Pachalúm is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

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 ...

n department of

El Quiché EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

. Pachalúm had been a village in the

Joyabaj Joyabaj () is a town and municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. It is located about 50 kilometers from Santa Cruz del Quiché, in the Sierra de Chuacús mountains. Joyabaj was an important part of the royal route to Mexico ...

, but was recognized as separate municipality in 1986.Acuerdo Gubernativo 377-86 of the 27th of June 1986, mentioned in http://pachalum.pa.funpic.org/

History

The name «Pachalum» originated from the ''Pachecas' game'' which men practiced under the shadow of a "Chalum" tree during the early years of the 20th century.

During the Spanish colony

José de Alvarado —relative of conquistador

Pedro de Alvarado Pedro de Alvarado (; 1485 – 4 July 1541) was a Spanish conquistador, ''conquistador'', ''adelantado,'' governor and Captaincy General of Guatemala, captain general of Guatemala.Lovell, Lutz and Swezey 1984, p. 461. He participated in the c ...

— was given from the

Kingdom of Guatemala The Captaincy General of Guatemala (), also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala (), was an administrative division of the Spanish Empire, under the viceroyalty of New Spain in Central America, including present-day Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras ...

authorities more than one hundred fifty acres of land in the Santa María Xoyavaj region, dando origen a los establecimientos de colonizadores españoles en la región. Pachalúm was mentioned for the first time in 1817, as place for sugar production settled by Spanish families that arrived there from San Martín Jilotepeque,

Santa Cruz El Chol Santa Cruz El Chol () is a municipality in the Baja Verapaz department of Guatemala. It is situated at 1008 m above sea level and contains about 8817 people. It covers a terrain of 140 km² and its annual festival is held from December 6-Dec ...

and from most of the modern

Baja Verapaz Department Baja Verapaz () is a department in Guatemala. In 2018, the population of the department was 299,476. The capital is Salamá. 78.5% of the department’s population identifies as Maya, with 53% belonging to the Achi linguistic group. Baja Verap ...

After Independence from Spain

After the revolution against field marshal

Vicente Cerna y Cerna Vicente Cerna y Cerna (22 January 1815 – 27 June 1885) was president of Guatemala from 24 May 1865 to 29 June 1871. Loyal friend and comrade of Rafael Carrera, was appointed army's Field Marshal after Carraera's victory against Salvadorian lea ...

in 1871, the families of the revolutionary leaders that helped the Liberal revolt asked

mayor that their settlement became a village, which was granted on 9 August 1872.

Administrative division

The municipality has an area of 100 km; besides the municipal capital, there are eight villages, thirteen settlements and five farm fields.

Topography

Pachalúm is located in

Sierra de Chuacús The Sierra de Chuacús is situated in the Guatemalan highlands, central highlands of Guatemala, and runs southeast from El Quiché to Baja Verapaz. Its northwestern border is marked by the Chixoy River basin in Uspantán, which separates it from t ...

, specifically at the bottom of Tuncaj Hill, where several sprinkles come down. It is also close to the

Motagua river The Motagua River () is a river in Guatemala. It rises in the Western Highlands of Guatemala and runs in an easterly direction to the Gulf of Honduras. The Motagua River basin covers an area of and is the largest in Guatemala. The Motagua Rive ...

basin, cuyos afluentes, los ríos Las Vegas y Tumbadero, humedecen el terreno de la localidad.

Municipal government and infrastructure

The first elections ever held in Pachalúm resulted in victory of Vicente de la Roca in 1986, but his term was not that effective due to the lack of experience on managing a municipality; the next mayor was Rafael Elías who focused on the area development. Afterwards, teach Reynabel Estrada Roca was elected, serving for three terms. Among those projects finished during Estrada Roca's term in office are: * paved road between Pachalúm and

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 ...

, via Concuán * Grocery market building * Municipal Hotel * Sports complex * Urban area pavement * irrigation project, led by Hugo Lorenzo Duarte Estrada Other important access roads to Pachalúm are: * Pachalúm -

Chimaltenango Chimaltenango is a city in Guatemala with a population of 96,985 (2018 census).Citypopulation.de
Population of ...

, via San Martín Jilotepeque, 70% paved * Pachalum -

Santa Cruz del Quiché Santa Cruz del Quiché is a city, with a population of 78,279 (2018 census), in Guatemala. It serves as the capital of the El Quiché department and the municipal seat of Santa Cruz del Quiché municipality. The city is located at , at an elevati ...

, 92 km long, with 16 km unpaved * Pachalum -

Cubulco Cubulco is a small town, with a population of 10,681 (2018 census),Citypopulation.de
Population of cities & to ...

, 20 km long

Climate

Pachalúm has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

(

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 ...

: ''Aw'').

References

External links

Municipalidad de Pachalúm
{{Quiché Department Municipalities of the Quiché Department