San Benito (Peten)

San Benito
Coordinates: 16 ° 55 ' N , 89 ° 55' W San Benito on the map of Guatemala	San Benito
	San Benito
Basic data
Country	Guatemala
Department	Peten
City foundation	1799
Residents	46,000 (2008)
- in the metropolitan area	40,000
Detailed data
surface	112 km 2
Population density	411 inhabitants / km 2
height	130 m
City structure	6th
Waters	Peten-Itzá lake
Post Code	17003
Time zone	UTC −6
City patron	San Benito de Palermo (festival: April 1st to 3rd)
	Peténs map

San Benito is a small town in Guatemala with a population of over 40,000 . It is located in the Departamento Petén and is the administrative seat of the municipality of San Benito, which extends over 112 km² and has almost 50,000 inhabitants.

geography

The city of San Benito is located in the center of Peten on the south-western shore of Lake Peten-Itzá at an altitude of 130 m. With Flores , the capital of the department bordering to the east, and its suburb Santa Elena, San Benito forms a metropolitan area in the heart of Peten, which plays a central role within the department in terms of trade, transport and tourism. San Benito is connected with Belize in the east and with Izabal in the south via the CA 13 , and with Alta Verapaz via the national route 5 . It is 507 km to Guatemala City via Izabal . A few kilometers east of San Benito is the Flores International Airport .

Because of the territorial extent of Petén and the very low population density, the Municipios of the Departamentos Petén are usually extremely large. The exception is San Benito, which with a little more than 110 square kilometers is the smallest of the twelve municipalities of the department. In contrast, the population density is comparatively very high. It is also unusual that almost the entire population is concentrated in the city.

The municipality extends in the hill country in the south and west of the Petén-Itzá-See. In recent years, the area, once completely covered by tropical rainforest , has been terrifyingly deforested . The climate is tropical and hot.

The neighboring municipalities are La Libertad in the southwest and west, San Andrés in the north, Flores in the east and San Francisco in the southeast.

history

The area around Lake Ptén Itzá was originally only inhabited by Itzá Maya , who were not subjugated by the Spaniards until 1697 because of fierce resistance. In 1799, the Catholic Church began to settle dark-skinned Afro-Caribbean immigrants from what is now Belize in front of Flores. Originally, they had settled on the northwestern shore of the lake, near San José , but were not particularly welcome there. The grouping of these immigrants immediately southwest of Flores then led to the foundation of the village of San Benito, which the church typically named after Benedict the Mohr . The arrival of Afro-Caribs lasted until 1824. Over time, these mingled with native Maya.

In 1805, San Benito was raised to a municipality, but this had to be reversed a short time later due to a lack of adequate infrastructure. San Benito remained part of Flores. On January 26, 1873 the municipality was re-established.

population

San Benito has been known for its colorful mix of people for over 200 years. The Afro-Caribs were joined by Maya of various ethnic groups and origins as well as Ladinos from all parts of the country and immigrants from Mexico . Kekchí from Alta Verapaz are concentrated in the village of La Cobanerita . The name of their village is a diminutive of Cobán , the capital of Alta Verapaz. Along with San Antonio, La Cobanerita is one of the two “ rural communities ” ( Aldeas ) of the municipality. There are also smaller rural settlements and hamlets.

economy

Together with Flores and Santa Elena, San Benito is the economic and commercial center of Petén, as well as an important transport hub. The people live mainly from trade and services as well as from handicrafts, agriculture and tourism. For tours in Petén, San Benito and its neighboring towns are an ideal starting point.

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