El Petén

El Petén is a department of the nation of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest in size-- at 12,960 square miles (33,566 km²) it is about 1/3 of Guatemala's area. The capital is Flores. The population in 2000 was estimated at 350,000. The Republic of Guatemala is a country in Central America, in the south of the continent of North America, bordering both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. ... Flores is the capital city of El Petén department of Guatemala. ...

History

El Petén was already the site of ceremonial architecture by the Maya civilization around 500 BC. El Mirador is El Petén's most important Pre-Classic Maya site; other important sites from this era include Cival. Later El Petén became the heartland of the Maya Classic Period (c. 200 - 900). At its height around 750 it is estimated that El Petén was home to several million people, being one of the most densely populated regions of the world at the time. Some areas are estimated to have had 2,600 people/mile² (1,000 people/km²). Agriculture was very extensive, and there is some evidence suggesting that the land was depleted by unsustainable over-farming, resulting in a famine which was an important factor in the collapse of the Classic Maya states of this area. The population is estimated to have dropped by 2/3 between the mid 9th century and the mid 10th century. This article is about the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. ... Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC Events and Trends 509 BC - Foundation of the Roman Republic 508 BC - Office of pontifex maximus created... El Mirador is a large Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in the north of the modern department of El Petén, Guatemala. ... Cival is an archaeological site in the Petén department of Guatemala, formerly a major city of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization. ... For other uses, see number 200. ... For other uses, see number 900. ... Events Last Umayyad caliph Marwan II (744-750) overthrown by first Abbasid caliph, Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah Categories: 750 | 750s ... ( 8th century - 9th century - 10th century - other centuries) Events Beowulf might have been written down in this century, though it could also have been in the 8th century Reign of Charlemagne, and concurrent (and controversially labeled) Carolingian Renaissance in western Europe Viking attacks on Europe begin Oseberg ship burial The... ( 9th century - 10th century - 11th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ...

Ruins such as Tikal, Holmul, Machaquila, Naranjo, Nakum, Piedras Negras, Seibal, Uaxactun, and Yaxha preserve important reminents of the Classic Maya in El Petén. Tikal is the largest of the ancient ruined cities of the Maya civilization. ... Inscription relating to the reign of king Itzamnaaj Kawil, 784-810. ... Piedras Negras is the modern name for a ruined city of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization located on the north bank of the Usumacinta River in the Peten department of Guatemala. ... Seibal (sometimes rendered as Ceibal) is a ruined site of the Maya civilization located in the south of the Peten department of Guatemala. ... Uaxactun (pronounced Wash-ak-toon) is an ancient ruin of the Maya civilization, located in the Peten department of Guatemala, some 40 km (25 miles) north of Tikal. ...

After the Classic collapse the population of the area continued to drop massively. The first Europeans to visit the region, an expedition led by Hernán Cortés which passed through in 1524 - 1525, reported that the region mostly had small hamlets separated by thick forest, with Tayasal being the only sizable inhabited city they observed in the region. World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... -1... Events March 1, 1524/5 - Giovanni da Verrazano lands near Cape Fear (approx. ... Events January 21 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement was born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manzs mother on Neustadt-Gasse, Zurich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. ... Flores is the capital city of El Petén department of Guatemala. ...

After Cortés' expedition, the Spanish largely left El Petén alone for generations until an expedition from Yucatán succeeded in conquering the last independent Maya state there in the late 17th century (see: Spanish conquest of Yucatán). The Yucatán Peninsula separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... The Spanish Conquest of Yucatán was a long and involved process taking some 170 years to complete. ...

The Spanish town of Flores was established atop the site of Tayasal, but this remained an isolated backwater through the colonial era and after the independence of Mexico and Central America. When Guatemalan President Rafael Carrera sent a small force to Flores to claim the region for Guatemala in the 1840s, the governments of Mexico and Yucatán decided the region was not worth the trouble of contesting. The United Mexican States or Mexico ( Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or México; regarding the use of the variant spelling Méjico, see section The name below) is a country located in North America, bordered to the north by the United States of America, to the southeast by Guatemala and Belize, to... Central America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. ... José Rafael Carrera Turcios (24 October 1814 – 14 April 1865) was the ruler of Guatemala from about 1839 until his death. ... Events and Trends First signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi New Zealand. ... The United Mexican States or Mexico ( Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or México; regarding the use of the variant spelling Méjico, see section The name below) is a country located in North America, bordered to the north by the United States of America, to the southeast by Guatemala and Belize, to...

Starting in the 1960s the Guatemalan government offered land in El Petén to any citizen willing to settle on it and pay a fee of $25. A road was opened up to Flores, although it was unpaved, and the notorious bus trip to Flores was known to take up to 24 hours to travel the 300 miles (500 km). Small airports were built at Flores and Tikal, bringing tourists to the region. In the early 1970s a road was opened from Tikal to Belize. Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... A tourist boat travels the River Seine in Paris, France Tourism can be defined as the act of travel for the purpose of recreation, and the provision of services for this act. ... Belize is a small nation on the eastern coast of Central America, on the Caribbean Sea bordering Mexico to the northwest and Guatemala to the west and south. ...

The first paved road in El Petén was built in 1982.

Since the 1990s many new settlers have come to El Petén and it is experiencing severe deforestation. Events and trends Technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology Reduction in size and cost of mobile phones leads to a massive surge in their popularity Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K) Microsoft Windows operating system becomes virtually ubiquitous on IBM... Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forest. ...

Municipalities

El Petén consists of the following municipalites, listed with their population in 2000:

1. Dolores - 26,269
2. Flores - 22,594
3. La Libertad - 79,416
4. Melchor de Mencos - 23,813
5. Poptún - 30,386
6. San Andrés, Guatemala - 15,103
7. San Benito, Guatemala - 23,752
8. San Francisco, Guatemala - 8,066
9. San José, Guatemala - 3,602
10. San Luis - 44,903
11. Santa Ana, Guatemala - 7,792
12. Sayaxché - 47,693

Flores is the capital city of El Petén department of Guatemala. ...