Knowra Guatemala Guatemala Guatemala is a Central American country bordered by Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. Its landscape includes volcanic highlands, tropical lowlands, and Pacific and Caribbean coasts.
Maya civilization : A group of Mesoamerican societies that developed cities, writing, mathematics, and calendars over millennia. Maya cities and communities formed Guatemala’s precolonial foundations and remain part of its society.
Guatemalan Civil War : An armed conflict between Guatemala’s government and leftist insurgencies that lasted from 1960 to 1996. The war profoundly shaped state institutions, violence, and displacement within the country.
Jacobo Árbenz : Guatemalan president from 1951 to 1954 whose government enacted agrarian reform. His land policies and overthrow became a decisive episode in Guatemala’s Cold War history.
Guatemala City : The capital and largest city of Guatemala, located in the country’s southern highlands. It concentrates national government, commerce, and population in Guatemala’s central highland region.
Coffee production in Guatemala : The cultivation and export of coffee, a major agricultural product in Guatemala. Highland climates and volcanic soils support a long-established coffee industry.
Spanish conquest of Guatemala : The sixteenth-century campaign that brought much of present-day Guatemala under Spanish colonial rule. Conquest imposed colonial government and reshaped Indigenous life and land ownership.
Guatemalan genocide : The mass killing of Maya people by Guatemalan state forces, especially during the early 1980s. A UN-backed truth commission found that state forces committed genocide against Maya groups during the war.
Carlos Castillo Armas : Guatemalan military officer who led the 1954 coup against President Jacobo Árbenz and later became president. His government reversed key reforms and initiated a new era of military-backed rule.
Maya peoples of Guatemala : Indigenous peoples in Guatemala who belong to diverse Maya communities, languages, and cultural traditions. Maya communities make up a substantial part of the population and sustain distinct languages and traditions.
Maya archaeological sites in Guatemala : Archaeological remains of Maya cities and settlements located within Guatemala. Sites such as Tikal attract visitors and preserve evidence of ancient Maya urban life.
Show all 25