Los Altos (Central America)
Los Altos is a region in Guatemala that was independent from 1838 to 1840 as the Republica del Sexto Estado de los Altos or part of the Central American Confederation (again briefly independent in 1848). Their capital was Quetzaltenango . Los Altos made up the western part of today's Guatemala and part of Chiapas, which is now part of Mexico .
On January 13, 1838, José Rafael Carrera Turcios captured Guatemala City and took power in the country. The brutality with which Carrera's troops took the city and Carrera's policy, which was extremely conservative, ultimately led to the secession of the western provinces of Guatemala, which declared their independence on February 2, 1838. The breakaway movement was led by liberal Guatemalans. Just two years later, in January 1840, Carrera managed to recapture Los Altos.
literature
- Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr .: Central America. History . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 15, pp. 664-668, here p. 665.