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The History of Guatemala |
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Like the United States, Guatemala was inhabited by Native Americans long before Columbus’ famous voyage. In fact, scientists discovered spears in Guatemala dating back to 9,000 B.C. That’s over eleven thousand years old!! Scientists have also shown that Guatemalans lived in villages and grew corns, beans, and squash as early as 1,000 B.C., fifteen hundred years before the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Marie made there way to the Americas. So who were these early Guatemalans? The Maya Indians. |
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Now that you know a little bit about the country, I think we’re ready to take to next step and delve into |
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The Maya |
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The Maya were the most advanced civilization in Central America for a very long time. Their classical period lasted from about 250 AD to 900AD. During this time, they created beautiful art including sculpture, carvings, and weavings. The Maya were also very good architects and musicians. They had many great scientists with a strong understanding of time, math and astronomy. They even created a writing system known as hieroglyphics in which they used words and symbols instead of letters.
The Maya lived in villages and cities. Their largest city was Tikal. At its height, between 50,000 and 100,000 people lived there
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Like all Maya cities, Tikal had temples, plazas, palaces, pyramids, and a market. .
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Click Pyramid to take a tour of Tikal |
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Learn about Maya Hieroglyphics |
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The Maya were a great civilization, but like all civilizations, there was good and bad. Society was ruled by priests and nobles. Cities were at war with each other all the time. War victims were regularly tortured or sacrificed to the gods. This intercity fighting may have led to Maya decline in 900 AD. No one is sure why, but around this time the Maya population diminished. It may have been the wars, but it also may have been overpopulation combined with a severe drought. Whatever the reason, the Maya classical period ended around 900 AD.
Spain invaded Guatemala in the sixteenth century. The remaining Maya were no match for the Spanish guns and horses. Guatemala became a Spanish colony and remained so for about 300 years. Maya were treated terribly. They had no rights and were practically slaves to the Spanish.
Tired of persecution, Guatemala peacefully declared its independence in 1821. But not until 1844 did they have their own president. A string of terrible presidents followed. Some made minor improvements, but the Maya were not much better off than they were under Spanish rule.
In 1944, some land reforms were made to help the poor and improve the inequality of the classes. The wealthy land owners fought this and in 1954 the military took control of the country. They supported the rich and stopped helping the poor. Civil war erupted between the peasants and the wealthy landowners and government. The was lasted for 30 years before ending in 1996.
A new president signed the peace accords in 1996. Calling for land reforms and an increased health and education budget, the peace accords promised to help decrease inequality in Guatemala. However, the government still has a lot of work to do. Ten years after the accords were signed, the country is still rife with corruption.
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