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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Piedras Negras is the modern name for a ruined city of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization located on the north bank of the Usumacinta River in the Petén department of northwestern Guatemala. Piedras Negras is one of the most powerful of the Usumacinta ancient Maya urban centers. Occupation at Piedras Negras is known from the Late Preclassic period onward, based on dates retrieved from epigraphic information found on multiple stelae and altars at the site. Piedras Negras is an archaeological site known for its large sculptural output when compared to other ancient Maya sites. The wealth of sculpture, in conjunction with the precise chronological information associated with the lives of elites of Piedras Negras, has allowed archaeologists to reconstruct the political history of the Piedras Negras polity and its geopolitical footprint. (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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Tikal Temple I rises 47 meters (154 ft) high.

Tikal (/tiˈkɑːl/; Tik'al in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200 to 900. During this time, the city dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico. There is evidence that Tikal was conquered by Teotihuacan in the 4th century AD. Following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned. These events were coupled with a gradual population decline, culminating with the site's abandonment by the end of the 10th century. (Full article...)

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Francisco Javier Arana Jacobo Árbenz Carlos Castillo Armas Guatemalan Revolution Haʼ Kʼin Xook Ricardo Arjona Mixco Viejo El Chal Zaculeu 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 1View 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
Image 2A view of Flores, El Petén
Image 3Jaguar Temple Tikal, Guatemala
Image 4Tikal Temple II
Image 5A low impact trail built for ecotourists to protect an archeological site in Guatemala
Image 6A camioneta or chicken bus, a typical mode of transportation in Guatemala
Image 7A view of the beach in Livingston, Guatemala
Image 8Station and Customs of Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, Northern Railway, 1896
Image 9Lake Atitlán, from a dock in San Juan La Laguna

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The United States Central Intelligence Agency deposed the democratically elected government of Guatemala in 1954.

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

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