Flores is the capital of the

Petén Department Petén (from the Itza' language, Itz'a, , 'Great Island') is a Departments of Guatemala, department of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest by area at it accounts for about one third o ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

's landlocked, northernmost department. The population was 45,560 in 2023. Flores is the seat of the municipality of Flores (population 22,600). Its Catedral Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios y San Pablo Itzá is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

episcopal seat of the Apostolic Vicariate of El Petén (formerly a

territorial prelature A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

). The old part of the city is located on an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

on Lake Petén Itzá, connected to the mainland by a short causeway. On the mainland is the suburb Santa Elena and, to the West, the contiguous municipality of San Benito. The municipality of Flores also includes a wide swathe of rural territory stretching north from Lake Petén Itzá to the Mexican border.

History

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

times, Flores was the

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

city of

Nojpetén Nojpetén (also spelled Noh Petén, and also known as Tayasal) was the capital city of the Itza people, Itza Maya civilization, Maya kingdom of Peten Itza kingdom, Petén Itzá. It was located on an island in Lake Petén Itzá in the modern depa ...

Nojpetén

Earliest archaeological traces on the island date back to 900–600 BC, with a major expansion of the settlement occurring around 250–400 AD, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the Americas. The Itza left the

Yucatán Yucatán, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida. ...

region in the 13th century and founded the city later known as Tayasal as their capital. They called it Nojpetén, (''noj peten'', literally "Great Island" in the Itza language). The Spanish called it Tayasal, possibly derived from ''ta Itza'', or "Place of the Itza".Rice 2009, p. 43. It was here, on the island of Flores on the shore of Lake Petén Itzá, that the last independent Maya state held out against the Spanish conquerors. In 1541,

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...

came to the island, en route to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

, but needed to move on and did not try to conquer it. The Spanish did not manage to conquer the island until 1697, when they marched in, attacked via boats, and destroyed it. Those who could flee did so, and many Itzá people hid in the jungle for years. From the ruins of Nojpetén arose the modern city of Flores. The modern city can thus be regarded as the second oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the Americas, after Cholula.

Climate

Flores has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Am'') with year-round high temperatures. It has a lengthy wet season stretching from May to January, and a relatively brief dry season from February to April. As is typical with most monsoon climates, there is also some rainfall in the dry season, albeit significantly lighter. Daytime highs generally hover in the range for most of the year, falling slightly to between during the winter months. The hottest temperatures are observed just prior to the onset of the wet season, often rising above .

Transportation

Flores is served by Mundo Maya International Airport. Several international flights land here but most stop first at

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

La Aurora International Airport La Aurora International Airport (, ) serves Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is located south of Guatemala City's center and from Antigua Guatemala. It is administered by the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (Guatemala), General Directora ...

. The Island is also very well connected by bus, with many companies running overnight buses to

Gallery

Flores in the 19th century

The first photographs ever made from Flores were those taken by engineer Claudio Urrutia in 1897, when he was in charge of the Guatemala-Mexico Border Commission. Flores1897a.jpg Flores1897c.jpg Flores1897d.jpg Flores1897e.jpg FullSizeRender (5).jpg, Flores, as seen from San Benito Ingenierosfrontera1896.JPG, Engineering crew of the Guatemalan Border Commission. Claudio Urrutia, Commission Director is in the middle.

Flores in the 21st century

Image:Isla de Flores, Petén, vista aérea.jpg, Aerial view of Flores Island from above Santa Elena. Image:Sunset in Flores, Guatemala.jpg, Sunset in Flores. Image:Restaurante en el lago.jpg, Restaurant on Lake Petén Itza Image:Flores, Petén, aerial view from above Santa Elena.jpg, Causeway connecting the island . Image:Orilla de Lago Petén Itzá.jpg, Shore of Lake Petén Itza. Image:Ixlu Altar 1, Flores central park.JPG, Classic period panel in the main plaza of Flores found in the nearby site of

Ixlu Ixlu () is a small Maya archaeological site that dates to the Classic and Postclassic Periods. It is located on the isthmus between the Petén Itzá and Salpetén lakes, in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala.Aguilar 2000, p.259. The s ...

. Image:Means 1917 Plate III.png, The island in 1917. Image:Flickr - archer10 (Dennis) - Guatemala-1958.jpg, Aerial view of the City.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Photos of Flores, Guatemala
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flores, El Peten Municipalities of the Petén Department Islands of Guatemala