Guatemala City
Categories: Cities in Guatemala | Capitals in North America
Image:Guatemala National Palace of Culture.jpg National Palace of Culture |
Image:GuatCity2.JPG National Post Office Building |
Image:Southernguatemalacity.JPG View of quickly developing residential area in southern Guatemala City. |
Image:Teatronacionalguatemala.JPG Miguel Angel Asturias Cultural Center, also referred to as the National Theatre, located in Guatemala City's Civic Centre. |
Guatemala City (in full, La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción; locally known as Guatemala or, informally, Guate) is the capital and largest city of Guatemala and in Central America.
Population estimates for Guatemala City range from 2 million to over 3.5 million people. The city is located at 14°38′ N 90°33′ W, in a mountain valley in the south central part of the country.
History
Within the confines of modern Guatemala City is the ancient Maya city of Kaminaljuyu. Kaminaljuyu dates back some 2,000 years and is one of America's greatest archaelogical sites dating from this period. The center of Kaminaljuyu was located a short distance from the older part of Guatemala City. However, in the late 20th century the city grew around the ruins (and in some cases over some of the outlying ruins before they were protected). Most of hundreds of temple mounds have been built over with freeways, shopping centers, commerce, luxury hotels and residential areas. The central ceremonial center of Kaminaljuyu was protected by the Guatemalan government and is now a park within the city.
In Spanish colonial times this was a small town with a monastery called El Carmen, founded in 1620. The capital of Spanish colonial Central America was moved here after an earthquake destroyed the old capital Antigua Guatemala in 1775, and resulted in a great expansion of the city.
Features
Guatemala City is the economic, governmental, and cultural capital of the Republic, and functions as the main port of entry into the country with the country's largest international airport, La Aurora. In addition to a wide variety of restaurants, hotels and shops, the city has a wide variety of art galleries and museums (including some fine collections of Pre-Columbian art) and continually offers more and more cultural activities. There are 8 universities, Universidad Mariano Galvez, Universidad Rafael Landivar, Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Universidad del Valle, Universidad del Istmo, Universidad Galileo, Universidad Rural and Universidad de San Carlos, the third oldest university in the New World.
Guatemala City does not have an efficient public transportation service despite the many proposals and projects for the construction of a mass transportation system. Although the construction of freeways and underpasses by the municipal government, as well as the establishment of the Department of Metropolitan Transit Police PMT, has helped traffic flow in the city, the Guatemalan Metropolitan Area faces a growing transportation problem.
Guatemala City is served by La Aurora International Airport
External links
http://www.visitguatemala.comca:Ciutat de Guatemala da:Guatemala City de:Guatemala-Stadt es:Ciudad Guatemala eo:Gvatemalurbo fa:شهر گواتمالا fr:Guatemala Ciudad ko:과테말라 시 io:Guatemala-Urbo he:גואטמלה סיטי lt:Gvatemala (miestas) nl:Guatemala-stad ja:グアテマラシティ pl:Gwatemala (miasto) pt:Cidade da Guatemala sl:Ciudad Guatemala fi:Guatemala (kaupunki) sv:Guatemala City