Quetzaltenango (, also known by its Maya name Xelajú or Xela ) is both the seat of the namesake Department and

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

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 ...

. The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of

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 ...

at its lowest part. It may reach above within the city. The Municipality of Quetzaltenango consists of an area of . Municipalities abutting the municipality of Quetzaltenango include Salcajá, Cantel,

Almolonga The Almolonga volcano, also called "Cerro Quemado" (Burned Mountain) or "La Muela" (The Molar) due to its distinct shape, is an andesitic stratovolcano in the south-western department of Quetzaltenango in Guatemala. The volcano is located near ...

Zunil Zunil () is a town and municipality in the Quetzaltenango department of Guatemala with a surface area of .El Palmar,

Concepción Chiquirichapa Concepción Chiquirichapa () is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Quetzaltenango in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, 14 kilometers west of the departmental capital of Quetzaltenango, and 214 kilometers west of the capital Guatema ...

, San Mateo, La Esperanza, and

Olintepeque Olintepeque () is a town, with a population of 31,545 (2018 census),Citypopulation.de
Population of cities & t ...

in Quetzaltenango department and

San Andrés Xecul San Andrés Xecul () is a town, with a population of 15,074 (2018 census),Citypopulation.de
Population of citi ...

in Totonicapán department.

History

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 ...

times Quetzaltenango was a city of the Mam

Maya people The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people ...

called Xelajú, although by the time of 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 ...

it had become part of the

K'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj K'iche', K'ichee', or Quiché may refer to: *K'iche' people of Guatemala, a subgroup of the Maya *K'iche' language, a Maya language spoken by the K'iche' people **Classical K'iche' language, the 16th century form of the K'iche' language *Kʼicheʼ ...

. The name may be derived from ''xe laju' noj'' meaning "under ten mountains". The city was said to have already been over 300 years old when the Spanish first arrived. With the help of his

allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

Conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

Pedro de Alvarado defeated and killed the Maya ruler

Tecún Umán Tecun UmanAlternate transliterations include Tecún Umán, Tecúm Umán, Tecúm Umam, Tekun Umam, etc. (1500? – February 20, 1524) was one of the last rulers of the K'iche' Maya people, in the Highlands of what is now Guatemala. According to ...

here. When Alvarado conquered the city for Spain in the 1520s, he called it by the

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...

name used by his Central Mexican Indian allies, "Quetzaltenango", generally considered to mean "the place of the quetzal bird." Quetzaltenango became the city's official name in colonial times. However, many people (especially the indigenous population) continue to call the city "Xelajú" or more commonly "Xela" for short, and some proudly, but unofficially, consider it the "capital of the Mayas". Quetzaltenango Parque Central c

From 1838 to 1840 Quetzaltenango was the capital of the state of Los Altos, one of the states or provinces of the

Federal Republic 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 ...

. As the union broke up, the army of

Rafael Carrera José Rafael Carrera y Turcios (24 October 1814 – 14 April 1865) was the president of Guatemala from 1844 to 1848 and from 1851 until his death in 1865, after being appointed President for life in 1854. During his military career and presiden ...

conquered Quetzaltenango making it part of Guatemala. In 1850, the city had a population of approximately 20,000. During the 19th century,

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

was introduced as a major crop in the area. As a result, the economy of Xela prospered. Much fine

Belle Époque The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...

architecture can still be found in the city. On October 24, 1902, at 5:00 pm, the Santa María Volcano erupted. Rocks and ash fell on Quetzaltenango at 6 PM, only one hour after the eruption. In the 1920s, a young

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

woman named Vanushka Cardena Barajas died and was buried in the Xela city cemetery. An active legend has developed around her tomb that says those who bring flowers or write a request on her tomb will be reunited with their former romantic partners. The Guatemalan songwriter Alvaro Aguilar wrote a song based on this legend. In 1930 the only electric railway in Guatemala, the '' Ferrocarril de Los Altos'', was inaugurated. It was built by

AEG Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...

and

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...

and had 14 train cars. The track connected Quetzaltenango with San Felipe,

Retalhuleu The city of Retalhuleu () is situated in south-western Guatemala. It is the departmental seat of Retalhuleu Department as well as the municipal seat of Retalhuleu Municipality. Retalhuleu stands at about 240 metres above sea level. The city has a ...

. It was soon destroyed by mudslides and finally demolished in 1933. The people of Quetzaltenango are still very proud of the railway. A

railway museum A railway museum is a museum that explores the history of all aspects of rail related transportation, including: locomotives ( steam, diesel, and electric), railway cars, trams, and railway signalling equipment. They may also operate historic e ...

has been established in the city center. Since the late 1990s Quetzaltenango has been having an economic boom, which makes it the city with the second-highest contribution to the Guatemalan economy. With its first high-rise buildings being built, it is expected by 2015 to have a more prominent skyline, with buildings up to 15 floors tall. In 2008, the Central American Congress PARLACEN stated that every September 15, Quetzaltenango will be

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. ...

's capital of culture. Quetzaltenango was supposed to host

2018 Central American and Caribbean Games The 23rd Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Barranquilla, Colombia. Asamblea ODECABE, Islas Caimán' (translation: "CASCO Assembly, Cayman Islands"). Published by CACSO on 2012-10-27; retrieved 2012-11-13. Bidding process Quetz ...

but dropped out due to a lack of funding for the event. In March 2022, indigenous activists began blockading the central waste deposit near Valle de Palajunoj to protest a city development plan enacted by the municipal authorities in June 2017.

Climate

According to

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 ...

, Quetzaltenango features 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 ...

(''Cwb''). In general, the climate in Quetzaltenango can go from mild to chilly, with occasional sporadic warm episodes. The daily high is usually reached around noon. From then on, temperatures decrease exceptionally fast. The city is quite dry, except during the rainy season. Quetzaltenango is the coolest major city in Guatemala. There are two main seasons in Quetzaltenango (as in all of Guatemala); the rainy season, which generally runs from late May through late October, and the dry season, which runs from early November until April. During the rainy season, rain falls consistently, usually in the afternoons, but there are occasions in which it rains all day long or at least during the morning. During the dry season, the city frequently will not receive a single drop of rain for months on end. The coldest months are November through February, with minimum temperatures averaging , and maximum temperatures averaging . The warmest months are March through July, with minimum temperatures averaging and maximum temperatures averaging . Yearly, the average low is and the average high is .

Economy

Historically, the city produced

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, fruits, and vegetables. It also had a healthy

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

industry. Livestock was exported throughout the country and to

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. As of 1850, wheat was the largest export, followed by cacao,

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

and

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

Sports

Quetzaltenango is home to the

Club Xelajú MC Club Social y Deportivo Xelajú Mario Camposeco, commonly known as Xelajú MC or just ''Xela'' and nicknamed ''Superchivos'' is a Guatemalan professional football club competing in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football. They are ...

soccer team. The team competes at

Estadio Mario Camposeco The Estadio Mario Camposeco is a football stadium located in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. It is the home of one of the most traditional clubs in Guatemala, Xelajú MC (''Los Chivos''). It has a capacity of 11,220. Location The Mario Camposeco ...

which has a capacity of 13,500 and is the most successful non-capital team in the

Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala ''Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala'' (National Football League of Guatemala), formerly known as Liga Mayor "A" (Major League "A") is a professional football division in Guatemala, the highest one in the country. It is sanctioned by the '' Fede ...

. Due to the city's high altitude many athletes have prepared themselves here such as Olympic silver medalist

Erick Barrondo The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ai ...

and the 2004 Cuban volleyball team. The swimming team has enjoyed success in national and international events. Quetzaltenango withdrew from hosting the

. It planned to build a 30,000-seat stadium by 2016, as well seven new facilities for indoor sports and aquatics.

Transportation

The city has a system of micro-buses for quick and cheap movement. A micro-bus is essentially a large van stuffed with seats. Micro-buses are numbered based on the route they take (e.g., "''Ruta 7''"). There is no government-run mass transport system in the city. The sole public means of transport is the bus or micro-buses. Transportation to other cities is provided by bus. Bicycling is a way to get around and to travel to (and in) rural areas.

Quetzaltenango Airport Los Altos Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Los Altos, ), also known as Quetzaltenango Airport, serves the city of Quetzaltenango, also known as "Xelajú" or "Xela," and western Guatemala. It is operated and administrated by Dirección General de Aeron� ...

provides air service to the city.

Education

Quetzaltenango,(Xela) is the center of many schools and Universities that provide Education to locals and many thousands of students from the surrounding cities and departments (states) and international students from North America and Europe, that's the reason it's a very important city for the south-west/north-west region of the Country of Guatemala, for many decades Quetzaltenango has produced distinguished Citizens through all Educational establishments, among those we can mention: * Centro Universitario de Occidente San Carlos de Guatemala (CUNOC) *

Universidad Rafael Landivar Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

* Universidad Mariano Gálvez * Universidad Mesoamericana * Universidad Francisco Marroquín * Universidad de Occidente * Universidad Galileo *

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 ...

(

Opus Dei Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei ( la, Praelatura Sanctae Crucis et Operis Dei), is an institution of the Catholic Church whose members seek personal Christian holiness and strive to imbue their work an ...

affiliated) * Universidad Del Valle de Guatemala

People born in Quetzaltenango

Maria Vicenta Rosal María Vicenta Rosal Vásquez (26 October 1815 - 24 August 1886) - in religious María de la Encarnación del Corazón de Jesús) was a Guatemalan Roman Catholic professed religious and a professed member from the Bethlemite Sisters. Rosal was a ...

(1820–1886), religious leader *

Manuel Barillas Manuel Lisandro Barillas Bercián (17 January 1845 – 7 April 1907) was a Guatemalan general and acting president of Guatemala from 6 April 1885 to 15 March 1886 and President from 16 March 1886 to 15 March 1892. He was born in Quetzaltenango, ...

(1845–1907),

President of Guatemala The president of Guatemala ( es, Presidente de Guatemala), officially known as the President of the Republic of Guatemala ( es, Presidente de la República de Guatemala), is the head of state and head of government of Guatemala, elected to a ...

* Jesus Castillo (1877–1946), Musician * Ricardo Castillo (1891–1966), composer *

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 ...

(1878–1939), physician and philanthropist *

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 was a strong ruler (dictator) who modernised the country's industry and transportat ...

(1898–1924), President of Guatemala * Domingo Bethancourt (1906-1980), Musician * Rodolfo Galeotti Torres (1912–1988), sculptor *

Efraín Recinos Efraín Enrique Recinos Valenzuela (May 15, 1928 – October 2, 2011) was a Guatemalan contemporary architect, muralist, urbanist, painter and sculptor. Recinos' works adorn the facades and interiors of many of Guatemala's landmark building ...

(1928–2011), engineer, architect, sculptor *

Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán 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 professional ...

(1913–1971),

Alberto Fuentes Mohr Alberto Fuentes Mohr (born 22 November 1927 – assassinated 25 January 1979) was a Guatemalan economist and politician, one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party. He also served as Minister of Finance and foreign minister during the 19 ...

(1927–1979), economist, finance minister, foreign minister, social-democratic leaders * Comandante

Rolando Morán Comandante Rolando Morán (29 December 1929 – 11 September 1998) was the ''nom de guerre'' of Ricardo Arnoldo Ramírez de León, leader of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), an armed Guatemalan communist resistance organizati ...

(1929-1998), one of the guerrilla leaders in 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 ...

* Carlos Navarrete Cáceres (b. 1931), anthropologist and writer * Otto René Castillo (b. 1934), poet and revolutionary * Danilo Lopez (1937-2017), swimmer * Juan Arturo Gutierrez, founder of international fast-food chain

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 ...

Luis Rolando Ixquiac Xicara Luis Rolando Ixquiac Xicará (born 1947) is an indigenous artist born in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. He studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas "Rafael Rodríguez Padilla" in Guatemala, and continued his studies in Paris, France. He ...

(b. 1947), artist * Julio Serrano Echeverría (b. 1983), poet and writer

Consular representations

* Consulate of El Salvador * Consulate of Italy * Consulate of Mexico *Consulate of Spain

Twin towns – sister cities

Quetzaltenango is twinned with: *

Campeche Campeche (; yua, Kaampech ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Campeche), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by ...

, Mexico * Chiapa de Corzo, Mexico * Livermore, United States *

San Cristóbal de Las Casas San Cristóbal de las Casas (), also known by its native Tzotzil name, Jovel (), is a town and municipality located in the Central Highlands region of the Mexican state of Chiapas. It was the capital of the state until 1892, and is still cons ...

, Mexico * Santa Fe, Spain *

Santa María Huatulco Santa María Huatulco is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. It is part of the Pochutla District in the east of the Costa Region. The meaning of Huatulco, or Guatulco Coatulco is, "where they worship the tree", referring ...

, Mexico *

Tapachula Tapachula de Córdova y Ordóñez, simply known as Tapachula, is a city and municipality located in the far southeast of the state of Chiapas in Mexico, near the Guatemalan border and the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the most important cities of ...

, Mexico *

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

, Norway *

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, Italy *

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

, Mexico

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of the Quetzaltenango Department