Guatemala City, Guatemala Department, Guatemala

History | Contemporary history | Structure and growth | Communications | Economy and Finance | Zones | Transport | Universities and schools | Sport

🇬🇹 Guatemala City, locally known as Guatemala or Guate, officially Ciudad de Guatemala, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nestled in a mountain valley called Valle de la Ermita. Guatemala City is also the capital of the Municipality of Guatemala and of the Guatemala Department. Guatemala City is the political, cultural, and economic centre of Guatemala.

History Human settlement on the present site of Guatemala City began with the Maya, who built a large ceremonial centre at Kaminaljuyu. This large Maya settlement, the biggest outside the Maya lowlands in the Yucatán Peninsula, rose to prominence around 300 BC due to an increase in mining and trading of obsidian, a valuable commodity for the pre-Columbian civilizations in Mesoamerica. Kaminaljuyu then collapsed around 300 AD for unknown causes.

After a series of devastating earthquakes had left the old capital city, Antigua Guatemala, in ruins and unusable to the Spanish colonial authorities. During this period the central plaza, with the Cathedral of Guatemala City and the Palace of the Captain-General, were constructed. After Central American independence from Spain the city became the capital of the United Provinces of Central America in 1821.

The 19th century saw the construction of the monumental Carrera Theater in the 1850s, and the modern-day Presidential Palace in the 1890s. At this time the city was expanding around the 30 de Junio Boulevard and elsewhere, displacing native settlements on the peripheries of the growing city. Earthquakes in 1917–1918 destroyed many historic structures. Under President Jorge Ubico in the 1930s a hippodrome and many new public buildings were constructed, although slums that had formed after the 1917–1918 earthquakes continued to lack basic amenities.

Guatemala City continues to be subject to natural disasters, with the latest being the two disasters that struck in May 2010: the eruption of the Pacaya volcano and, two days later, the torrential downpours from Tropical Storm Agatha.

Contemporary history Guatemala City serves as the economic, governmental, and cultural epicenter of the nation of Guatemala. The city also functions as Guatemala's main transportation hub, hosting an international airport, La Aurora International Airport, and serving as the origination or end points for most of Guatemala's major highways. The city, with its robust economy, attracts hundreds of thousands of rural migrants from Guatemala's interior hinterlands and serves as the main entry point for most foreign immigrants seeking to settle in Guatemala.

In addition to a wide variety of restaurants, hotels, shops, and a modern BRT transport system (Transmetro), the city is home to many art galleries, theaters, sports venues and museums (including some fine collections of Pre-Columbian art) and provides a growing number of cultural offerings. Guatemala City not only possesses a history and culture unique to the Central American region, it also furnishes all the modern amenities of a world class city, ranging from an IMAX Theater to the Ícaro film festival (Festival Ícaro), where independent films produced in Guatemala and Central America are debuted.

Structure and growth Guatemala City is located in the mountainous regions of the country, between the Pacific coastal plain to the south and the northern lowlands of the Peten region.

The city's metropolitan area has recently grown very rapidly and has absorbed most of the neighboring municipalities of Villa Nueva, San Miguel Petapa, Mixco, San Juan Sacatepequez, San José Pinula, Santa Catarina Pinula, Fraijanes, San Pedro Ayampuc, Amatitlán, Villa Canales, Palencia, and Chinautla, forming what is now known as the Guatemala City Metropolitan Area.

The city is subdivided into 22 zones ("Zonas") designed by the urban engineering of Raúl Aguilar Batres, each one with its own streets ("Calles"), avenues ("Avenidas") and, sometimes, "Diagonal" Streets, making it pretty easy to find addresses in the city. Zones are numbered 1–25, with Zones 20, 22 and 23 not existing as they would have fallen in two other municipalities' territory. Addresses are assigned according to the street or avenue number, followed by a dash and the number of metres it is away from the intersection.

For example, the INGUAT Office on "7a Av. 1-17, Zona 4" is a building which is located on Avenida 7, 17 meters away from the intersection with Calle 1, toward Calle 2 in zone 4.

7a Av. 1-17, Zona 4; and 7a Av. 1-17, Zona 10, are two radically different addresses.

Short streets/avenues do not get new sequenced number, for example, 6A Calle is a short street between 6a and 7a.

Some "avenidas" or "Calles" have a name in addition to their number, if it is very wide; for example, Avenida la Reforma is an avenue which separates Zone 9 and 10, and Calle Montúfar is Calle 12 in Zone 9.

Calle 1 Avenida 1 Zona 1 is the centre of every city in Guatemala.

Zone One is the Historic Center (Centro Histórico), lying in the very heart of the city, the location of many important historic buildings, including the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura (National Palace of Culture), the Metropolitan Cathedral, the National Congress, the Casa Presidencial (Presidential House), the National Library, and Plaza de la Constitución (Constitution Plaza, old Central Park). Efforts to revitalize this important part of the city have been undertaken by the municipal government.

Besides the parks, the city offers a portfolio of entertainment in the region, focused on the so-called Zona Viva and the Calzada Roosevelt, as well as four degrees North. Casino activity is considerable, with several located in different parts of the Zona Viva. The area around the East market is being redeveloped.

Within the financial district are the tallest buildings in the country, including: Club Premier, Tinttorento, Atlantis building, Atrium, Tikal Futura, Building of Finances, Towers Building Batteries, Torres Botticelli, Tadeus, building of the INTECAP, Royal Towers, Towers Geminis, Industrial Bank towers, Holiday Inn Hotel, Premier of the Americas, among many others to be used for offices, apartments, etc. Also included are projects such as Zona Pradera and Interamerica's World Financial Center.

One of the most outstanding mayors was the engineer Martin Prado Vélez, who took over in 1949, and ruled the city during the reformist Presidents Juan José Arévalo and Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, although he was not a member of the ruling party at the time and was elected due his well-known capabilities. Of cobanero origin, married with Marta Cobos, he studied at the University of San Carlos; under his tenure, among other modernist works of the city, infrastructure projects included El Incienso bridge, the construction of the Roosevelt Avenue, the main road axis from East to West of the city, the town hall building, and numerous road works which meant the widening of the colonial city, its order in the cardinal points and the generation of a ring road with the first cloverleaf interchange in the city.

In an attempt to control the rapid growth of the city, the municipal government (Municipalidad de Guatemala), headed by longtime Mayor Álvaro Arzú, has implemented a plan to focus growth along important arterial roads and apply Transit-oriented development (TOD) characteristics. This plan, denominated POT (Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial), aims to allow taller building structures of mixed uses to be built next to large arterial roads, and gradually decline in height and density moving away from such. It is also worth mentioning, that due to the airport being in the south of the city, height limits based on aeronautical considerations have been applied to the construction code. This limits the maximum height for a building, at 60 metres (200 feet) in Zone 10, up to 95 metres (312 feet) in Zone 1.

Communications Guatemala City is headquarters to many communications and telecom companies, among them Tigo, Claro-Telgua, and Movistar-Telefónica. These companies also offer cable television, internet services and telephone access. Due to Guatemala City's large and concentrated consumer base in comparison to the rest of the country, these telecom and communications companies provide most of their services and offerings within the confines of the city. There are also seven local television channels, in addition to numerous international channels. The international channels range from children's programming, like Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, to more adult offerings, such as E! and HBO. While international programming is dominated by entertainment from the United States, domestic programming is dominated by shows from Mexico. Due to its small and relatively income-restricted domestic market, Guatemala City produces very little in the way of its own programming outside of local news and sports.

Economy and Finance Guatemala City, as the capital, is home to Guatemala's central bank, from which Guatemala's monetary and fiscal policies are formulated and promulgated. Guatemala City is also headquarters to numerous regional private banks, among them CitiBank, Banco Agromercantil, Banco Promerica, Banco Industrial, Banco GyT Continental, Banco de Antigua, Banco Reformador, Banrural, Grupo Financiero de Occidente, BAC Credomatic, and Banco Internacional. By far the richest and most powerful regional economy within Guatemala, Guatemala City is the largest market for goods and services, which provides the greatest number of investment opportunities for public and private investors in all of Guatemala. Financing for these investments is provided by the regional private banks, as well as by foreign direct and capital investment, mostly from the United States. Guatemala City's ample consumer base and service sector is represented by the large department store chains present in the city, among them Siman, Hiper Paiz & Paiz (Walmart), Price Smart, ClubCo, Cemaco, Sears and Office Depot.

Zones Guatemala City is divided into 22 zones in accordance with the urban layout plan designed by Raúl Aguilar Batres. Each zone has its own streets and avenues, facilitating navigation within the city. Zones are numbered 1 through 25. However, numbers 20, 22 and 23 have not been designated to zones, thus these zones do not exist within the city proper.

Transport • Renovated and expanded, La Aurora International Airport lies to the south of the city center. La Aurora serves as Guatemala's principal air hub. • Public transport is provided by buses and supplemented by a BRT system. The three main highways that bisect and serve Guatemala start in the city (CA9 Transoceanic Highway – Puerto San Jose to Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla –, CA1 Panamerican Highway – from the Mexican border to Salvadorian border – and to Peten). Construction of freeways and underpasses by the municipal government, the implementation of reversible lanes during peak rush-hour traffic, as well as the establishment of the Department of Metropolitan Transit Police (PMT), has helped improve traffic flow in the city. Despite these municipal efforts, the Guatemala City metropolitan area still faces growing traffic congestion. • A BRT (bus rapid transit) system called Transmetro, consisting of special-purpose lanes for high-capacity buses, began operating in 2007, and aimed to improve traffic flow in the city through the implementation of an efficient mass transit system. The system consists of five lines. It is expected to be expanded around 10 lines, with some over-capacity expected lines being considered for Light Metro or Heavy Metro.

Traditional buses are now required to discharge passengers at transfer stations at the city's edge to board the Transmetro. This is being implemented as new Transmetro lines become established. In conjunction with the new mass transit implementation in the city, there is also a prepaid bus card system called Transurbano that is being implemented in the metro area to limit cash handling for the transportation system. A new fleet of buses tailored for this system has been purchased from a Brazilian firm.

A light rail line known as Metro Riel is proposed.

Universities and schools Guatemala City is home to ten universities, among them the oldest institution of higher education in Central America, the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. Founded in 1676, the Universidad de San Carlos is older than all North American universities except for Harvard University.

The other nine institutions of higher education to be found in Guatemala City include the Universidad Mariano Gálvez, the Universidad Panamericana, the Universidad Mesoamericana, the Universidad Rafael Landivar, the Universidad Francisco Marroquín, the Universidad del Valle, the Universidad del Istmo, Universidad Galileo, Universidad da Vinci, and the Universidad Rural. Whereas these nine named universities are private, the Universidad de San Carlos remains the only public institution of higher learning.

Sport Guatemala City possesses several sportsgrounds and is home to many sports clubs. Football is the most popular sport, with CSD Municipal, Aurora F.C., and Comunicaciones being the main clubs.

The Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores, located in the Zone 5 of the city, is the largest stadium in the country, followed in capacity by the Estadio Cementos Progreso, Estadio del Ejército, and Estadio El Trébol. An important multi-functional hall is the Domo Polideportivo de la CDAG.

The city has hosted several promotional functions and some international sports events: in 1950 it hosted the VI Central American and Caribbean Games, and in 2000 the FIFA Futsal World Championship. On 4 July 2007 the International Olympic Committee gathered in Guatemala City and voted Sochi to become the host for the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In April 2010, it hosted the XIVth Pan-American Mountain Bike Championships.

Guatemala City hosted the 2008 edition of the CONCACAF Futsal Championship, played at the Domo Polideportivo from 2 to 8 June 2008.

Guatemala City, Guatemala Department, Guatemala 

Guatemala City is rated Beta − by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) which evaluates and ranks the relationships between world cities in the context of globalisation. Beta level cities are cities that link moderate economic regions to the world economy.

Guatemala City has a population of over 994,078 people. Guatemala City also forms the centre of the wider Guatemala City metropolitan area which has a population of over 2,450,000 people. Guatemala City is ranked #621 for startups with a score of 0.255.

To set up a UBI Lab for Guatemala City see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Guatemala City has links with:

🇦🇩 Andorra la Vella, Andorra 🇨🇳 Beijing, China 🇨🇴 Bogotá, Colombia 🇻🇪 Caracas, Venezuela 🇪🇸 Coslada, Spain 🇨🇺 Havana, Cuba 🇺🇸 Hollywood, USA 🇵🇪 Lima, Perú 🇵🇹 Lisbon, Portugal 🇪🇸 Madrid, Spain 🇳🇮 Managua, Nicaragua 🇲🇽 Monterrey, Mexico 🇺🇾 Montevideo, Uruguay 🇵🇦 Panama City, Panama 🇺🇸 Providence, USA 🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇲🇽 Saltillo, Mexico 🇨🇷 San José, Costa Rica 🇭🇳 San Pedro Sula, Honduras 🇸🇻 San Salvador, El Salvador 🇮🇨 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands 🇨🇱 Santiago, Chile 🇹🇼 Taipei, Taiwan
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license | GaWC | StartupBlink

Antipodal to Guatemala City is: 89.467,-14.6

Locations Near: Guatemala City -90.5333,14.6

🇬🇹 Mixco -90.6,14.633 d: 8.1  

🇬🇹 Petapa -90.556,14.506 d: 10.7  

🇬🇹 San Miguel Petapa -90.556,14.506 d: 10.7  

🇬🇹 Chinautla -90.501,14.703 d: 11.9  

🇬🇹 Villa Nueva -90.636,14.534 d: 13.3  

🇬🇹 San Juan Sacatepéquez -90.643,14.72 d: 17.8  

🇬🇹 Villa Canales -90.551,14.389 d: 23.6  

🇬🇹 Chimaltenango -90.817,14.65 d: 31  

🇬🇹 Escuintla -90.787,14.297 d: 43.4  

🇬🇹 Patzún -91.017,14.683 d: 52.8  

Antipodal to: Guatemala City 89.467,-14.6

🇮🇩 Bengkulu 102.25,-3.783 d: 18168.7  

🇮🇩 Bengkulu City 102.264,-3.792 d: 18168.2  

🇮🇩 Teluk Dalam 97.8,0.55 d: 18097.1  

🇮🇩 Padang 100.355,-0.951 d: 18082.5  

🇮🇩 Liwa 104.083,-5.033 d: 18094.3  

🇮🇩 Padang Panjang 100.429,-0.458 d: 18033.8  

🇮🇩 Sawahlunto 100.777,-0.681 d: 18029.9  

🇮🇩 Bukittinggi 100.367,-0.3 d: 18023.9  

🇮🇩 Pringsewu 104.961,-5.356 d: 18033.1  

🇮🇩 Bandar Lampung 105.267,-5.45 d: 18009.9  

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