A brief introduction to the history of
Guatemala
by Ana María Méndez Libby, director of IBIS Guatemala, 2016
Within the whirling roads of inequality, an historical approach to the foundation and historical
socio economic and political configuration of Iximulew, that land called Guatemala, the Land
of Corn.
It is said and understood that all countries’ birth is a painful and violent one.
Still, one where most its citizens as time
goes by, can look back and be grateful to
those who gave their lives for such nation, country, freedom or independence.
Yet, there are other more complex histories that continue defining and marking
realities, being sometimes as present as
when they happened.
As all colonization processes, the main
objective was that of extracting richness
for the colonizers as the Spanish Kingdom. The economic strategy was
geared by an economic institution
known as the “Encomienda” which entitled all colonizers to claim both land as
indigenous manpower for his own and in
the name of the
Kingdom.
Guatemala is recognized to have one of
the most complex histories in Latin
America. During the Colony it was known
as The General Captainship of Guatemala, and was second to the Viceroyalty
of New Spain, which today is known as
Mexico. The General Captainship of
Guatemala was the epicenter of power
from the south-eastern states of Mexico
up to Costa Rica. It concentrated a vast
indigenous population of diverse ethnical backgrounds, which founded and
ruled a complex colonial public and
commercial administration system.
The encomienda was the prize to the
Spaniards who decided to come to the
region and consisted in Land and Indigenous people to work it. The Spanish
crown saved a great amount of money,
creating a society with a core of dominators highly privileged and powerful, the
majority of them in-habiting the center
of Guatemala, where they established
the conservative institutions which
prevailed until 1871, when a liberal
movement started another period of
exploitation and economic reform on
behalf of the “criollos”, which were the
elite of European origin, born in
Guatemala, desirous to control the
country
The Mayan civilization, with out-standing
knowledge and development in math,
writing, astronomy, commerce and architecture was a flourishing one when
the Spanish colonization process arrived.
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