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First posted on November 22nd 2010







The Captaincy of Guatemala, 1538/70-1821



The Viceroyalty of New Spain, covering all of Mexico and Central America, was established in 1535. In 1544 it was subdivided in two; the Audiencia de Gracias was established, including Chiapas, Tabasco, Yucatan and Panama. In considerable areas, the native population continued to resist Spanish rule; Maya resistance was broken in 1546; the first Spanish city in Costa Rica, Cartago, founded in 1563.



In 1570 the seat of what was now referred to as the Captaincy of Guatemala (or Kingdom of Guatemala) was moved to Antigua (Guatemala); Tabasco and Yucatan (to New Spain) and Panama (to Lima, in 1567) were separated. The capital Antigua was destroyed by an earthquake in 1773; the capital then was moved to Guatemala City.
In 1534, the Diocesis of Santiago de Guatemala was established. In 1743 it was elevated an Archdiocesis, with the suffragan Dioceses of Comayagua (est. 1527 at Trujillo, transferred to Comayagua in 1561) and Nicaragua (est. 1534). The Diocesis of Chiapas had been erected in 1546. Another diocesis at Verapaz in Guatemala, erected 1556, was suppressed in 1605.
In the 16th century, mining, especially for silver, was thriving. Yet, the mines were soon exploited. The economy was mainly agricultural, the population centered on the highlands along the Pacific coast. The most fertile region was El Salvador, where cocoa and indigo were grown. The lowlands along the Caribbean coast were inhabited by Indios.
The region was subject to frequent raids of Dutch, French and British pirates; the city of Granada (Nic.) was conquered by them twice, in 1658 and 1660. In 1687 the Jamaican governor declared the Mosquito Coast a British protectorate. It was to remain contended between Spain and Britain for centuries.
In 1697, the last independent Maya Kingdom located on Lago Peten Itza was conquered by the Spanish.


In 1821 the area became independent as the United Provinces of Central America. In 1839 the latter disintegrated, and Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica became independent.





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WEB-BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . EXTERNAL FILES
Country Profiles Modern Articles Captaincy General of Guatemala, Royal Audiencia of Guatemala, from Wikipedia
Articles : Capitania General de Guatemala, Real Audiencia de Guatemala, from Wikipedia Spanish edition
Historical
Links Category : Colonial Central America, from Wikipedia
Organizations Asociacion para el Fomento de los Estudios Historicos en Centroamerica
Universidad de Costa Rica, Escuela de Historia
Historical Dictionaries A. de Alcedo, Diccionario geografico-historico de las Indias Occidentales o America, vol.1, 1786, vol.2 1787, vol.3, 1788, vol.4, 1788, vol.5, 1789, in Spanish, GB
Diccionario, from AFEHC
Portals
Timelines
Accounts of History Modern
Historical H.H. Bancroft, History of Central America, vol.1 (1887), vol.2 (1887), vol.3 (1887), posted on Internet Archive
D. Juarros, J. Bailly, A statistical and commercial history of Guatemala, 1824, GB
F. de Paula Garcia Pelaez, Memorias para la historia del antiguo reyno de Guatemala vol.1, 1851, vol.2, 1852, vol.3, 1852, in Spanish, GB
Specific Periods
Administration
Military
Economy & Finances
Social History
Ethnography
Religion De los hospitales et conventros que en el Reyno de Guatemala ha fundade nuestra religion, pp.478-485 in : J. Santos, Chronologia Hospitalaria, 1716, in Spanish, GB
History of Regions see Guiatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mosquito Coast
Article Los Altos, Central America
Local History D. Juarros, Compendio de la historia de la ciudad de Guatemala, vol.1, 1808, vol.2, 1810, in Spanish, GB
Guatemala City : History, Antigua, Guatemala, Quetzaltenango, Comayagua : History, Tegucigalpab : History, San Salvador : History, Leon, Nicaragua : History, Managua : History, San Jose, Costa Rica : History, Cartago, Costa Rica : History, Bluefields : History, from Wikipedia
Christopher Minster, A Brief History of the City of Antigua, Guaemala
History of Quetzaltenango, from Casa Xelaju
Institutions
Culture
Biographies Diccionario, from AFEHC
Vida Marabillosa del Venerable .. Padre Fray Melchor Lopez de Jesus, Predicador Apostolico, zelanissimo, y tenido, por Apostol en todo el Reyno de Guatemala, pp.310-408 in I.F. de Espinosa O.F.M. Chronica apostolica y seraphica de todos los colegios de Propaganda Fide 1746, in SpaNnish, GB
Others International Boundary Studies, search for Nicaragua
Nicaragua, from Alcohol and Drugs History Society
Neotropic Ecoregion, from WWF

WEB-BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . EXTERNALLY POSTED DOCUMENTS
Historical Data Lists of Statesmen from Guatemala by Ben Cahoon
Lists of Bishops Articles : Roman Catholic Diocese of Leon
Documents Historical Newspapers
Image Databanks
Archival Deposits Deposit Juan Navarrete, Letters, papers and maps relative to the history of Guatemala, 1534-1846, Bancroft Library : A Guide to the Manuscript Collections 1963 p.85
Constitutions, Laws Recopilacion de las Leyes de Indias, 1680, posted by Archivo Digital de la Legislacion en el Peru, in Spanish
Recopilacion de las Leyes de Indias, vol.1, 1774, vol.2, 1774, vol.3, 1774, in Spanish, GB
Recopilacion de las Leyes de Indias vol.1, 1791, vol.2, 1791, vol.3, 1791, in Spanish, GB
Jose Maria Zamora y Coronado, Biblioteca de legislacion ultramarina en forma de diccionario alfabetico, 1844, in Spanish, GB
Treaties
Document Collections AFEHC Fuentes
Historical Maps
Historical
Encyclopedia Entries 		Secular
Religious
Economic Porto Cavallo, p.261 in vol.2 of W. Beawes, Lex mercatoria, 1813, GB
Geographical Audience de Guatimala, pp.288-292 in J.J. Vaissete, Geographie historique, ecclesiastique et civile, 1755, in French, GB
The audience of Guatimala, pp.100-110 in J. Campbell, An account of the Spanish settlements in America, 1762, GB
Entry : Guatimala, in R. Brookes, The General Gazetteer or compendious Geographical dictionary, 1791, GB
Entry : Guatimala, in R. Brookes, The general Gazetteer, 1801, GB
Entry : Guatimala, in J. Morse, The American Gazetteer, 1804, GB
Entry : Guatimala, in R. Brookes, Brookes's General Gazetteer Improved, 1806, GB
Guatemala, pp.206-211 in vol.2 of A. de Alcedo, The geographical and historical dictionary of America and the West Indies, 1812, GB
Guatimala, pp.158-179 in vol.1 of R.H. Bonnycastle, Spanish America, 1818, GB
Historical Audience of Guatemala, pp.163-165 in vol.3 of Th. Salmon, Modern history or the present state of all nations, 1746, GB
Audience de Guatimala, pp.54-85 in vol.20 of F. de Marsy, Histoire moderne des Chinois, des Japonnois, des Indiens, des Persans, des Turcs, des Russes et des Americains, 1771, in French, GB
Audience of Guatimala, pp.146-152 in vol.39 of The modern part of an universal history, 1763, GB
Audience of Guatimala, pp.157 in vol.35 of An universal history, 1783, GB
Parliamentary Debates Hansard (British Parliament)
Tour Guides, Travelogues
Residence Memoirs
Institutions Archives, Musea, Libraries Archivo General de Centro America, Ciudad de Guatemala
Archivo General de la Nacion, El Salvador
Direccion General Archivo Nacional, Costa Rica
Archivo Nacional de Nicaragua, from Manfut
M. Chirino Ramos, Los archivos de Nicaragua: problematica y situacion actual
Official Symbols Flags, Coats of Arms
Coins, Banknotes

Bibliography General RHS Bibliography
Datenbasis Internationale Beziehungen und Länderkunde (Data Base on International Relations and Country Studies), keyword Mauritius (site in German, most titles listed in English; hundreds of entries; publications mostly since 1970)
on Central America AFEHC Bibliografia
Online Libraries General Gutenberg Library Online, Internet Archive
Persee (French search engine)
International Boundary Studies, search for Costa Rica
on Central America Latindex y las Revistas de la Universidad de Costa Rica
AFEHC Articulos,
Thesis Server TDX (Theses from Spanish Universities Online; almost exclusively in Spanish); search for Costa Rica
Online Journals General Directory of Open Access Journals
On Central America Dialogos. Revista Electronica in Spanish, on Costa Rican & Central American Historiography
Revista de Historia 2004, 2005 online
Historiography Article : Latin American Historiography (excluding Mexico and Brazil) - Writing on the precolonial and colonial periods from the sixteenth century to the present day, by G.L. Vasquez, pp.534-542, Article : Latin American Historiography (excluding Mexico and Brazil) - The National Period, 1820-1990, pp.542-545 in vol.2 of A Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing, NY 1998 [G]
General Accounts Thomas A. Skidmore, Peter H. Smith, Modern Latin America, NY : Oxford UP 5th edition 2001, KMLA Lib. Call Sign 980 S628m
E. Bradford Burns, Latin America, A Concise Interpretive History, Eaglewood NJ : Prentice Hall 6th edition (1972) 1994, KMLA Lib. Call Sign 980 B967l
Thomas L. Pearcy, The History of Central America, Basingstoke : Palgrave MacMillan 2006, KMLA Lib. Call Sign 972.8 P359h
Specific Topics
Historical Dictionaries Harvey K. Meyer, Historical Dictionary of Nicaragua, Metuchen N.J. : Scarecrow 1972 [G]
Theodore S. Creedman, Historicakl Dictionary of Costa Rica, 2nd ed., Metuchen NJ : Scarecrow 1991 [G]
R.E. Moore, Historical Dictionary of Guatemala, Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow 1973 [G]
Terry M. Mays, Historical Dictionary of Multinational Peacekeeping, Lanham Md. : Scarecrow 1996 [G]
Historical Atlas Carolyn Hall, Hector Perez Brignoli, Historical Atlas of Central America, Norman : University of Oklahoma Press 2003 [G]