article: History of Guatemala City

Early history

See also: Timeline of Guatemala City

Human settlement on the present site of Guatemala City began with the native indigenous Maya people, who built a large ceremonial center at Kaminaljuyu.19 This large Maya settlement, the biggest outside the Maya lowlands in the Yucatán Peninsula of southeast Mexico corpus, rose to prominence around 2,300 years ago, in about 300 B.C. due to an increase in mining and trading of obsidian, a valuable commodity of volcanic glass (igneous rock) for the Pre-Columbian American civilizations in Mesoamerica.[13]20 Kaminaljuyu then mysteriously collapsed around A.D.21 300 for as yet unknown historical causes.[14]22 More recent research, however, indicates that Kaminaljuyu’s economic and political decline occurred during the Late Classic period (AD 550–800), and that its ultimate collapse, driven by agricultural and political instability, severe droughts, and the diminishing lake, took place in the Terminal Classic period (AD 800–900).[15]23 The ceremoninal center of Kaminaljuyu was located a short distance from the oldest part of Guatemala City.24 It is now a park within the city.25

During the early Spanish colonial period, it was a small town with a monastery called El Carmen, founded in 1620, some time after the Spanish conquest of the territory.26

Colonial history

A series of devastating earthquakes in 1773 had left the old provincial capital Antigua Guatemala in ruins.[16]27 This was the third earthquake the city experienced, after the 1717 earthquake and the 1751 earthquake.28 Thus, the Spanish decided to relocate the capital to somewhere safer.29 In 1776, the seat of government was moved to the current location of Guatemala City, located in a valley less prone to earthquakes.30

In the new capital, the central plaza became the sight of the city due to its premier landmark, the immense neo-classical Metropolitan Cathedral,[17] which was mostly built between 1782–1815 and completed in 1871.31 It serves as the center of the country's Roman Catholic Church, the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Guatemala, and the residence of the current Archbishop of Guatemala.32

Meanwhile, in Antigua Guatemala, work was done to rebuild structures like the Palace of the Captain-General that were heavily damaged.33 This was the palace that then served as the headquarters for the colonial government of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, from 1542 to independence in 1821.34 Today it serves as the site for several national government offices, police, tourism agencies, along with museum exhibits, including the National Museum of Guatemalan Art.35

Independent history

A half-century later, after the ratification of the Act of Independence of Central America, the city became the capital of the newly organized independent United Provinces of Central America in September 1821.36

The subsequent decades in the 19th century saw the construction of some significant structures in the town, such as the monumental Carrera Theater in the 1850s, and the modern-day Presidential Palace of Guatemala in the 1890s, which is still occupied by the president of Guatemala.37 At this time, the capital city was expanding around the 30 de Junio Boulevard and elsewhere, unfortunately displacing indigenous peoples in the settlements on the peripheries of the city.38

The 1917-1918 earthquakes destroyed many structures in Guatemala City built during the late 18th and 19th centuries, during its 144 years after the previous devastating tremors of the Santa Marta Earthquake of 1773.39

Despite this, the slums that had formed following the 1917–1918 series of earthquakes continued to grow and spread, bringing with them the lack of basic infrastructure such as potable water, sewage treatment, power lines, and paved and illuminated roads.40

A decade later, under former military general and president Jorge Ubico, who consolidated power into an authoritarian dictatorship, Guatemala entered into a period of centralized control.41 During the 1930s, amidst the Great Depression that was affecting many nations' economies, Ubico's government began pursuing extensive public works such as a hippodrome and new buildings.42 This included the design and construction of the National Palace, built 1939–1943 as an official residence and headquarters for the President of the Republic.43 After 13 years in power, Ubico was overthrown in the Guatemalan Revolution of 1944, a democratic movement that still remains annually celebrated in the country, alongside the Independence Day of Central America.44

Contemporary history

Guatemala City serves as the economic, governmental, and cultural center of the nation of Guatemala.45 The city also functions as Guatemala's main transportation hub, hosting an international airport, La Aurora International Airport, and serving as the origination or end points for most of Guatemala's major highways.46 The city, with its robust economy, attracts hundreds of thousands of rural migrants from Guatemala's interior hinterlands and serves as the main entry point for most foreign immigrants seeking to settle in Guatemala.47

In addition to a wide variety of restaurants, hotels, shops, and a modern BRT transport system (Transmetro), the city is home to many art galleries, theaters, sports venues and museums (including some fine collections of Pre-Columbian art) and provides a growing number of cultural offerings.48 Guatemala City not only possesses a history and culture unique to the Central American region, it also furnishes all the modern amenities of a world class city, ranging from an IMAX Theater to the Ícaro film festival (Festival Ícaro), where independent films produced in Guatemala and Central America are debuted.49

Guatemala City continues to be subject to an unusual amount of natural and climate-related disasters, (especially recurring earthquakes) with the latest being the two disasters that struck simultaneously in May 2010: the eruption of the Pacaya volcano and, two days later, the torrential downpours from Tropical Storm Agatha of 2010.50

Structure and growth

Guatemala City is located[18] in the mountainous regions of the country, between the Pacific coastal plain to the south and the northern lowlands of the Peten region.51

The city's metropolitan area has recently grown very rapidly and has absorbed most of the neighboring municipalities of Villa Nueva, San Miguel Petapa, Mixco, San Juan Sacatepequez, San José Pinula, Santa Catarina Pinula, Fraijanes, San Pedro Ayampuc, Amatitlán, Villa Canales, Palencia, and Chinautla, forming what is now known as the Guatemala City Metropolitan Area.52

The city is subdivided into 22 zones ("Zonas") designed by the urban engineering of Raúl Aguilar Batres, each one with its own streets ("Calles"), avenues ("Avenidas") and, sometimes, "Diagonal" Streets, making it pretty easy to find addresses in the city.53 Zones are numbered 1–25, with Zones 20, 22 and 23 not existing as they would have fallen in two other municipalities' territory.[19]54 Addresses are assigned according to the street or avenue number, followed by a dash and the number of metres it is away from the intersection.[20]55

For example, the INGUAT Office on "7a Av.56 1–17, Zona 4" is a building which is located on Avenida 7, 17 meters away from the intersection with Calle 1, toward Calle 2 in zone 4.57 7a Av.58 1–17, Zona 4; and 7a Av.59 1–17, Zona 10, are two radically different addresses.60 Short streets/avenues do not get new sequenced number, for example, 6A Calle is a short street between 6a and 7a.61 Some "avenidas" or "Calles" have a name in addition to their number, if it is very wide; for example, Avenida la Reforma is an avenue which separates Zone 9 and 10, and Calle Montúfar is Calle 12 in Zone 9.62 Calle 1 Avenida 1 Zona 1 is the center of every city in Guatemala.63