Back Banda Guatemala ACE Guatemalastad Afrikaans ጓቴማላ ከተማ Amharic Ciudat de Guatemala AN Guateceaster ANG غواتيمالا (مدينة) Arabic لمدينا د ݣواطيمالا ARY مدينة جواتيمالا ARZ Ciudá de Guatemala AST Ciudad de Guatemala AVK
Guatemala City
Ciudad de Guatemala | |
|---|---|
| Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción New Guatemala of the Assumption | |
Skyline Zone 14 Spain Square Cayala City Skyline Zone 10 | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
| Motto(s): "Todos somos la ciudad" (We are all the city), "Tú eres la ciudad" (You are the city). | |
  Guatemala City  Guatemala City | |
| Coordinates: 14°38′30″N 90°30′48″W / 14.64167°N 90.51333°W | |
| Country |  Guatemala |
| Department |  Guatemala Department |
| Established | 1776 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| • Mayor | Ricardo Quiñónez Lemus (Unionist) |
| Area | |
| 997 km2 (385 sq mi) | |
| • Water | 0 km2 (0 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,500 m (4,900 ft) |
| Population (2023 projection)[2] | |
| 1,221,739 (1st in Guatemala) | |
| • Density | 5,552/km2 (14,380/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 3,014,000[1] |
| GDP[3] | |
| • Urban | US$24 billion (2023) |
| • Per capita | US$7,700 (2023) |
| Time zone | UTC−06:00 (CST) |
| Climate | Cwa |
| Website | www |
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Guatemala City (Spanish: Ciudad de Guatemala, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the national capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala.[4] It is also the municipal capital of the Guatemala Department and the most populous urban metropolitan area in Central America. The city is located in a mountain valley called Valle de la Ermita (English: Hermitage Valley) in the south-central part of the country.
Guatemala City is the site of the native Mayan city of Kaminaljuyu in Mesoamerica, which was occupied primarily between 1500 BCE and 1200 CE. The present city was founded by the Spanish after their colonial capital, now called Antigua Guatemala, was destroyed by the devastating 1773 Santa Marta earthquake and its aftershocks.[5] It became the third royal capital of the surrounding Captaincy General of Guatemala; which itself was part of the larger Viceroyalty of New Spain in imperial Spanish America and remained under colonial rule until the nineteenth century.
In September 1821, Guatemala City was the site of the famous Act of Independence of Central America, which declared the independence of the region from the Spanish Empire. It was ratified and enacted on 15 September, now celebrated annually as Guatemala's independence day and called the Dias Patrios. For the next several decades, Guatemala City was the federation capital of the newly established and independent government of the United Provinces of Central America, which was later reorganized and renamed the Federal Republic of Central America.[6] In August 1847, Guatemala declared itself an independent republic, separate from the larger federation, and Guatemala City became its national capital.[7]
Guatemala City and the surrounding region were almost completely destroyed by the 1917–1918 Guatemala earthquakes and months of continued aftershocks. Reconstructions since have resulted in a more modern architectural landscape, including wider streets and a grid lay-out for new developments, inspired by post-18th century designs of architects in other national capital cities such as Paris, France and Washington, D.C.
Today, Guatemala City is the political, cultural, religious and economic center of the Republic of Guatemala and exerts a wide financial, commercial, and cultural influence on the Central America region and beyond, throughout Latin America.
- ^ "Guatemala City, Guatemala Population". PopulationStat. 15 July 2020. Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ "Guatemala: Administrative Division (Departments and Municipalities)". City Population. 6 September 2023. Archived from the original on 7 January 2021.
- ^ "TelluBase—Guatemala Fact Sheet (Tellusant Public Service Series)" (PDF). Tellusant. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
- ^ "Carlos Enrique Valladares Cerezo, "The case of Guatemala City, Guatemala"" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 May 2004.
- ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Antigua Guatemala". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 7 January 2025. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica. (2019). United Provinces of Central America. In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 26 June 2022. Archived 12 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Quiñónez, Edgar (15 August 2023). "Día de la Asunción: por qué se celebra el 15 de agosto en Guatemala" [Assumption Day: why August 15 is celebrated in Guatemala]. República. Archived from the original on 21 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.