San Andrés Semetabaj () is a

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

Sololá department Sololá is a department in the west of Guatemala. The capital is the city of Sololá. Lake Atitlan is a key feature surrounded by a number of the municipalities. Municipalities # Concepción # Nahualá # Panajachel # San Andrés Semetabaj ...

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 ...

. According to Jorge Luis Arriola's ''Geonimias de Guatemala'' (English:''Name origins of geographic locations in Guatemala''), Semetabaj means "stone of glass-like appearance" and originates from the Spanish word "semet", which means : bottle or flask and, by extension, glass, and by the k'akch'iquel "abaj" which means "stone". Originally, it was called San Andrés Limetabaj.

History

The oldest reference of San Andrés Semetabaj after 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 ...

is in the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

convent report written by friar Francisco de Zuasa in 1689, who said that San Andrés Semetabaj was a small town under the jurisdiction of the convent in Panajachel, with population 315 (297 natives and 18

criollos In Hispanic America, criollo () is a term used originally to describe people of Spanish descent born in the colonies. In different Latin American countries the word has come to have different meanings, sometimes referring to the local-born majo ...

). In his ''Descripción Geográfico-Moral de la Diósesis de Goathemala'' (English:''Moral-geographic description of the Guatemalan diocese''), archbishop

Pedro Cortés y Larraz Pedro Cortés y Larraz ( Belchite, Zaragoza, 6 July 1712 - Zaragoza, 7 July 1787) was Archbishop of Guatemala between 1767 and 1779 and bishop of Tortosa between 1780 and 1786. Biography Early life Graduated with a doctorate in Spain when he ...

, written in 1770 after his ecclesiastical visit to his new archidiocese, talks about the San Andrés Tzemetabah town, which, with a population of 320 people was an annex to the San Francisco Panajachel parish.

Annual fair

The annual fair in honor to Saint Andrew Apostle takes places during the last five days of November, being the main day 30 November, the celebration of the Apostle.

Climate

San Andrés Semetabaj has temperate climate (

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 ...

: ''Csb'').

Geographic location

The municipal capital is 1945 m above sea level. The municipal capital is reachable through a paved road and through the "Las Trampas" access road, which merges with the CA1 highway (Inter American Highway, km 117) and has a length of 22 km.

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 ...

is 143 km away from San Andrés Semetabaj to the East.

Notes and references

References

Bibliography

External links

San Andrés Semetabaj
{{DEFAULTSORT:San Andres Semetabaj Municipalities of the Sololá Department