GUATEMALA
Land of Ancient Maya

Guatemala is a former Spanish colony and is now an independent country in Central America.The history of Guatemala starts around 300 C.E. in the precolonial period when the ancient Maya started civilization. At this time, the ancient Maya were one of the most highly developed people of precolonial America, creating many inventions we use today like calendars and observatories. Maya built a large number of cities. However a sudden abandonment occurred in 850 CE that is still unsolved today. Some scientists believe that it was caused by harsh weather, climate change or soil being infertile and could not grow crops.  When Spanish conquerors arrived in the 16th century, they found many cities in ruin. Under the Spanish, a capital was established at what is now Antigua, Guatemala. The capital achieved a certain magnificence, and the other major towns acquired some aspects of Spanish culture, but the outlying areas were only lightly affected. When the capital was hit by a series of earthquakes in 1773, it was moved by royal order to the present site of Guatemala City. Unlike close neighboring countries, Guatemala had no economic prosperity due to lack of gold and other metals, however, Guatemala's main economic activity became agricultural growing cacao beans, bananas and an extensive variety of other crops. Following independence from Spain (1821) and Mexico (1823), Guatemala was the political center of the United Provinces of Central America. In the 20th century, Guatemala almost became a communist country during the presidency of Jacobo Arbenz, who served from 1951 to 1954. Arbenz's administration implemented nationalistic economic and social reforms, including significant agrarian reform, which aimed to redistribute unused land to landless peasants. These reforms were supported by the Guatemalan Communist Party and alerted conservative landowners and the U.S. government, mainly due to the impact it made on the U.S.-owned United Fruit Company and the perceived threat of communist influence in the region. The communists would take the land, the bananas and many other important crops for the U.S economy and give them to the poor and lower class. The U.S then sent advisors to stop the communist parties whichcaused a civil war that devastated Guatemala for over 30 years! Guatemala is the Central American country with the highest percentage of indigenous people, with a significant portion of the population identifying as Maya indigenous people. Approximately 40% of the population in Guatemala are Indigenous, primarily consisting of the Maya people. Over the history of Guatemala many major changes were made to government, independence and how it was used and the purposes it served.