Chimaltenango is a city in

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 ...

with a population of 96,985 (2018 census).Citypopulation.de
Population of cities & towns in Guatemala It serves as both the capital of the department of Chimaltenango and the municipal seat for the surrounding

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' ...

of the same name. Chimaltenango stands some west of

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 ...

, on the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

. The municipal capital produces

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

s and

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

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, what is now the city of Chimaltenango was known to its native inhabitants as B'oko'. Like many other cities in the area, the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

es used the name given by their

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

speaking allies from central

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The

name was Chīmaltenānco, meaning "Shield City". The current town was founded in 1526 by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Portocarrero, and shortly after it was assigned by Bishop

Francisco Marroquín Francisco Marroquín (1499 – April 18, 1563) was the first bishop of Guatemala, ''(in Latin)'' translator of Central American languages and provisional Governor of Guatemala. Biography Marroquín was born near Santander, Spain. He studied phi ...

to the

Order of Preachers The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius ...

, along with Jocotenango, Jilotepeque, Sumpango, Candelaria,

Amatitlán Amatitlán () is a town, with a population of 98,176 (2018 census),Citypopulation.de
Population of cities & t ...

, Petapa, Mixco, and Pinula. These were the general areas under the jurisdiction of "Valle de Pasuya" (English: Pasuya Valley) in those days (which had nine valleys), among them the Chimaltenango Valley. This valley bordered with Xilotepeque valley on the northwest, with Mixco valley on the East, with Guatemala on the North, and with Sololá Prinvice on the West. Furthermore, the Valle of Pasuya had two mayor municipalities: Chimaltenango (which included the Chimaltenango, Xilotepeque, and Alotenango valleys), and Sacatepéquez (which included the remainder). After independence from Spain in 1821, the town was elevated to "Villa" status in 1825 but apparently lost some luster, as one can infer from archeologist

Alfred Percival Maudslay Alfred Percival Maudslay (18 March 1850 – 22 January 1931) was a British colonial administrator and archaeologist. He pioneered the careful archaeological study of the Maya ruins and the results of his field work were presented in ''Biolog ...

wife's description from a trip there in 1895. Anne Cary Maudslay, wrote: "We were not tempted to loiter for long, and rode on again over the dull plain to the uninteresting town of Chimaltenango, where we proposed to spend the night. The hotel was dirty and the bedrooms so unpleasant that we would have none of them, and sent Gorgonio to hunt for an empty room in which we could put up our own beds. This he found in a "meson", or caravanserai, attached to the hotel, where there was a good-sized room and a rough kitchen opening on a patio in which we could turn the beasts loose for the night. A sprinkling with water, a good sweeping, and a free use of Keating's powder, soon made the room habitable. The supper at the hotel was, however, far above the average, and the only thing to complain of was the poor forage supplied to the mules."

Sports

América de Chimaltenango football club has played the 2009 - 2010 season in Guatemala's second division. They play their home games in the Estadio Municipal de Chimaltenango.

Famous citizens

* Natalia Górriz de Morales, teacher. She was the director of "Instituto Normal Central para Señoritas" (English: Normal Central Institute for Girls) and Elementary School Inspector during General

José María Reina Barrios José María Reyna Barrios (December 24, 1854 – February 8, 1898) was President of Guatemala from March 15, 1892 until his assassination on February 8, 1898. He was a moderate of Guatemala's Liberal Party, who worked to solidify the less ...

' presidency and was married to the Minister of Economy, Colonel Próspero Morales.In 1897, he resigned his position and raised arms as one of the leaders of the Quetzaltenango Revolution against his former boss General Reina Barrios, after he tried to extend his presidential term to 1902 after the failure of the Central American Expo and the acute economic crisis that mired Guatemala. After the Reina Barrios murder in February 1898, Morales ran for office in the 1898 presidential elections. When he realized that those were rigged in favor of Interim President

Manuel Estrada Cabrera Manuel José Estrada Cabrera (21 November 1857 – 24 September 1924) was the President of Guatemala from 1898 to 1920. A lawyer with no military background, he modernised the country's industry and transportation infrastructure, via granting c ...

, he tried to invade Guatemala from Mexico, but died in the attempt. Natalia Górriz de Morales then started teaching again and became one of the more representative women of the early 20th century in Guatemala.

Climate

Chimaltenango has a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...

(

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 ...

: ''Cwb'').

Geographic location

It is completely surrounded by

Chimaltenango Department Chimaltenango is a department of Guatemala. The capital is Chimaltenango. Geography Located to the east are Guatemala Department, home to Guatemala City, and Sacatepéquez Department, while also bordered by Quiché Department and Baja Verap ...

municipalities:

Notes and references

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

*
CHIMALTENANGO
from Guatemala.

Dirección Departamental de Educación de Chimaltenango {{Authority control Municipalities of the Chimaltenango Department