Jocotenango (alternate: Xocotenango; translation from
Kaqchikel: "place of many plums")
is a town and small
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in the northeast section 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 ...
n
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
of
Sacatepéquez
Sacatepéquez () was a city in Guatemala from November 21, 1542 until July 29, 1773 when it was destroyed by the Santa Marta earthquake. Sacatepéquez means ''grasshill'' and gave its name to the Sacatepéquez Department.
Sacatepéquez and Antigu ...
,
and is situated north of
Antigua Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala (), commonly known as Antigua or La Antigua, is a city in the central highlands of Guatemala. The city was the capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala from 1543 through 1773, with much of its Baroque-influenced architec ...
. It has seven zones, two villages, and one hamlet. According to the 2018 census, the municipality has a total population of 21,657 of which 1,680 are native population and the balance are non-indigenous; and approximately 19,280 live in an urban area, while the balance are rural dwellers.
Jocotenango is the birthplace of multi
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
-winning singer and songwriter
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 ...
.
History
Jocotenango was initially an agricultural field, set up after the Spanish conquest by Adelantado,
Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado (; c. 1485 – 4 July 1541) was a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala.Lovell, Lutz and Swezey 1984, p. 461. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Juan de Grijalva's exploration of the coasts of the Yucatá ...
, as it was specified in his will, which read: "Called the lords and principals of the town that he had assigned to him, and ask that each one of them give him a certain number of families, and with them he created that settlement; he freed them and donated to them their land; and as the first natives who gathered there were from Utatlán, the town was called Utateca". So was founded the Santiago Utateca settlement. After the destruction of the old
kingdom capital on 11 September 1541, the city was moved to Panchoy valley, and the
K'achik'eles decided to follow the Spaniards and settled next to Santiago Utateca, founding Jocotenango; eventually both town combined. In the 1540, bishop
Francisco Marroquín
Francisco Marroquín (1499 – April 18, 1563) was the first bishop of Guatemala, ''(in Latin)'' translator of Central American languages and provisional Governor of Guatemala.
Biography
Marroquín was born near Santander, Spain. He studied philo ...
split the religious administration of the Guatemalan central valley between the
Order of Preachers
The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...
and the
Franciscans
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
, assigned the formet the Jocotenango curato, among others.
After the destruction of
Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala
Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala ("St. James of the Knights of Guatemala") was the name given to the capital city of the Spanish colonial Captaincy General of Guatemala in Central America.
History
;Quauhtemallan — Guatemala
:The name was ...
by the
Santa Marta earthquake
The 1773 Guatemala earthquake struck Guatemala on July 29 at 15:45 local time. It had an estimated epicentral magnitude of 7.5 Mi. It was part of a sequence that started in May that year. There were two strong foreshocks on June 11 and the mainsho ...
in 1773, the city moved, this time to La Ermita valley. the old neighborhoods followed suit, among them: Jocotenango, Almolonga, San Pedro, San Gaspas and Nuestra Señora de Guatemala. Thus, there was a second Jocotenango settlement next to the new
Guatemala City
Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...
, which was eventually swallowed by the metropolis and is part of the modern Zone 2.
The old Jocotenango, previously considered a suburb, received municipality status in the middle of the 19th century.
Geography
It is in size and is situated
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
.
Cerro El Narizón ("Big Nose Mountain"), one of the peaks of the
El Rejon range is nearby, reaching an elevation of .
Hydrographic features include the
Rio Guacalate, streams, and a creek. Jocotenango is located in a mountainous rain forest in a sub-tropical region. According to the 2003 Ministerio de Agricultura (English:Secretary of Agriculture) report, approximately 93 hectares are used for agriculture, while 75 hectares are in forest. Deposits of ''Placedrín'' ''
Andesite
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomi ...
'' have been found here.
Vulnerability to natural disaster is evidenced by severe erosion to the Rio Guacalate basin, forest fires, accelerated deforestation, and floods. Slope sediment, along with poor
soil management
Soil management is the application of operations, practices, and treatments to protect soil and enhance its performance (such as soil fertility or soil mechanics). It includes soil conservation, soil amendment, and optimal soil health. In agricult ...
, is most visible in the villages of La Rinconada and Vista Hermosa. An annual threat to the populated areas is flooding during periods of rainfall. It requires the municipality to clear hundreds of cubic meters of sediment that accumulates in the streets. This type of erosion causes loss of productive soil capacity, exposure of basement rock, and generation of landslides and mudslides.
The average rainfall is 1344 mm/year while the temperature varies between 16 and 23 °C.
Flora and fauna
The forest coverage rate is important for town's
socioeconomics
Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern society, societies social progress, progress, economic stagnation ...
. Most of the wooded area, is located on the hill Panza de Burro and near the municipal yard. Flora includes species of oak, cypress, and palo de jiote (''
Bursera simaruba
''Bursera simaruba'', commonly known as gumbo-limbo, copperwood, chaca, West Indian birch, naked Indian, and turpentine tree, is a tree species in the family Burseraceae, native to the Neotropics, from South Florida to Mexico and the Caribbean ...
'').
The fauna is associated with crops that predominate the area such as
agouti
The agouti (, ) or common agouti is any of several rodent species of the genus ''Dasyprocta''. They are native to Middle America, northern and central South America, and the southern Lesser Antilles. Some species have also been introduced else ...
, coyote,
mouse opossum, rabbit, squirrels, white-tailed deer, and gophers. Birds include, hummingbird, quail, hawk, and dove.
Culture
The red brick
Jocotenango Church lies in the town.
La Azotea ("roof") Cultural Center features, built on an ancient coffee estate,
has three museums.
Casa K’ojom ("House of K'ojom"), a music museum, features traditional
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 populat ...
musical instruments such as diatomic harp, drums, flutes, marimbas, ocarinas, and whistles. Masks, paintings, traditional costumes and crafts are also exhibited. The Museo del Café ("
Museum of Coffee") is dedicated to the history and evolution of coffee cultivation. Coffee beans are displayed in varying stages of production, antique equipment can be viewed, and as it is situated at an actual plantation, on-site tours are available.
There is also a small costume museum.
Its main festival is celebrated each year during the week of August 8.
Transportation
Buses bound from Antigua's bus terminal to
stop at Jocotenango.
Climate
Jocotenango has a
subtropical highland climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
: ''Cwb'').
Geographic location
Jocotenango is surrounded by
Sacatepéquez Department
Sacatepéquez () is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. The name comes from Sacatepéquez, a city from November 21, 1542, until July 29, 1773, when it was destroyed by the 1773 Guatemalan Earthquake (Santa Marta Earthquake). Sacatepéquez me ...
municipalities.
[
]
See also
*
*
Notes and references
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Casa K'Ojom, Museo de Musica Maya
(in Spanish)
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the Sacatepéquez Department