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The history of Guatemala begins with the Maya civilization (2600 BC – 1697 AD), which was among those that flourished in their country. The country's modern history began with the Spanish conquest of Guatemala in 1524. Most of the great Classic-era (250–900 AD) Maya cities of the Petén Basin region, in the northern lowlands, had been abandoned by the year 1000 AD. The states in the Belize central highlands flourished until the 1525 arrival of Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado. Called "The Invader" by the Mayan people, he immediately began subjugating the Indian states.
Guatemala was part of the Captaincy General of Guatemala for nearly 330 years. This captaincy included what is now Chiapas in Mexico and the modern countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The colony became independent in 1821 and then became a part of the First Mexican Empire until 1823. From 1824 it was a part of the Federal Republic of Central America. When the Republic dissolved in 1841, Guatemala became fully independent.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, Guatemala's potential for agricultural exploitation attracted several foreign companies, most prominently the United Fruit Company (UFC). These companies were supported by the country's authoritarian rulers and the United States government through their support for brutal labor regulations and massive concessions to wealthy landowners. In 1944, the policies of Jorge Ubico led to a popular uprising that began the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution. The presidencies of Juan José Arévalo and Jacobo Árbenz saw sweeping social and economic reforms, including a significant increase in literacy and a successful agrarian reform program.
The progressive policies of Arévalo and Árbenz led the UFC to lobby the United States government for their overthrow, and a US-engineered coup in 1954 ended the revolution and installed a military regime. This was followed by other military governments, and jilted off a civil war that lasted from 1960 to 1996. The war saw human rights violations, including a genocide of the indigenous Maya population by the military. Following the war's end, Guatemala re-established a representative democracy. It has since struggled to enforce the rule of law and suffers a high crime rate and continued extrajudicial killings, often executed by security forces.
and 25 Related for: History of Guatemala information
The historyofGuatemala begins with the Maya civilization (2600 BC – 1697 AD), which was among those that flourished in their country. The country's modern...
Human settlement on the present site ofGuatemala City began with the Maya who built a city at Kaminaljuyu. The Spanish colonists established a small town...
Guatemala, officially the Republic ofGuatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by...
Antigua Guatemala (Spanish pronunciation: [anˈtiɣwa ɣwateˈmala]), commonly known as Antigua or La Antigua, is a city in the central highlands ofGuatemala. The...
Guatemala City (Spanish: Ciudad de Guatemala), known nationally also as Guate, is the capital and largest city ofGuatemala. It is also a municipality...
staple food in Guatemalan cuisine, and has been cultivated in the region since ancient times. Hot chocolate also has a long history in Guatemala. Before the...
Presidente de Guatemala), officially titled President of the Republic ofGuatemala (Spanish: Presidente de la República de Guatemala), is the head of state and...
are Americans of full or partial Guatemalan descent. The Guatemalan American population at the 2010 Census was 1,044,209. Guatemalans are the sixth largest...
official march of the national flag and the president ofGuatemala Problems playing this file? See media help. The national flag ofGuatemala, often referred...
The Guatemalan Armed Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas de Guatemala) is the unified military organization comprising the Guatemalan Army, Navy, Air Force...
Guatemalans (Spanish: guatemaltecos or less commonly guatemalenses) are people connected to the country ofGuatemala. This connection may be residential...
silencioso), was the massacre of Maya civilians during the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996) by successive US-backed Guatemalan military governments. Massacres...
Politics ofGuatemala takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, where by the President ofGuatemala is both head of state...
of the Americas, Spanish colonisers gradually incorporated the territory that became the modern country ofGuatemala into the colonial Viceroyalty of...
Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a historyof interference in the government ofGuatemala over the course of several decades. Guatemala is bordered by the North...
from 1823 to 1839. The federal republic was composed of five states: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The federal republic was...
The Guatemala national football team (Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Guatemala) represents Guatemala in men's international football and is controlled...
and the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre, the Mexican state of Chiapas, southern Guatemala, El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific...
The Guatemalan Civil War was a civil war in Guatemala fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government ofGuatemala and various leftist rebel groups. The...
is both the seat of the namesake Department and municipality, in Guatemala. The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of 2,330 meters (7...
This is a demography of the population ofGuatemala including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status,...
Captaincy General ofGuatemala (Spanish: Capitanía General de Guatemala), also known as the Kingdom ofGuatemala (Spanish: Reino de Guatemala), was an administrative...
The music ofGuatemala is diverse. Music is played all over the country. Towns also have wind and percussion bands that play during the lent and Easter-week...
Christianity has dominated Guatemalan society since its Spanish colonial rule, but the nature of Christian practice in the country has changed in recent...
Guatemala has a network of 914 mm (3 ft) narrow gauge railroads, passenger and freight trains currently run. Construction of the first railway in Guatemala...
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