San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán () is a town in the
El Progreso department
El Progreso () is a department in Guatemala. The departmental capital is Guastatoya. The Spanish established themselves in the region by 1551, after the Spanish conquest of Guatemala. El Progreso was declared a department in 1908, but was dissol ...
of
Guatemala. San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán is located on the northern bank of the
Motagua River
The Motagua River () is a river in Guatemala. It rises in the western highlands of Guatemala where it is also called Río Grande, and runs in an easterly direction to the Gulf of Honduras. The final few kilometres of the river form part of the ...
at an altitude of 250 m. It had a population of 6,129 people at the 2002 census,
and covers a territory of .
San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán
Municipality of San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán. San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán borders on to the northwest, Usumatlán to the east, and El Jicaro to the south. It is located on the inter-ocean highway (CA-9), 101 km from 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, ne ...
.
History
San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán's history has its origins in Mayan culture
The Maya civilization () of the Mesoamerican people is known by its ancient temples and Glyph, glyphs. Its Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Americas. It is also ...
; its people are associated with the cultures of Copán
Copán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. This ancient Maya city mirrors the beauty of the physical landscape in which it flourished—a fer ...
and Quiriguá
Quiriguá () is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the department of Izabal in south-eastern Guatemala. It is a medium-sized site covering approximately along the lower Motagua River, with the ceremonial center about from the north bank ...
. In the ninth and tenth centuries AD, the Nahuas
The Nahuas () are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, a ...
settled in the vicinity of San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán, beginning a cultural mixture leading to their indigenous language ( Alaguilac). At 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 ...
the town of San Cristobal was founded, driving the aboriginal peoples from their town to scattered settlements in the mountains. At the time of conquest, the town of Acasaguastlán was a holy and sacred place for the Maya peoples. It did not have major construction, only mounds as in Guaytán. The Spanish used the prehistoric Acasaguastlán province for their town of San Cristobal; its central square was the site for one of the pro-independence riots of 1812. After Guatemala gained its independence from Spain in 1821, San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán belonged to the Zacapa Department
Zacapa () is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. It lies in eastern Guatemala with its capital in the city of Zacapa, approximately 112 kilometers (70 miles) from Guatemala City.
Geography
To the north lie the departments of Alta Verapaz ...
under Decree 683 of April 13, 1908; with Legislative Decree 1965 of April 3, 1934 the new Department of El Progreso was established, which included San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán. Two of the finest examples of 16th-century Baroque architecture can be found in San Agustín Acasaguastlán and San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán in El Progreso.
Education
San Cristobal is currently (as of 2011) the only municipality in Guatemala reporting a 100% literacy rate.
Church
The colonial Cathedral of San Cristobal of 1654 is being restored, and promises to be on a par with the cathedrals and churches found in Antigua. The restoration project has been undertaken to undo damage caused by the earthquake of 1976.
References
Further reading
*
*McNally, Shelagh. ''Adventure Guide to Guatemala'' (Adventure Guides Series). Grand Rapids: Hunter (NJ), 2003.
*Oss, Adriaan C. van. ''Catholic Colonialism: A Parish History of Guatemala, 1524-1821'' (Cambridge Latin American Studies). New York: Cambridge UP, 2002.
External links
Muni in SpanishPhoto of Cathedral of San Cristobal
{{DEFAULTSORT:San Cristobal Acasaguastlan
Municipalities of the El Progreso Department