Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
and largest city of
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
, and the most populous urban area in
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nestled in a mountain valley called Valle de la Ermita ( en, Hermitage Valley). The city is the capital of the Municipality of Guatemala and of the
Guatemala Department
Guatemala Department is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. The capital is Guatemala City, which also serves as the national capital. The department consists of Guatemala City and several of its suburbs.
The department covers a surface are ...
.
Guatemala City is the site of the
Mayan
Mayan most commonly refers to:
* Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
city of
Kaminaljuyu
Kaminaljuyu (pronounced ) is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization that was primarily occupied from 1500 BC to AD 1200. Kaminaljuyu has been described as one of the greatest of all archaeological sites in the New World by Michael Coe ...
, founded around 1500 BC. Following the
Spanish conquest
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predece ...
, a new town was established, and in 1776 it was made capital of the
Kingdom of Guatemala
The Captaincy General of Guatemala ( es, Capitanía General de Guatemala), also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala ( es, Reino de Guatemala), was an administrative division of the Spanish Empire, under the viceroyalty of New Spain in Central Am ...
. In 1821, Guatemala City was the scene of
the declaration of independence of Central America from Spain, after which it became the capital of the newly established
United Provinces of Central America
The Federal Republic of Central America ( es, República Federal de Centroamérica), originally named the United Provinces of Central America ( es, Provincias Unidas del Centro de América), and sometimes simply called Central America, in it ...
(later the Federal Republic of Central America).
In 1847, Guatemala declared itself an independent republic, with Guatemala City as its capital. The city was originally located in what is now Antigua Guatemala, and was moved to its current location in 1777.
Guatemala City and the original location in Antigua Guatemala were almost completely destroyed by the
1917–18 earthquakes. Reconstructions following the earthquakes have resulted in a more modern architectural landscape. Today, Guatemala City is the political, cultural, and economic center of Guatemala.
History
Early history
![Cerritodelcarmen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Cerritodelcarmen.jpg)
Human settlement on the present site of Guatemala City began with the
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...
, who built a large ceremonial center at
Kaminaljuyu
Kaminaljuyu (pronounced ) is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization that was primarily occupied from 1500 BC to AD 1200. Kaminaljuyu has been described as one of the greatest of all archaeological sites in the New World by Michael Coe ...
. This large Maya settlement, the biggest outside the Maya lowlands in the Yucatan Peninsula, rose to prominence around 300 BC due to an increase in mining and trading of
obsidian
Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock.
Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...
, a valuable commodity for pre-Columbian civilizations in Mesoamerica. Kaminaljuyu then collapsed for unknown causes around 300 AD.
During the
Spanish conquest of Guatemala
In a protracted conflict during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, Spanish colonisers gradually incorporated the territory that became the modern country of Guatemala into the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain. Before the conquest, this te ...
, settlers coming after the conquistador
Pedro de Alvarado established a small town about 1 km south of the old ruins of Kaminaljuyu. This small town was made the capital city of the
Captaincy General of Guatemala
The Captaincy General of Guatemala ( es, Capitanía General de Guatemala), also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala ( es, Reino de Guatemala), was an administrative division of the Spanish Empire, under the viceroyalty of New Spain in Central ...
by the Spanish royal authorities in 1775 after a series of devastating earthquakes had left the old capital city,
Antigua Guatemala, in ruins and unusable to the Spanish colonial authorities. During this period the central plaza, with the
Cathedral of Guatemala City
The Holy Church Cathedral Metropolitan Basilica of Santiago de Guatemala also Metropolitan Cathedral, officially Catedral Primada Metropolitana de Santiago, is the main church of Guatemala City and of the Archdiocese of Guatemala (Archidioecesis ...
and the Palace of the Captain-General, were constructed. After
Central American independence from Spain the city became the capital of the
United Provinces of Central America
The Federal Republic of Central America ( es, República Federal de Centroamérica), originally named the United Provinces of Central America ( es, Provincias Unidas del Centro de América), and sometimes simply called Central America, in it ...
in 1821.
The 19th century saw the construction of the monumental
Carrera Theater in the 1850s, and the modern-day Presidential Palace in the 1890s. At this time the city was expanding around the 30 de Junio Boulevard and elsewhere, displacing
native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entert ...
settlements on the peripheries of the growing city.
Earthquakes
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
in 1917–1918 destroyed many historic structures. Under President
Jorge Ubico
Jorge Ubico Castañeda (10 November 1878 – 14 June 1946), nicknamed Number Five or also Central America's Napoleon, was a Guatemalan dictator. A general in the Guatemalan army, he was elected to the presidency in 1931, in an election where ...
in the 1930s a
hippodrome
The hippodrome ( el, ἱππόδρομος) was an ancient Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words ''hippos'' (ἵππος; "horse") and ''dromos'' (δρόμος; "course"). The term is used i ...
and many new public buildings were constructed, although slums that had formed after the 1917–1918 earthquakes continued to lack basic amenities.
During the
Guatemalan Civil War
The Guatemalan Civil War was a civil war in Guatemala fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government of Guatemala and various leftist rebel groups. The government forces have been condemned for committing genocide against the Maya population of ...
, terror attacks beginning with the
burning of the Spanish Embassy
The Burning of the Spanish Embassy (sometimes called the Spanish Embassy Massacre or the Spanish Embassy Fire) refers to the occupation of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on January 31, 1980, by indigenous peasants of the Commi ...
in 1980 led to widespread political repression and loss of life in the city. Guatemala City continues to be subject to natural disasters, with the latest being the two disasters that struck in May 2010: the eruption of the
Pacaya volcano and, two days later, the torrential downpours from
Tropical Storm Agatha
Tropical Storm Agatha was a weak but deadly tropical cyclone that brought widespread floods to much of Central America, and was the deadliest tropical cyclone in the eastern Pacific since Hurricane Pauline in 1997. The first storm of the 2010 Pa ...
.
Contemporary history
![Guatemala City Air View](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Guatemala_City_Air_View.jpg)
Guatemala City serves as the economic, governmental, and cultural epicenter of the nation of Guatemala. The city also functions as Guatemala's main transportation hub, hosting an international airport,
La Aurora International Airport
La Aurora International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional La Aurora, ) serves Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is located south of Guatemala City's center and from Antigua Guatemala. It is administered by the Dirección General de Aeronáut ...
, and serving as the origination or end points for most of Guatemala's major highways. 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.
In addition to a wide variety of restaurants, hotels, shops, and a modern
BRT
BRT may refer to:
Transportation
* Block register territory, a method for dispatching trains
* British Rail Telecommunications
* Brookhaven Rail Terminal
* Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, a former transit holding company in New York City
* Bro ...
transport system (
Transmetro
Transmetro is a bus rapid transit system in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The first line opened on February 3, 2007. The fleet consists of modern Volvo buses made by Ciferal in Brazil. The buses have fixed stops and partly run on dedicated lanes, avo ...
), the city is home to many art galleries, theaters, sports venues and museums (including some fine collections of
Pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
art) and provides a growing number of cultural offerings. 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
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
to the Ícaro film festival (
Festival Ícaro
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holida ...
), where independent films produced in Guatemala and Central America are debuted.
Structure and growth
![Ciudad Cayala - Guatemala City](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Ciudad_Cayala_-_Guatemala_City.jpg)
Guatemala City is located in the mountainous regions of the country, between the Pacific coastal plain to the south and the northern lowlands of the Peten region.
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
Mixco () is a city and municipality in the Guatemala department of Guatemala. It is next to the main Guatemala City municipality and has become part of the Guatemala City Metropolitan Area. Most of Mixco is separated from the city by canyons, fo ...
, 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.
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. Zones are numbered 1–25 with Zones 20, 22 and 23 not existing as they would have fallen in two other municipalities' territory. 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.
For example, the INGUAT Office on "7a Av. 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.
7a Av. 1-17, Zona 4; and 7a Av. 1-17, Zona 10, are two radically different addresses.
Short streets/avenues do not get new sequenced number, for example, 6A Calle is a short street between 6a and 7a.
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.
Calle 1 Avenida 1 Zona 1 is the center of every city in Guatemala.
Zone One is the Historic Center, (Centro Histórico), lying in the very heart of the city, the location of many important historic buildings including the
Palacio Nacional de la Cultura (National Palace of Culture), the Metropolitan Cathedral, the National Congress, the
Casa Presidencial (Presidential House), the National Library and Plaza de la Constitución (Constitution Plaza, old Central Park). Efforts to revitalize this important part of the city have been undertaken by the municipal government.
Besides the parks, the city offers a portfolio of entertainment in the region, focused on the so-called Zona Viva and the Calzada Roosevelt as well as four degrees North. Casino activity is considerable, with several located in different parts of the Zona Viva. The area around the East market is being redeveloped.
Within the financial district are the tallest buildings in the country including:
Club Premier
Premier Loyalty & Marketing, S.A.P.I. de C.V. operating as Club Premier is a loyalty program based in Mexico, originally the frequent flyer program of Aeroméxico, the Mexican airline, now spun off and operated by PLM, which is 51% owned by Aerom ...
, Tinttorento, Atlantis building,
Atrium
Atrium may refer to:
Anatomy
* Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart
* Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods
* Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain
* Pulmona ...
,
Tikal Futura, Building of Finances, Towers Building Batteries, Torres Botticelli, Tadeus, building of the INTECAP, Royal Towers, Towers Geminis, Industrial Bank towers, Holiday Inn Hotel, Premier of the Americas, among many others to be used for offices, apartments etc. Also included are projects such as Zona Pradera and Interamerica's World Financial Center.
One of the most outstanding mayors was the engineer Martin Prado Vélez, who took over in 1949, and ruled the city during the reformist Presidents
Juan José Arévalo
Juan José Arévalo Bermejo (10 September 1904 – 8 October 1990) was a Guatemalan professor of philosophy who became Guatemala's first democratically elected president in 1945. He was elected following a popular uprising against the United ...
and
Jacobo Arbenz Guzman
Jacobo is both a surname and a given name of Spanish origin. Based on the name Jacob. Notable people with the name include:
Surname:
* Alfredo Jacobo (born 1982), Olympic breaststroke swimmer from Mexico
* Cesar Chavez Jacobo, Dominican profession ...
, although he was not a member of the ruling party at the time and was elected due his well-known capabilities. Of cobanero origin, married with Marta Cobos, he studied at the
University of San Carlos; under his tenure, among other modernist works of the city, infrastructure projects included El Incienso bridge, the construction of the Roosevelt Avenue, the main road axis from East to West of the city, the town hall building, and numerous road works which meant the widening of the colonial city, its order in the cardinal points and the generation of a ring road with the first cloverleaf interchange in the city.
In an attempt to control the rapid growth of the city, the municipal government (Municipalidad de Guatemala) headed by longtime Mayor
Álvaro Arzú
Álvaro Enrique Arzú Yrigoyen (; 14 March 1946 – 27 April 2018) was a Guatemalan politician and businessman who served as the 32nd President of Guatemala from 14 January 1996 until 14 January 2000. He was elected Mayor of Guatemala City on ...
, has implemented a plan to focus growth along important arterial roads and apply
Transit-oriented development
In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. It promotes a symbiotic relationship between ...
(TOD) characteristics. This plan denominated POT (Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial) aims to allow taller building structures of mixed uses to be built next to large arterial roads and gradually decline in height and density moving away from such. It is also worth mentioning, that due to the airport being in the south of the city, height limits based on aeronautical considerations have been applied to the construction code. This limits the maximum height for a building, at in Zone 10, up to in Zone 1.
Climate
Despite its location in the
tropics
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
, Guatemala City's has a
tropical savanna climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Aw'') bordering
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(''Cwa''), relatively high altitude moderates average temperatures. Guatemala City is generally very warm, almost springlike, throughout the course of the year. It occasionally gets hot during the dry season, but not as hot and humid as in Central American cities at sea level. The hottest month is April. The rainy season extends from May to October, coinciding with the tropical storm and hurricane season in the western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, while the dry season extends from November to April. The city can at times be windy, which also leads to lower ambient temperatures.
The city's average annual temperature ranges are during the day and at night; its average
relative humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Humidity depe ...
is 82% in the morning and 58% in the evening; and its average
dew point
The dew point is the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor, assuming constant air pressure and water content. When cooled below the dew point, moisture capacity is reduced and airborne water vapor will cond ...
is .
Volcanic activity
Four
stratovolcanoes
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and peri ...
are visible from the city, two of them active. The nearest and most active is
Pacaya, which at times erupts a considerable amount of ash. These volcanoes lie to the south of the Valle de la Ermita, providing a natural barrier between Guatemala City and the Pacific lowlands that define the southern regions of Guatemala.
Agua,
Fuego,
Pacaya and
Acatenango comprise a line of 33 stratovolcanoes that stretches across the breadth of Guatemala, from the Salvadorian border to the Mexican border.
Earthquakes
Lying on the
Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...
, the Guatemalan highlands and the Valle de la Ermita are frequently shaken by large earthquakes. The last large tremor to hit the Guatemala City region occurred in the 1976, on the
Motagua Fault
The Motagua Fault (also, Motagua Fault Zone) is a major, active left lateral-moving transform fault which cuts across Guatemala. It forms part of the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. It is considered ...
, a left-lateral
strike-slip fault that forms the boundary between the
Caribbean Plate
The Caribbean Plate is a mostly oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north coast of South America.
Roughly 3.2 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) in area, the Caribbean Plate borders ...
and the
North American Plate
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...
. The
1976 event registered 7.5 on the
moment magnitude scale
The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...
. Smaller, less severe tremors are frequently felt in Guatemala City and environs.
Mudslides
Torrential downpours, similar to the more famous monsoons, occur frequently in the Valle de la Ermita during the rainy season, leading to flash floods that sometimes inundate the city. Due to these heavy rainfalls, some of the slums perched on the steep edges of the canyons that criss-cross the Valle de la Ermita are washed away and buried under mudslides, as in October 2005. Tropical waves, tropical storms and hurricanes sometimes strike the Guatemalan highlands, which also bring torrential rains to the Guatemala City region and trigger these deadly mudslides.
Piping pseudokarst
![Guatemala City 2010 sinkhole 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Guatemala_City_2010_sinkhole_1.jpg)
In February
2007, a very large, deep circular hole with vertical walls opened in northeastern Guatemala City (), killing five people. This sinkhole, which is classified by geologists as either a "
piping feature" or "
piping pseudokarst", was deep, and apparently was created by fluid from a
sewer eroding the loose
volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcano, volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used t ...
,
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
, and other
pyroclastic
Pyroclastic rocks (derived from the el, πῦρ, links=no, meaning fire; and , meaning broken) are clastic rocks composed of rock fragments produced and ejected by explosive volcanic eruptions. The individual rock fragments are known as pyroc ...
deposits that underlie Guatemala City. As a result, one thousand people were evacuated from the area. This piping feature has since been mitigated by City Hall by providing proper maintenance to the sewerage collection system and plans to develop the site have been proposed. However, critics believe municipal authorities have neglected needed maintenance on the city's aging
sewerage
Sewerage (or sewage system) is the infrastructure that conveys sewage or surface runoff (stormwater, meltwater, rainwater) using sewers. It encompasses components such as receiving drainage, drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, a ...
system, and have speculated that more dangerous piping features are likely to develop unless action is taken.
3 years later the
2010 Guatemala City sinkhole arose.
Demographics
![Guatemala City Metropolitan Area Satellite view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Guatemala_City_Metropolitan_Area_Satellite_view.jpg)
It is estimated that the population of Guatemala City proper is about 1 million,
while its urban area is almost 3 million. The growth of the city's population has been robust, abetted by the mass migration of Guatemalans from the rural hinterlands to the largest and most vibrant regional economy in Guatemala. The inhabitants of Guatemala City are incredibly diverse given the size of the city, with those of Spanish and
Mestizo
(; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...
descent being the most numerous. Guatemala City also has sizable indigenous populations, divided among the 23 distinct Mayan groups present in Guatemala. The numerous Mayan languages are now spoken in certain quarters of Guatemala City, making the city a linguistically rich area. Foreigners and foreign immigrants comprise the final distinct group of Guatemala City inhabitants, representing a very small minority among the city's denizens.
Due to mass migration from impoverished rural districts wracked with political instability, Guatemala City's population has exploded since the 1970s, severely straining the existing bureaucratic and physical infrastructure of the city. As a result, chronic traffic congestion, shortages of safe potable water in some areas of the city, and a sudden and prolonged surge in crime have become perennial problems. The infrastructure, although continuing to grow and improve in some areas, is lagging in relation to the increasing population of rural migrants, who tend to be poorer.
Communications
Guatemala City is headquarters to many communications and telecom companies, among them Tigo, Claro-Telgua, and Movistar-Telefónica. These companies also offer cable television, internet services and telephone access. Due to Guatemala City's large and concentrated consumer base in comparison to the rest of the country, these telecom and communications companies provide most of their services and offerings within the confines of the city. There are also seven local television channels, in addition to numerous international channels. The international channels range from children's programming, like
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
and the
Disney Channel
Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...
, to more adult offerings, such as
E! and
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
. While international programming is dominated by entertainment from the United States, domestic programming is dominated by shows from Mexico. Due to its small and relatively income-restricted domestic market, Guatemala City produces very little in the way of its own programming outside of local news and sports.
Economy and Finance
Guatemala City, as the capital, is home to Guatemala's central bank, from which Guatemala's monetary and fiscal policies are formulated and promulgated. Guatemala City is also headquarters to numerous regional private banks, among them CitiBank, Banco Agromercantil, Banco Promerica, Banco Industrial, Banco GyT Continental, Banco de Antigua, Banco Reformador, Banrural, Grupo Financiero de Occidente, BAC Credomatic, and Banco Internacional.
By far the richest and most powerful regional economy within Guatemala, Guatemala City is the largest market for goods and services, which provides the greatest number of investment opportunities for public and private investors in all of Guatemala. Financing for these investments is provided by the regional private banks, as well as through foreign direct investment mostly coming from the United States. Guatemala City's ample consumer base and service sector is represented by the large department store chains present in the city, among them Siman, Hiper Paiz & Paiz (
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
), Price Smart, ClubCo, Cemaco,
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
and
Office Depot.
File:Banco deGuatemala.JPG, Bank of Guatemala.
File:Banrural.jpg, Banrural Bank.
File:Banco Agromercantilguate.jpg, Agromercantil Bank.
File:BANCO GYT CONTINENTAL.JPG, G&T Continental Bank.
File:Credito Hipotecario Nacional.jpg, CHN Bank.
Places of interest by zones
Guatemala City is divided into 22 zones in accordance with the urban layout plan designed by
Raúl Aguilar Batres. Each zone has its own streets and avenues, facilitating navigation within the city. Zones are numbered 1 through 25. However, numbers 20, 22 and 23 have not been designated to zones, thus these zones do not exist within the city proper.
Transportation
![KLM CARGO GUATEMALA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/KLM_CARGO_GUATEMALA.jpg)
*Renovated and expanded,
La Aurora International Airport
La Aurora International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional La Aurora, ) serves Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is located south of Guatemala City's center and from Antigua Guatemala. It is administered by the Dirección General de Aeronáut ...
lies to the south of the city center. La Aurora serves as Guatemala's principal air hub.
*Public transport is provided by buses and supplemented by a BRT system. The three main highways that bisect and serve Guatemala start in the city. (CA9 Transoceanic Highway - Puerto San Jose to Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla-, CA1 Panamerican Highway - from the Mexican border to Salvadorian border - and to Peten.) Construction of freeways and underpasses by the municipal government, the implementation of
reversible lane
A reversible lane (British English: tidal flow) is a lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, by having overhead traffic lights and li ...
s during peak rush-hour traffic, as well as the establishment of the Department of Metropolitan Transit Police (PMT), has helped improve traffic flow in the city. Despite these municipal efforts, the Guatemala City metropolitan area still faces growing traffic congestion.
*A BRT (
bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
) system called
Transmetro
Transmetro is a bus rapid transit system in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The first line opened on February 3, 2007. The fleet consists of modern Volvo buses made by Ciferal in Brazil. The buses have fixed stops and partly run on dedicated lanes, avo ...
, consisting of special-purpose lanes for high-capacity buses, began operating in 2007, and aimed to improve traffic flow in the city through the implementation of an efficient mass transit system. The system consists of five lines. It is expected to be expanded around 10 lines, with some over-capacity expected lines being considered for Light Metro or Heavy Metro.
Traditional buses are now required to discharge passengers at transfer stations at the city's edge to board the Transmetro. This is being implemented as new Transmetro lines become established. In conjunction with the new mass transit implementation in the city, there is also a prepaid bus card system called
Transurbano
The Transurbano is a public bus system that serves Guatemala City. The system is operated by Siga, and funded by the government of Guatemala. The project was inaugurated during the administration of ex-president Alvaro Colom, and was supported ...
that is being implemented in the metro area to limit cash handling for the transportation system. A new fleet of buses tailored for this system has been purchased from a Brazilian firm.
A
light rail line known as
Metro Riel
Metro Riel is a light rail line proposed for Guatemala's capital, Guatemala City.
Background
In October 2016, it was reported that Spanish consulting engineer IDOM conducted a feasibility study into a light rail system for Guatemala City, evalu ...
is proposed.
Universities and schools
Guatemala City is home to ten universities, among them the oldest institution of higher education in Central America, the
University of San Carlos of Guatemala
The Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC, ''University of San Carlos of Guatemala'') is the largest and oldest university of Guatemala; it is also the fourth founded in the Americas. Established in the Kingdom of Guatemala during the Spani ...
. Founded in 1676, the Universidad de San Carlos is older than all North American universities except for
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
The other nine institutions of higher education to be found in Guatemala City include the Universidad Mariano Gálvez, the Universidad Panamericana, the Universidad Mesoamericana, the Universidad Rafael Landivar, the
Universidad Francisco Marroquín
Francisco Marroquín University (Spanish: ''Universidad Francisco Marroquín''), also known by the abbreviation UFM, is a private, secular university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It describes its mission as "to teach and disseminate the ethical ...
, the
Universidad del Valle, the
Universidad del Istmo
Universidad del Istmo (University of the Isthmus), commonly referred to as UNIS, is a private university in Guatemala.
UNIS was officially founded in 1997 as the successor institution of the Instituto Femenino de Estudios Superiores (IFES), (I ...
,
Universidad Galileo
Galileo University is a private university in Guatemala City. It was founded and authorized on October 31, 2000. Initially, it was the School of Computer Engineering (FISICC) of Universidad Francisco Marroquín. It stands out for its technologi ...
, Universidad da Vinci and the Universidad Rural. Whereas these nine named universities are private, the Universidad de San Carlos remains the only public institution of higher learning.
Sports
Guatemala City possesses several sportsgrounds and is home to many sports clubs.
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
is the most popular sport, with
CSD Municipal
Club Social y Deportivo Municipal, also known as Municipal or ''Los Rojos'' (the Reds), is a Guatemalan football club based in Guatemala City.
They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football, and play their home matches a ...
,
Aurora F.C.
Aurora Fútbol Club is a Guatemalan professional football club. They are based in Guatemala City and play their home matches in the Estadio Cementos Progreso. Once one of the most powerful teams in the country and a traditional rival of fellow ...
and
Comunicaciones
Comunicaciones Fútbol Club S.A., better known as Comunicaciones F.C. or Comunicaciones, are a football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football. The most popular and successful footba ...
being the main clubs.
The
Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores
The Estadio Nacional Doroteo Guamuch Flores is a multi-use national stadium in Guatemala City, the largest venue in Guatemala. It was built in 1948, to host the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1950, and was renamed after long-distance ru ...
, located in the Zone 5 of the city, is the largest stadium in the country, followed in capacity by the
Estadio Cementos Progreso
The ''Estadio Cementos Progreso'' is a multi-use stadium in Guatemala City. It is also known popularly as '' Estadio La Pedrera'' in reference to its location in the neighborhood of the same name in the Zone 6 of the Guatemalan capital. It was bui ...
,
Estadio del Ejército &
Estadio El Trébol
, also known as , is a football stadium in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It serves as the training venue and home ground for CSD Municipal (), one of the most traditional clubs in the country. The stadium has a capacity of 7,500.
A 2017 report by the ...
. An important multi-functional hall is the
Domo Polideportivo de la CDAG
The Domo Polideportivo de la CDAG, known commonly as ''Domo de la Zona 13'', or simply as ''Domo'' (dome, due to the type of its roof structure), is a multi-purpose arena in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Built to host the 2000 FIFA Futsal World Cham ...
.
The city has hosted several promotional functions and some international sports events: in 1950 it hosted the
VI Central American and Caribbean Games, and in 2000 the
FIFA Futsal World Championship. On 4 July 2007 the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
gathered in Guatemala City and voted
Sochi
Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...
to become the host for the
2014 Winter Olympics
, ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'')
, nations = 88
, events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, athletes = 2,873
, opening = 7 February 2014
, closing = 23 February 2014
, opened_by = President Vladimir Putin
, cauldron =
, stadium = Fisht Olympic ...
and
Paralympics. In April 2010, it hosted the XIVth Pan-American Mountain Bike Championships.
Guatemala City hosted the
2008 edition of the
CONCACAF Futsal Championship The CONCACAF Futsal Championship is the main national futsal competition of the CONCACAF nations. It was first held in 1996, and it is held every four years.
Results
1996: http://old.futsalplanet.com/old/Statistics/data/CONCACAF.txt + http://old. ...
, played at the Domo Polideportivo from 2 to 8 June 2008.
Panoramic views of Guatemala City
1875
2020
International relations
International organizations with headquarters in Guatemala City
*
Central American Parliament
The Central American Parliament ( es, Parlamento Centroamericano), also known as PARLACEN, is the political institution and parliamentary body of the Central American Integration System (SICA). Its headquarters are in Guatemala City.
History
...
Twin towns – sister cities
Guatemala City is
twinned with:
Notable residents
*
Raúl Aguilar Batres, engineer, creator of Guatemala City's system of avenue/street notation
*
María Dolores Bedoya
María Dolores Bedoya de Molina (September 20, 1783 – July 9, 1853) was a Guatemalan activist. She is remembered for her role in the movement for Central America's independence from Spain in the early 19th century.
Biography
Bedoya was bor ...
, Central American independence activist
*
Alejandro Giammattei
Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Falla (; born 9 March 1956) is a Guatemalan politician who is serving as the president of Guatemala since 2020. He is a former director of the Guatemalan penitentiary system and participated in Guatemala's president ...
, President of Guatemala
*
Álvaro Arzú
Álvaro Enrique Arzú Yrigoyen (; 14 March 1946 – 27 April 2018) was a Guatemalan politician and businessman who served as the 32nd President of Guatemala from 14 January 1996 until 14 January 2000. He was elected Mayor of Guatemala City on ...
, President of Guatemala and six times mayor of Guatemala City
*
Miguel Ángel Asturias
Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales (; October 19, 1899 – June 9, 1974) was a Nobel Prize-winning Guatemalan poet-diplomat, novelist, playwright and journalist. Asturias helped establish Latin American literature's contribution to mainstream We ...
, writer and diplomat, Nobel Prize Laureate
*
Ricardo Arjona
Edgar Ricardo Arjona Algadeoro (born 19 January 1964), known as Ricardo Arjona (), is a Guatemalan singer-songwriter. Arjona is one of the most successful and best-selling Latin American artists of all time, with more than 80 million records so ...
, singer /songwriter
*
Manuel Colom Argueta
Manuel Colom Argueta (8 April 1932 – 22 March 1979) was mayor of Guatemala City and an important progressive leader of the opposition in Guatemala.
Born in Guatemala City, Colom studied at the El Rosario school, the Liceo Infantil and Escu ...
, former mayor of Guatemala City and politician
*
Toti Fernández, triathlete and ultramarathon runner
*
Juan José Gutiérrez
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
, CEO of
Pollo Campero
Pollo Campero is a fast-food restaurant chain, located in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Mexico, Spain, Bahrain, Belize, Haiti, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Africa, Brazil, Canada, and Italy. The chain has ...
and on the board of directors of
Corporación Multi Inversiones
Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI; Spanish for ''Multi Investment Corporation'') is a Multinational corporation, multinational agro-industrial corporation based in Guatemala. The firm was founded as a family business by Juan Bautista Gutiérrez ...
. Has been featured on the cover of ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' as Super CEO and named one of the Ten Big Thinkers for Big Business.
*
Ted Hendricks
Theodore Paul Hendricks (born November 1, 1947), nicknamed "the Mad Stork", is a former professional football player who played as an outside linebacker for 15 seasons with the Baltimore Colts, Green Bay Packers, and the Oakland/Los Angeles ...
,
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...
NFL Hall Of Fame Linebacker. 4-time Super Bowl Champion
*
Jorge de León, performance artist
*
Carlos Mérida
Carlos Mérida (December 2, 1891 – December 21, 1985) was a Guatemalan artist who was one of the first to fuse European modern painting to Latin American themes, especially those related to Guatemala and Mexico. He was part of the Mexican mura ...
, painter
*
Jimmy Morales
Jimmy Morales (born James Ernesto Morales Cabrera, ; 18 March 1969) is a Guatemalan politician, actor and comedian. From 2016 to 2020, he served as the 50th president of Guatemala.
Early and personal life
Morales was born in Guatemala City ...
, Former President of Guatemala
*
Gaby Moreno
Gaby Moreno is a Guatemalan singer-songwriter, producer, film composer and guitarist. Singing in both English and Spanish, Moreno's music covers many genres including Latin, Alternative, Blues, Folk and Americana.
Biography
Moreno was born i ...
, singer/ songwriter
*
Carlos Peña
Carlos Felipe Peña (born May 17, 1978) is a Dominican former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays, C ...
, singer, winner of Latin American Idol 2007
*
Luis Oliva, actor, singer and director
*
Georgina Pontaza, actress and artistic director of the Teatro Abril and Teatro Fantasía
*
Fernando Quevedo
Fernando Quevedo Rodríguez (born 12 May 1956) is a Guatemalan physicist. He was the director of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) between October 2009 and November 2019.
Quevedo was born in 1956 in San José, ...
, theoretical physicist, professor of High Energy Physics at the University of Cambridge
*
Rodolfo Robles
Rodolfo Robles (1878–1939) was a Guatemalan physician and philanthropist. In 1915, he was the first to describe onchocerciasis in Latin America, which was known and widespread on the African continent and first described in 1890 by Sir Patr ...
, physician, discovered onchocercosis "Robles' Disease"
*
Fabiola Rodas, winner of The Third TV Azteca's
Desafio de Estrellas 2nd Place in The Last Generation of
La Academia
''La Academia'' (''The Academy'') is a Mexican reality musical talent television series shown on Azteca, that premiered in June 2002 and is currently in its thirteenth installment. Although the show itself is not affiliated with the Endemol fr ...
*
Gabriela Asturias Ruiz, neuroscientist
*
Carlos Ruíz, football/soccer player
*
Shery
Shery (born August 18, 1985) is a Guatemalan Latin pop singer and songwriter. She has recorded songs in Spanish and Italian, and shared stage with such international superstars as Chayanne, Cristian Castro, Manuel Mijares, Miguel Bosé, Enriq ...
, singer / songwriter
*
Jaime Viñals, mountaineer (scaled seven highest peaks in the world)
*
Luis von Ahn
Luis von Ahn (; born 19 August 1978) is a German-Guatemalan entrepreneur and a consulting professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is known as one of the pioneers of crowdsourcin ...
, computer scientist, founder of
Duolingo
Duolingo ( ) is an American educational technology company which produces learning apps and provides language certification.
On its main app, users can practice vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and listening skills using spaced repetition. D ...
,
CAPTCHA
A CAPTCHA ( , a contrived acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart") is a type of challenge–response test used in computing to determine whether the user is human.
The term was coined in 2003 b ...
's creator and Researcher at
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
*
Rodrigo Saravia,
Guatemala national team footballer
*
Sergio Custodio
Sergio Alfredo Custodio Contreras (January 7, 1947 – July 24, 2020) was a professor, writer and Humanist dedicated to Philosophy in Guatemala. Among his best-known works are textbooks on formal, inductive and analytical Logic, in addition to ...
, professor and writer in logic and metaphysics
*
Ricardo Cerna, a Guatemala-American suspect who somehow committed suicide inside a police station in the US
See also
*
List of places in Guatemala
This is a list of places in Guatemala.
List of most populous cities in Guatemala
Population data up to number 30 is based on the 2018 census.
Ancient cities and important ruins
* Cancuén
* Dos Pilas
* El Baul
* Iximche
* Kami ...
* ''
''
* ''
''
Notes and references
References
Bibliography
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External links
*
*
Official Website of the Municipalidad de Guatemala
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the Guatemala Department
Capitals in Central America
Capitals in North America
Populated places established in 1773