Guatemala is located south of Mexico, between Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea it shares Sothern borders with El Salvador and Honduras and disputed eastern border with Belize. About half of Belize of 12,270 square kilometers is disputed. This area is currently under Belize. Now the dispute is with International Court. Both Guatemala and Belize supposed to submit a brief but the court extended the due dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Capital of Guatemala is the Guatemala City in the state of Guatemala, this is the 4rd capital of Guatemala. FLAG GEOGRAPHY Guatemala is 105th largest Country with little less the 109,000 sq km of land. Two mountain chains enter Guatemala from west to east, dividing Guatemala into three major regions: the highlands, where the mountains are located; the Pacific coast, south of the mountains and the Petén region, north of the mountains. Volcán Tajumulco is the highest point in the Central America at 4,220 meters. The longest river is Motagua River at 486 km Largest lake is Lake Izabal with a surface area of 590 km² Lake Atitlán is the deepest lake in Central America with a maximum depth of 340 m deep. CLIMATE Guatemala enjoys a warm climate throughout the year. Guatemala's location makes it a target for hurricanes. Excessive rainfall during hurricane causes significant flooding and mudslides. Recent Hurricane Eta killed at least 100 people. PEOPLE Guatemalan population is over 17 million. Two ethnic groups influence most of Guatemalan culture. The indigenous Mayans and mestizos. Garifuna live along the Caribbean coast have their unique culture. Spanish is Guatemala’s official language, but 21 Mayan languages are still in use. The Maya peoples still wear brightly colored woven into capes, shirts, blouses, long skirts and dresses. Each village has its own unique pattern, making it easy to identify their hometown on sight. Roman Catholicism is the main religion. Local saint, Maximón known as San Simon of Guatemala. Always depicted in black, he wears a black hat and sits on a chair, often with a cigar placed in his mouth and a gun in his hand, with offerings of tobacco, alcohol, and Coca-cola at his feet. Protestant religion has grown urban centers. Guatemalans love their sport, especially soccer. A version of soccer, Futsal is played on a hard court with a small ball almost like Soccer played on a basketball court. Guatemala makes some of the most flavorful and delicious food in Central America. Corn, black beans, rice, meat (beef, chicken, pork), egg, cheese and tortillas are a mainstay. Most popular dish is Pepian. Some of the Arabica best coffee comes from Guatemala HISTORY Mayas were powerful and advanced civilization, the developed written scripts, established irrigation systems and built many pyramids that stat still stands today. Mayans built large advance cities like Tikal. They also advanced technically and culturally, developed an accurate calendar system based on astronomical observations. The Maya civilization was at its height between 1st and eighth century. When the Europeans arrived in the 14th century, the Mayan civilization was already declining. Guatemala became a Spanish colony 1524. Spain ruled Guatemala for nearly 300 years In 1821, Guatemala gained independence from Spain and became part of the Mexican Empire. Then later it became a member of the United Provinces of Central America for a short time. Then in 1847, Guatemala declared itself an independent republic and Rafeal Carrera became its first president. Country went through a period of dictatorship. United Fruit Company lost profit due to other local farm development, so they got the CIA involved and developed a coo to over through a president and help Carlos Castillo Armas to come to power, Civil war started in 1960 due to many human right violation of indigenous people, their cause was championed by Rigoberta Menchú and she received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for bring international attention to the government-sponsored genocide against the indigenous population. The Guatemalan Civil War ended in 1996 ECONOMY Guatemala has largest in Central America. Per capita income is just over $4,500 which 103rd country in the world. Guatemala’s economic is stable and growing at about 3 to 4 % in the last few years. Distribution of income is highly unequal. More than half of the population lives in poverty, and 23% of the population lives in extreme poverty. Poverty rate is high among indigenous people. Nearly one-half of Guatemala's children under age five are chronically malnourished, one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world. Service including tourism account for 63% of the economy. Light assembly, food processing and textile account for 23% of the economy. Agriculture account for 13% of the economy. Major agricultural exports are sugar, bananas, and coffee, over the past several years, fruit, and cut flowers export booming.

• published: 18 Dec 2020
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