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| Ancient Guatemala:
In ancient Guatemala, the great Maya civilization lived in the fishing and farming villages of Guatemala's Pacific coast, as early as 2000 BC. The Maya civilization of Guatemala had one of the most advanced civilizations of the ancient world, Mesoamerica. During the Early Classic Period, AD 250, great temple cities started to be built and flourished in the Guatemalan highlands. By the Late Classic Period, AD 600 to 900, the center of power had moved to El Petén lowlands. The Mayas dominated Central America for centuries. The Mayas created great pyramids that showed their power and knowledge, temples, observatories, libraries. Some people from the elite group produced works of literature, philosophy, art and architecture.The Mayas excelled in mathematics and astronomy. The Mayas developed a calendar which is even more accurate than that used by NASA today. After the mysterious collapse of the great Maya civilization, the Itzaes also settled in El Petén, which is located around the present-day site of Flores. The Mayan people were defeated between 1523 and 1524 by the Spaniards led by Pedro de Alvarado. |
The New Guatemala:
Pedro de Alvarado conquered Guatemala for the king of Spain in 1523. Guatemala gained independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. The invasion of the Spanish to the Mayan Land brought devastions to
the Mayan Culture. The Spanish took Mayan land to cultivate tobacco
and sugar cane.
As time kept going on, Guatemala stablished it's governmet strictly
under the Spanish/ ladino control. Guatemala lived more than
30 years of internal war between the guerrilla and the government.
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