The Amatitlán Department was one of the original departments of the

Republic of Guatemala 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 b ...

when it was created in 1839 as an independent district by governor

Mariano Rivera Paz Mariano Rivera Paz (24 December 1804 – 26 February 1849) was Head of State of Guatemala and its first president. Biography Mariano Rivera Paz was born in Guatemala City and studied law in the Royal and Pontifical University of San Carl ...

and then elevated to the category of department by conservative president Vicente Cerna y Cerna in 1866. It was abolished by general

Jorge Ubico Jorge Ubico Castañeda (10 November 1878 – 14 June 1946), nicknamed Number Five or also Central America's Napoleon, was a Guatemalan military officer, politician, and dictator who served as the president of Guatemala from 1931 to 1944. A ge ...

in 1935 and its municipalities were split between the

Guatemala 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 b ...

and

Escuintla Escuintla () is an industrial city in Guatemala, its land extension is 4,384 km2, and it is nationally known for its sugar agribusiness. Its capital is a municipality with the same name. Citizens celebrate from December 6 to 9 with a small f ...

departments. It was formed by the modern municipalities of

Amatitlán Amatitlán () is a town, with a population of 98,176 (2018 census),Citypopulation.de
Population of cities & t ...

, Villa Nueva, Palín,

Villa Canales Villa Canales is a city and municipality in the Guatemala department of Guatemala, situated 22 km south of the capital Guatemala City. As of the 2018 census, the city had a population of 124,680,San Miguel Petapa San Miguel Petapa () also known as Petapa is a city and municipality in the Guatemala department of Guatemala, located south of Guatemala City. The city has a population of 129,124 according to the 2018 census. After the conquest, the Spanish crown focused on the Catholic indoctrination of the natives. Human settlements founded by royal missionaries in the New World were called "Indian doctrines" or simply "

doctrine Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a ...

s". Originally, friars had only temporary missions: teach the Catholic faith to the natives, and then transfer the settlements to secular parishes, just like the ones that existed in Spain at the time; the friars were supposed to teach Spanish and

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

to the natives. And when the natives were ready, they could start living in parishes and contribute with mandatory tithing, just like the people in Spain. But this plan never materialized, mainly because the Spanish crown lost control of the regular orders as soon as their friars set course to America. Shielded by their apostolic privileges granted to convert natives into Catholicism, the missionaries only responded to their order local authorities, and never to that of the Spanish government or the secular bishops. The orders local authorities, in turn, only dealt with their own order and not with the Spanish crown. Once a doctrine had been established, the protected their own economic interests, even against those of the King and thus, the doctrines became Indian towns that remains unaltered for the rest of the Spanish colony. The doctrines were founded at the friars discretion, given that they were completely at liberty to settle communities provided the main purpose was to eventually transfer it as a secular parish which would be tithing of the bishop. In reality, what happened was that the doctrines grew uncontrollably and were never transferred to any secular parish; they formed around the place where the friars had their monastery and from there, they would go out to preach to settlements that belong to the doctrine and were called "annexes", "visits" or "visit towns". Therefore, the doctrines had three main characteristics: # they were independent from external controls (both ecclesiastical and secular) # were run by a group of friars # had a relatively larger number of annexes. The main characteristic of the doctrines was that they were run by a group of friars, because it made sure that the community system would continue without any issue when one of the members died. In 1638, the Order of Preachers split their large doctrines—which meant large economic benefits for them—in groups centered around each one of their six monasteries, including the Sacapulas monastery: In 1754, the Order of Preachers had to transfer all of their doctrines and convents to the secular clergy, as part of the Bourbon reforms.

After independence: Amatitlán Department

After the independence of Central America, and during governor

time in office, a decree issue on 6 November 1839, created a new independent district called Amatitlán which also included Palín and Villa Nueva. The decree reads: # "The city of

Amatitlán Amatitlán () is a town, with a population of 98,176 (2018 census),Citypopulation.de
Population of cities & t ...

, San Cristóbal Palín, Villa Nueva, San Miguel and Santa Inés Petapa and all the annexed locations to these settlements will form an independent district for its political government and will be in charge of a Lieutenant Corregidor, who will act according to the applicable law starting on 2 October of this year and will earn a thousand pesos a year". # "In the same district there will be a local court to impart justice". The district changed its name to Amatitlán Department according to the executive order of 8 May 1866 of field Marshall Vicente Cerna y Cerna government. On 3 June 1912 Pueblo Veijo became a new municipality within the Amatitlán Department and on 21 August 1915, the municipal council met with then president,

Manuel Estrada Cabrera Manuel José Estrada Cabrera (21 November 1857 – 24 September 1924) was the President of Guatemala from 1898 to 1920. A lawyer with no military background, he modernised the country's industry and transportation infrastructure, via granting c ...

, to officially change the name of the municipality to "San Joaquín Villa Canales", in honor of the late president's mother,

Joaquina Cabrera Joaquina Cabrera (21 August 1836 – 3 July 1908) was the de facto First Lady of Guatemala and mother of Guatemalan President Manuel Estrada Cabrera. She had a large amount of influence on her son's government and she would be honored on h ...

, who died in 1908 but that the president admirers continued honoring unconditionally. Furthermore "San Joaquin", did not exist in the list of names approved the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. It was until after Estrada Cabrera was sent to prison following the Tragic Week of 1920 that the new president Carlos Herrera y Luna, issued an executive action on 3 May 1920 asking for all the names related to the former dictator and his family to be removed from any location named after them. Thus, the municipality became simply "Villa Canales". The Amatitlán Department was abolished by decree 2081 of 29 April 1935 of president general

After independence: Amatitlán Department

Notes and references

References

Bibliography