Alta Verapaz Department
| Alta Verapaz | |
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| Capital | Coban |
| population | 1,294,000 calculation 2016 |
| surface | 8,686 km² |
| Population density | 149 inhabitants / km² |
| structure | 17 municipios |
| Highest elevation | 3015 |
| ISO 3166-2 | GT-AV |
| Website | Alta Verapaz |
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Alta Verapaz is a department of Guatemala and, together with Baja Verapaz, forms Region II in the middle and north of the country. The department covers 8,686 square kilometers and has about 1,294,000 inhabitants. The capital of Alta Verapaz is Cobán .
In the north Alta Verapaz borders on Petén , in the east on Izabal , in the south on Zacapa , El Progreso and Baja Verapaz and in the west on Quiché .
National nature
Alta Verapaz is located in a geographical and climatic transition zone between the cool highlands in southwest Guatemala and the warm and humid lowlands in the east and north. In the west-east direction it is traversed by the foothills of the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes (up to the Montañas Piedras Blancas) and the Sierra de Chamá, in the far south-east it is still part of the Sierra de las Minas , where the highest peaks are also located of the department (Cerro Raxon, 3015 m). Small parts of Alta Verapaz are still covered by the formerly continuous cloud forest, which together with lush green meadows results in a landscape that is amazingly similar to the German low mountain range . The northern lowlands are dominated by tropical rainforest . The department is essentially drained by the Río Chixoy in the west and north, in the remaining areas by the Río Cahabón and the Río Polochic and their tributaries.
Alta Verapaz is one of the rainiest departments in Guatemala. The average annual rainfall is over 2000 mm, the average relative humidity is 88 percent. A clearly definable dry and rainy season did not exist until a few years ago, instead fell almost continuously as the chipi chipi called drizzle . The increasing demand for wood and space for plantations and the associated ruthless deforestation of forest areas have led to considerable climatic changes: Longer dry periods are now interrupted by torrential rainfall, with corresponding negative effects on the soil, flora and fauna as well as agriculture. Two national symbols of Guatemala, the quetzal and the orchid Monja blanca (Lycaste skinneri) are increasingly in distress . The annual mean temperature in Alta Verapaz, which is between 300 and 3000 m high, is 19 degrees Celsius.
population
The 90 percent Maya population of the department is concentrated in Cobán and the surrounding area, towards the north the population density decreases more and more. In addition to Spanish , a large part of the population also speaks Kekchí , Pocomchí and Achí . The Germans who immigrated since the 1860s have largely mixed with the local population, and the families in question hardly have any knowledge of German. The approximately one million inhabitants of the Alta Verapaz department live in 17 municipalities ( large municipalities or districts ):
Pocomchí is still spoken in the municipalities of Santa Cruz Verapaz, San Cristóbal Verapaz, Tactic, Tamahú and Tucurú.
As a state administrative district , the department is headed by a governor sent by the central government . The Municipios are independent regional authorities with elected mayors and representatives of the people and are subdivided into Aldeas and Pueblos ( villages ) as well as Caseríos, Parajes, Fincas, Rancherías ( hamlets and farms ).
Economy and Transport
Over 60 percent of the working population is employed in agriculture and forestry . Traditional products are coffee and cardamom , cocoa , corn , beans , rice , chilli , sugar cane and others are also important . Secondary is the livestock . Significant growth experienced of tourism , mainly because of the various scenic sites. This also gave handicrafts an expanded market . In terms of mineral resources, Alta Verapaz has zinc , lead , silver and, to a limited extent, petroleum .
The Alta Verapaz, which is still somewhat remote from the main traffic routes, has a network of roads of varying quality. The overland road CA 14 (in the southern section also the national road 17 coming from Salamá) from Cobán to El Rancho is very well developed. At El Rancho there is the connection to the highway from Guatemala City to Puerto Barrios on the Caribbean coast , which has been partially expanded to form a motorway . Of secondary importance (and quality) are the winding highways from Santa Cruz Verapaz to Huehuetenango and from Tactic via Panzos to Izabal . The national road 5 leading from Cobán to the northeast should only be used by off-road vehicles.
Alta Verapaz and the whole of northern Guatemala will benefit economically and in terms of transport in the future from the Franja Transversal del Norte , a highway that is currently under construction , which will connect Huehuetenango to Izabal via the northern lowlands on the border with Mexico .
Coban has an airfield for general aviation . All railway lines were shut down.
Attractions
The starting point for sightseeing in Alta Verapaz is Cobán. The most important attractions include the caves at San Juan Chamelco ( Grutas del Rey Marcos ), the natural swimming pool Balneario Las Islas created by a river near San Pedro Carchá, the gigantic cave systems Candelaria and Lanquín ( Grutas de Lanquín ), whose underground river in the Río Cahabón where the famous natural limestone bridge of Semuc Champey is located. Rafting trips to Lake Izabal are also offered from there.
history
The area of today's Alta Verapaz department was a stronghold of the warlike Rabinal Maya around 1500. It was mainly because of them that the attempt by the Spaniards to conquer the region by military means failed. Because of this, it was soon called Tezulutlán , which roughly means "war zone". It was not until 1537 that the Dominican Bartolomé de Las Casas , who heavily criticized the violence of the Spanish conquerors against the natives, and some friars, succeeded in peacefully Christianizing and thus ruling the Indians living there . Soon the name of the region, which at the time also included Petén , Belize and parts of Izabal , changed to Verapaz , meaning “true peace”. Even during the long colonial period, the Dominicans shaped the region in social and economic terms.
The Republic of Guatemala established the Verapaz Department in 1825, the administrative seat of which was initially in Cobán, and then from 1833 in Salamá . On May 4, 1877 the definitive division into the two departments Baja Verapaz and Alta Verapaz took place, with Cobán again becoming the seat of the department administration.
The immigration of Germans so characteristic of Alta Verapaz began in 1863 with Rudolf Dieseldorff . The remote Cobán highlands, which are amazingly similar to Germany in terms of vegetation and climate, then attracted many more German emigrants, who found the best conditions for growing coffee here . President Justo Rufino Barrios Auyón (1873-1885) promoted the settlement of German farmers and provided them with a number of privileges, including expropriations of local farmers who inevitably had to enter the service of their German masters. Until 1890, almost all coffee production in the area was in German hands. The workers of the fincas were paid with money that their German employers emitted themselves and that was only valid for the trading companies of the respective fincas themselves or other selected shops. In this way Alta Verapaz became an almost independent economic area in Guatemala. Due to the needs of the export-oriented economy, the infrastructure of the region was improved with German capital and specialist knowledge: roads and railway lines were built (including the Verapaz railway , which was abandoned in 1963 ), which connected Cobán with Lake Izabal and thus with the sea.
President Jorge Ubico (1931–1944), a Nazi sympathizer and supporter of the now very nationally conservative German ethnic group Alta Verapaz, was forced by the USA towards the end of the Second World War to expropriate the large German landowners in Cobán and the surrounding area and move them to Germany sent back, often via the United States, to be exchanged for Allied prisoners of war. Many Guatemalans of German descent still live in Alta Verapaz, as their ancestors had already mixed with the indigenous population in the 19th century.
Alta Verapaz was badly affected several times by the Guatemalan civil war that raged between 1960 and 1996 .
On December 19, 2010, the government of Guatemala declared a state of emergency in Alta Verapaz. The reason she cited was the open takeover of power by the Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas since 2009 in the region, which they use as a corridor for drug trafficking . The military has the discretion to arrest, detain and search homes. The state of emergency is initially valid for 30 days and can be extended as required. At the beginning of 2011, the state of emergency was lifted after two months.
Web links
swell
- Julieta Sandoval: Germany en la Verapaz. In: Prensa Libre, June 24, 2005, D18-21
- Population according to World-Gazetteer.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Guatemala: Departments & Cities - Population Statistics in Maps and Tables. Retrieved March 18, 2018 .
- ^ Toni Keppeler: With a state of emergency against the cartel. In: the daily newspaper . December 20, 2010, accessed December 22, 2010 .
- ↑ Cecibel Romero, Toni Keppeler: Massacre in Guatemala. In: the daily newspaper. May 16, 2011, accessed May 16, 2011 .
Alta Verapaz | Baja Verapaz | Chimaltenango | Chiquimula | El Progreso | Escuintla | Guatemala | Huehuetenango | Izabal | Jalapa | Jutiapa | Petén | Quetzaltenango | Quiché | Retalhuleu | Sacatepéquez | San Marcos | Santa Rosa | Sololá | Suchitepéquez | Totonicapán | Zacapa
Coordinates: 15 ° 35 ′ 30.6 ″ N , 90 ° 8 ′ 58.2 ″ W.