Santa Cruz del Quiché
Santa Cruz del Quiché is a ceety in Guatemala. It serves as the caipital o El Quiché depairtment an the municipal seat o Santa Cruz del Quiché municipality.
Santa Cruz del Quiché | |
|---|---|
Municipality | |
 Santa Cruz del Quiché, 2007 | |
  Santa Cruz del Quiché Location in Guatemala | |
| Coordinates: 15°1′48″N 91°9′0″W / 15.03000°N 91.15000°W | |
| Kintra |  Guatemala |
| Depairtment | El Quiché |
| Municipality | Santa Cruz del Quiché |
| Govrenment | |
| • Teep | Municipal |
| Area | |
| • Municipality | 311 km2 (120 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 2021 m (6,631 ft) |
| Highest elevation | 2500 m (8,200 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 1500 m (4,900 ft) |
| Population (Census 2002)[1] | |
| • Municipality | 62,369 |
| • Urban | 20,870 |
| • Ethnicities | K'iche' Ladino |
| • Releegions | Roman Catholicism Evangelicalism Maya |
| Website | http://www.inforpressca.com/quiche/ |
The ceety is locatit at 15°02′N 91°09′W / 15.03°N 91.15°W, at an elevation o 2,021 m (6,631 feet) abuin sea level. The urban population wis aboot 21,000 fowk in 2003.
History
eeditSanta Cruz del Quiché wis foondit bi Pedro de Alvarado, a companion an seicont in-command o conquistador Hernán Cortés, efter he burned doun the nearbi Maya caipital ceety o Q'umarkaj (or Utatlán, in the Nahuatl leid). The auldest biggins, includin a lairge cathedral an clock touer in the central plaza, wur constructit oot o the stanes o the Q'umarkaj ruins bi the Dominicans. Some think it likely that it wis in Santa Cruz where a group o anonymous K'iche' nobles o the Nim Ch'okoj class transcribit the Popol Vuh, the sacred text o the Maya.
In Santa Cruz, the umwhile rulers o Q'umarkaj wur reducit tae the status o peasant. As the livin conditions wur so pitiful in the ceety, the toun o Chichicastenango, aboot 20 mile tae the sooth o Santa Cruz, began tae swell wi the immigration o displacit Mayas an suin passed up Santa Cruz in baith size an importance.
Santa Cruz del Quiché haes an airport.
References
eedit- ↑ "XI Censo Nacional de Poblacion y VI de Habitación (Censo 2002)". INE. 2002. Archived frae the original on 20 October 2008. Retrieved 6 Julie 2012.