Lago de Atitlán seen from the Space Shuttle. Volcán San Pedro is at the top of the image; Panajachel is the largest white patch at the bottom.

Lago de Atitlán (Lake Atitlán) is a large lake in the Guatemalan Highlands. It is surrounded by volcanoes and towns and villages of the Maya people. Download high resolution version (1000x1000, 361 KB)Lago de Atitlan in Guatemala, photographed by astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle. ... Download high resolution version (1000x1000, 361 KB)Lago de Atitlan in Guatemala, photographed by astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle. ... The Space Shuttle Columbia seconds after engine ignition, 1981 (NASA). ... Panajachel is a town in the Guatemalan Highlands, to the south of the country. ... A lake is a body of water surrounded by land. ... A volcano is a geological landform (usually a mountain) where magma (rock of the earths interior made molten or liquid by high pressure and temperature) erupts through the surface of the planet. ... This article will mostly concern itself with the Maya civilization after the conquest by Spain. ...

The lake is volcanic in origin, filling an enormous caldera formed in an eruption 84,000 years ago. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it: "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing" Crater Lake, Oregon A caldera is a volcanic feature formed by the collapse of a volcano into itself. ... Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was a British writer who emigrated to the United States. ... Lake Como (Lago di Como in Italian, also known as Lario) is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. ...

The forests surround the lake are an important habitat of the Guatemalan national bird, the Quetzal. The lake surroundings also support extensive plantations, with communities harvesting coffee, rubber, sugar cane, macadamia, tea, bananas and lumber. Species Ref: ITIS 553589 The Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) is a colorful bird of the trogon family found in tropical areas of southern Mexico and of Central America. ... Coffee beans and a cup of coffee Coffee as a drink, usually served hot, is prepared from the roasted seeds (beans) of the coffee plant. ... Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky emulsion (known as latex) in the sap of a number of plants but can also be produced synthetically. ... Species Ref: ITIS 42058 as of 2004-05-05 Sugarcane is one of six species of a tall tropical southeast Asian grass (Family Poaceae) having stout fibrous jointed stalks whose sap at one time was the primary source of sugar. ... Species Macadamia integrifolia Macadamia tetraphylla The macadamia nut is the fruit of a tree native to the east coast of Australia. ... A cup of tea A tea bush. ... Species Hybrid origin; see text A banana is a tree-like plant (though strictly an herb) of the genus Musa in the family Musaceae, closely related to plantains. ... Lumber is the name used, generally in North America, for wood that has been cut into boards or other shapes for the purpose of woodworking or construction. ...

Geological history

The region first saw volcanic activity about 11 million years ago, and since then has seen four separate episodes of volcanic growth and caldera collapse, the most recent of which began about 1.8 million years ago and culminated in the formation of the present caldera. The lake now fills a large part of the caldera, reaching depths of up to 600 metres.

The caldera-forming eruption is known as Los Chocoyos eruption, and ejected up to 300 km³ of tephra. The enormous eruption dispersed ash over an area of some 6 million km²: it has been detected from Florida to Ecuador, and can be used as a stratigraphic marker in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. A chocoyo is a type of bird which is often found nesting in the relatively soft ash layer. Tephra is a generic term for air fall material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition or fragment size. ... State nickname: Sunshine State, Everglade State Other U.S. States Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Governor Jeb Bush Official languages English Area 170,451 km² (22nd)  - Land 137,374 km²  - Water 30,486 km² (17. ... Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, is basically the study of rock layers and layering (stratification). ... For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ... The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one_fifth of its surface. ... Ocean (from Okeanos, a Greek god of sea and water; Greek ωκεανός) covers almost three quarters (71%) of the surface of the Earth. ...

Since the end of Los Chocoyos, continuing volcanism has built three volcanoes in the caldera. Volcán Atitlán lies on the northern rim of the caldera, while Volcán San Pedro and Volcán Tolimán lie within the caldera. San Pedro is the oldest of the three and seems to have stopped erupting about 40,000 years ago. Tolimán began growing after San Pedro stopped erupting, and probably remains active, although it has not erupted in historic times. Atitlán has grown almost entirely in the last 10,000 years, and remains active, with its most recent eruption having occurred in 1853. Atitlán is a volcano near the Lago de Atitlán in the Highlands of Guatemala. ... San Pedro is a stratovolcano in Guatemala, on the shores of Lago de Atitlán. ... Tolíman is a stratovolcano in Guatemala, on the shores of Lago Atitlán. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

Culture

A view across Lago de Atitlán from Panajachel to Volcán Atitlán

The lake is surrounded by many villages, in which Maya culture is still prevalent and traditional dress is worn. The Maya people of Atitlán are predominantly Tzutuhil and Cakchiquel. During the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the Cakchiquel initially allied themselves with the invaders to defeat their historic enemies the Tzutuhil and Quiché Maya, but were themselves conquered and subdued when they refused to pay tribute to the Spanish. Lago Atitlán in the highlands of Guatemala - a view from Panajachel to Volcán Atitlán on the opposite shore. ... Lago Atitlán in the highlands of Guatemala - a view from Panajachel to Volcán Atitlán on the opposite shore. ... The Tzutuhil (or Tzutujil) are a Native American people, part of the Maya ethnic group. ... Spanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in the Americas of Christopher Columbus in 1492. ... This page is about the Native American people; for the dish, see quiche. ... A tribute (from Latin tribulum, contribution) is wealth one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often case in historical contests, of submission or allegiance. ...

Santiago Atitlán is the best known of the lakeside villages, and is noted for its worship of Maximón, an idol formed by the fusion of traditional Mayan saints, Catholic saints and conquistador legends. An effigy of Maximón resides in a different house each year, being moved in a grand procession during Semana Santa. Several towns in Guatemala have similar cults, most notably the cult of San Simón in Zuníl. Maximón and attendants, Santiago Atitlán Maximón is a saint worshipped in various forms by Maya people of several towns in the highlands of western Guatemala. ... An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture: the coin bears an effigy of Lincoln. An effigy is a rough representation of a person, for example a George W. Bush or Guy Fawkes made of straw and old clothing. ... Holy Week is the Christian week from Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday. ...

While Maya culture is very prominent in many lakeside towns, the largest town on the shores, Panajachel, has been overwhelmed over the years by tourists. It attracted many hippies in the 1960s, and although the war caused many foreigners to leave, the end of hostilities in 1996 saw visitor numbers boom again, and the town is entirely reliant on tourism today. Panajachel is a town in the Guatemalan Highlands, to the south of the country. ... Hippies (singular hippie or sometimes hippy) were members of the 1960s counterculture movement who adopted a communal or nomadic lifestyle, renounced corporate nationalism and the Vietnam War, embraced aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, and/or Native American religious culture, and were otherwise at odds with traditional middle class Western values. ... Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

Guatemalan Civil War

During the Guatemalan Civil War, the lake was the scene of many terrible human rights abuses, as the government pursued a scorched earth policy. Indigenous people were assumed to be universally supporters of the guerrillas who were fighting against the government, and were targeted for brutal reprisals. At least 300 Maya from Santiago Atitlán are believed to have disappeared during the conflict. A notable event of this era was the assassination of Stanley Rother, a missionary from Oklahoma, in the church at Santiago Atitlán in 1981. Scorched earth is a military tactic which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy whilst advancing through or withdrawing from an area. ... Guerrilla (also called a partisan) is a term borrowed from Spanish (from guerra meaning war) used to describe small combat groups. ... Jack Ruby murdered the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in a very public manner. ... A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ... Oklahoma is a southwestern state of the United States and its U.S. postal abbreviation is OK; others abbreviate the states name Okla. ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

1. Vallance J.W., Calvert A.T. (2003), Volcanism during the past 84 ka at Atitlan caldera, Guatemala, American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003

External links

• VolcanoWorld information (http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/south_america/guat/atitlan.html)
• Details of geological history (http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~jmbyman/currentresearch.html)
• Lago de Atitlán by Eve Andersson (http://www.eveandersson.com/guatemala/atitlan)
• Time Magazine article (http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,949376,00.html)