San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán () is a town in the
El Progreso department of
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 ...
. San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán is located on the northern bank of the
Motagua River 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 San Agustín Acasaguastlán 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 (, 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 ...
.
History
San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán's history has its origins in Mayan culture
The Maya civilization () was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing ...
; 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. It is one of the most important sites of the Maya civilization, which was not excavated until the ...
and Quiriguá
Quiriguá () is an ancient Maya civilization, Maya archaeological site in the Departments of Guatemala, department of Izabal Department, Izabal in south-eastern Guatemala. It is a medium-sized site covering approximately along the lower Motagua ...
. In the ninth and tenth centuries AD, the Nahuas
The Nahuas ( ) are a Uto-Nahuan ethnicity and one of the Indigenous people of Mexico, with Nahua minorities also in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. They comprise the largest Indigenous group in Mexico, as well as ...
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, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...
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 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
Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. 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