Guatemala Overview

The Republic of Guatemala, Guatemala for short (Spanish: República de Guatemala), is the most populous country in Central America. Mexico is to the north, Belize, and Honduras to the east and El Salvador to the south. It also has a coast to the Caribbean Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Its capital city is Guatemala.

A Brief History of Guatemala

The history of Guatemala, which was home to the Mayans, one of the oldest communities in the world, dates back to 2500s BC. The Peten region is the region where the oldest remains belonging to the Mayans are located. Guatemala, where many communities from Mayan roots lived, was exposed to the colonial activities of the Spaniards until 1821 when the Spaniards came to the region in 1519. In the 1821-1900s, the country was under an unstable period of internal civil strife. In the early 1900s, it was ruled by some dictators supported by the USA. With the revolution in 1944, many reforms were implemented in the country and these led to civil wars. With the peace that came in 1996, Guatemala started a recovery process in economic and social fields.

Geography in Guatemala

Country lands are divided into four different regions in terms of physical structure. A low, lowland region with an average width of 60 km on the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Sierra Madre volcanic mountain range, which is the continuation of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas Range in Mexico, in the north-south direction, the mountains extending parallel to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, in the north, called Peten There is a wide plain region. There are many crater lakes in Guatemala. Usumacinta, Motagua, and Polochic rivers, which are the important rivers of the country, emerge from the Sierra Madre Mountains and flow into the Atlantic Ocean.

Climate in Guatemala

Due to its proximity to the equator, it has a hot and humid climate. The average annual temperature in western regions and other lowlands is between 25-30 ° C. The annual average temperature of 20 ° C in regions with altitudes up to 1500 meters of the country drops to 10 ° C in regions higher than 1500 meters. Guatemala is a country with abundant rainfall. The region where precipitation is most abundant is the Atlantic Ocean coast. In the mountainous region in the middle of the country, the temperature is low, the amount of precipitation is low.

Coffee Production in Guatemala

When Guatemala was introduced to coffee in the early 1700s, it was used as an ornamental plant. In the 1860s, the government encouraged coffee plantations, making coffee a sector. Anacafe (Asociacion Nacional Del Cafe) was established by the state in 1960 in Guatemala, where there are more than 125 thousand small farms, to provide financial, research, and market support to existing and new farmers.

Guatemalan coffee thrives in seven main regions. Antigua, Huehuetenango, and Atitlan are the prominent regions among these. Each region has its own growing conditions and microclimate. Antigua coffees are grown on the slopes of the volcano where there is little rain and a lot of suns. Huehuetenango coffees are grown at the highest altitude at the foot of the Mexican border. Atitlan coffees are grown in volcanic soils. The climate of Guatemala is very rainy and humidity is high. Therefore, farmers process their coffee using the wet process method.