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Quetzaltenango is the second most populous city of Guatemala, after Guatemala City. It is both the capital of Quetzaltenango Department and the municipal seat of Quetzaltenango municipality.

In 2000 it had an estimated population of 250,000. The population is about 50% indigenous or Amerindian, 49% Mestizo or ladino, and 1% other. Quetzaltenango is located in a mountain valley at an altitude of 2,333 meters (8,000 feet) above sea level.

History

In Pre-Columbian times Quetzaltenango was a city of the Mam Maya people called Xelajú, the name derived from "Xe laju' noj" meaning "place beside ten mountains". The city was said to already be over 300 years old when the Spanish first arrived. Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado defeated and killed Maya ruler Tecún Umán here. When Alvarado conquered the city for Spain in the 1520s, he called it by the Nahuatl name used by his Central Mexican Indian allies, "Quetzaltenango", generally considered to mean "the place of the quetzal bird" (although see note on etymology below). Quetzaltenango became the city's official name in colonial times. However, many people (especially, but not only, the indigenous population) continue to call the city "Xelajú" (pronounced shay-lah-WHO) or more commonly Xela for short, and some proudly, but unofficially, consider it the "capital of the Mayas".

From 1838 to 1840 Quetzaltenango was capital of the state of Los Altos, one of the states or provinces of the United States of Central America. As the union broke up, the army of Guatemala under Rafael Carrera conquered Quetzaltenango making it again part of Guatemala.

In the 19th century, coffee was introduced as a major crop in the area and the economy of Xela prospered. Much fine Belle Époque architecture can still be found in the city.

Recently, the city has become a popular destination for foreign students studying the Spanish language.

Climate

There are two main seasons in Quetzaltenango: the rainy season which generally runs from May through mid-November, and the dry season which runs from December until May. During the rainy season, rain falls consistently, usually in the afternoons. During the dry season, the city frequently will not receive a single drop of rain for months on end. From December through February, the days are quite warm, but the temperature drops dramatically during the nights.

Etymology

The original Nahuatl name was quetzaltenänco, quetzal-tenäm-co, of which a likely etymology is:

• -- meaning something like "place where there are erected walls"

(Note that, contrary to popular belief, the term quetzal does not mean feather of the quetzal bird but erected, and it became associated with quetzal feathers due to the fact that those were the kind of feathers that Mesoamerican rulers used in their erect head-dresses.)

Prominent citizens

• Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, President of Guatemala, born in Xela in 1913.
• Comandante Rolando Morán, one of the guerrilla leaders in Guatemalan Civil War, born there in 1929.

See also

• Guatemala
• Luna de Xelajú
• History of Guatemala
• History of Central America
• Tromso, Norway, Quetzaltenango's Twin City

• Cities in Guatemala