Santiago de Guatemala, 1541-1773
Santiago de Guatemala, 1541-1773

Author: Christopher H. Lutz

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 9780806129112

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Santiago de Guatemala was the colonial capital and most important urban center of Spanish Central America from its establishment in 1541 until the earthquakes of 1773. Christopher H. Lutz traces the demographic and social history of the city during this period, focusing on the rise of groups of mixed descent. During these two centuries the city evolved from a segmented society of Indians, Spaniards, and African slaves to an increasingly mixed population as the formerly all-Indian barrios became home to a large intermediate group of ladinos. The history of the evolution of a multiethnic society in Santiago also sheds light on the present-day struggle of Guatemalan ladinos and Indians and the problems that continue to divide the country today.

Ladinos with Ladinos, Indians with Indians
Ladinos with Ladinos, Indians with Indians

Author: René Reeves

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2006-05-25

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9780804767774

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In the late 1830s an uprising of mestizos and Maya destroyed Guatemala's Liberal government for imposing reforms aimed at expanding the state, assimilating indigenous peoples, and encouraging commercial agriculture. Liberal partisans were unable to retake the state until 1871, but after they did they successfully implemented their earlier reform agenda. In contrast to the late 1830s, they met only sporadic resistance. Reeves confronts this paradox of Guatemala's nineteenth century by focusing on the rural folk of the western highlands. He links the area of study to the national level in an explicitly comparative enterprise, unlike most investigations of Mesoamerican communities. He finds that changes in land, labor, and ethnic politics from the 1840s to the 1870s left popular sectors unwilling or unable to mount a repeat of the earlier anti-Liberal mobilization. Because of these changes, the Liberals of the 1870s and beyond consolidated their hold on power more successfully than their counterparts of the 1830s. Ultimately, Reeves shows that community politics and regional ethnic tensions were the crucible of nation-state formation in nineteenth-century Guatemala.

An Overview of Historical and Socio-economic Evolution in the Americas
An Overview of Historical and Socio-economic Evolution in the Americas

Author: Alberto Ciferri

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2019-08-09

Total Pages: 578

ISBN-13: 1527538214

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This book includes concise descriptions of the history of 28 nations on the American continent, and focuses on features that hinder authentic development, particularly ethnic or class conflicts and wealth distribution. Its purpose is to stimulate an appreciation of history and cultural values, thus reinforcing the harmony of social relations. Essential elements of history, economics and sociology are presented in a plain and easily readable form, allowing the book to be directed to a non-specialized audience of individuals and students at the bachelors level in both developed and developing countries. The leadership of new generations will need to consider new development models based on balanced compromises between economic and technological progress and the most basic aspirations of society. Each chapter includes a brief presentation of data on the territory and the ethnic composition and current socio-economic situation of a particular American nation. They also provide a scholarly description of the main historical events, and end with a brief insight into how the successes or difficulties of the individual country relate to cultural and historical events and to the evolution of that country’s national identity or, indeed, identities.

Historical Dictionary of Guatemala
Historical Dictionary of Guatemala

Author: Michael F. Fry

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2018-02-20

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 1538111314

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Guatemala holds a dual image. For more than a century, travel writers, explorers, and movie producers have painted the country as an exotic place, a land of tropical forests and the home of the ancient and living Maya. Archaeological ruins, abandoned a millennium ago, have enhanced their depictions with a wistful, dreamy aura of bygone days of pagan splendor, and the unique colorful textiles of rural Maya today connect nostalgically with that distant past. Inspired by that vision, fascinated tourists have flocked there for the past six decades. Most have not been disappointed; it is a genuine facet of a complex land. Guatemala is also portrayed as a poor, violent, repressive country ruled by greedy tyrants with the support of an entrenched elite—the archetypal banana republic. The media and scholarly studies consistently confirm that fair assessment of the social, political, and economic reality. The Historical Dictionary of Guatemala contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Guatemala.