History Guatemala

 Historical dates

25,000 years B.C: Mayas ancestors populate the territory.
300 years B.C.: beginning of the Mayan era.
300 AD: golden age of Mayan civilization. The ancient city of Tikal is the perfect example of this influence.
900: Mayan civilization collapses.
1523: arrival of Pedro de Alvarado and beginning of Spanish colonisation.
1542: founding of Antigua.
1773: destruction of Antigua and founding of a new capital: Guatemala Ciudad. The process of the end of Spanish colonisation is initiated.
September 15, 1821: independence of Guatemala that joins Mexico before separating from it in 1823 for the United Provinces of Central America.
March 21, 1841: sovereignty of Guatemala.
1898: military dictator Manuel Estrada Cabrera is in power and creates in 1899 the United Fruit Company, which leads to the entry of American investments into the country.
1930: advent of General Jorge Ubico, supported by the USA.
1945: Juan Jose Arevalo comes into power, and he will escape 20 coups d'Etat. Beginning of reforms to reallocate the land.
1951: Jacobo Arbenz Gazman is elected by universal suffrage. Land reallocation.
1954: coup d'Etat (set up by the CIA, United Fruit and the US embassy) and return to the dictatorship with Carlos Castillo Armas. Land restitution.
1962: beginning of the guerrilla, but also of the repression.
1976: terrible earthquake leaving more than 23,000 dead.
1982: guerrilla soldiers unite to form the UNRG (Guatemalese National Revolutionary Unity).
1991: election of Jorge Serrano. End of the dictatorship. 1992: The Nobel Peace prize is given to Rigoberta Menchu, a young Maya Indian woman who went into exile to Mexico in order to escape persecution.
1996: Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen is elected President. Peace agreements between the government and the GNRU. 1998: Hurricane Mitch devastates Central America and causes the death of thousands of people. 1999: Alvaro Arzú Irigoyen is replaced as head of government by Alfonso Portillo who wins the presidential elections and decides to impose law and order in the country. However, a wave of violence in the country leads him to declare a state of emergency.
December 29, 2003: the candidate of the Grand National Alliance (GANA), Oscar Berger, is elected president of Guatemala.