officially Republic of Guatemala
Country, Central America .
Area: 42,042 sq mi (108,889 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 11,971,000. Capital: Guatemala City . Mayan Indians constitute more than half of the population; Ladinos, mostly of mixed Hispanic and Indian origin, make up about two-fifths. Language: Spanish (official). Religion: Roman Catholicism. Currency: quetzal and U.S. dollar. Guatemala has extensive lowlands in the Petén portion of the Yucatán Peninsula and along the littoral of the Caribbean Sea in the north. Mountains occupy about half the total area and cut across the country's midsection. The northern tropical rainforests of the Petén are rich in fine woods and rubber. Guatemala has a developing market economy based largely on agriculture and is Central America's leading coffee producer. It is a republic with one legislative body; its head of state and government is the president. From simple farming villages dating to 2500 BC, the Maya of Guatemala and the Yucatán developed a sophisticated civilization. Its heart was the northern Petén, where the oldest Mayan stelae and the ceremonial centre of Tikal are found. Mayan civilization declined after AD 900, and the Spanish began subjugating the descendants of the Maya in 1523. Independence from Spain was declared by the Central American colonies in Guatemala City in 1821, and Guatemala was incorporated into the Mexican Empire until its collapse in 1823. In 1839 Guatemala became independent under the first of a series of dictators who held power almost continuously for the next century. In 1945 a liberal-democratic coalition came to power and instituted sweeping reforms. Attempts to expropriate land belonging to U.S. business interests (see United Fruit Company ) prompted the U.S. government in 1954 to sponsor an invasion by exiled Guatemalans. In the following years Guatemala's social revolution came to an end, and most of the reforms were reversed. Chronic political instability and violence henceforth marked Guatemalan politics; most of some 200,000 deaths that resulted from subsequent political violence were blamed on government forces. Thousands more died in 1976 when a powerful earthquake devastated the country. In 1991 Guatemala abandoned its long-standing claims of sovereignty over Belize, and the two countries established diplomatic relations. It continued to experience violence as guerrillas sought to seize power. A peace treaty was signed in 1996, but political violence, including kidnapping and assassination, continued. The economy languished throughout the rest of the decade, and the government elevated the U.S. dollar to the status of national currency, along with the quetzal, in 2002.