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28-585: Rafael Landívar University was inaugurated on 22 January 1962 with 138 students, in the classrooms of Liceo Guatemala, lent to the Jesuits by the Marist Brothers. In July of that year the university moved to a corrugated roof facility in Zone 10 of Guatemala City, before moving to its present location in Zone 16. Campus Quetzaltenango is in the southwest of the country, 200 km from the capital city, in

56-809: A large valley surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, 2,334 meters above sea level. In 1992 the La Verapaz URL campus was opened on the premises of Coban College. In 1997 construction began on the present campus on the grounds of the Craft Education Center, with financial assistance from Spain – Basques, the University of Deusto, and the ALBOAN foundation. The new campus opened on 2 January 2000. In 2005, with funding from KfW German development bank, new classroom buildings and administrative and academic offices were built, along with creation of

84-620: A major crop in the area. As a result, the economy of Xela prospered . Much fine Belle Époque architecture can still be found in the city. On October 24, 1902, at 5:00 pm, the Santa María Volcano erupted. Rocks and ash fell on Quetzaltenango at 6 PM, only one hour after the eruption. In the 1920s, a young Romani woman named Vanushka Cardena Barajas died and was buried in the Xela city cemetery. An active legend has developed around her tomb that says those who bring flowers or write

112-613: A request on her tomb will be reunited with their former romantic partners. The Guatemalan songwriter Alvaro Aguilar wrote a song based on this legend. In 1930 the only electric railway in Guatemala, the Ferrocarril de Los Altos , was inaugurated. It was built by AEG and Krupp and had 14 train cars. The track connected Quetzaltenango with San Felipe , Retalhuleu . It was soon destroyed by mudslides and finally demolished in 1933. The people of Quetzaltenango are still very proud of

140-866: Is both the seat of the namesake Department and municipality , in Guatemala . The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of 2,330 meters (7,640 feet) above sea level at its lowest part. It may reach above 2,400 m (7,900 ft) within the city. The Municipality of Quetzaltenango consists of an area of 122 km (47 sq mi). Municipalities abutting the municipality of Quetzaltenango include Salcajá , Cantel , Almolonga , Zunil , El Palmar , Concepción Chiquirichapa , San Mateo , La Esperanza , and Olintepeque in Quetzaltenango department and San Andrés Xecul in Totonicapán department. In pre-Columbian times, Quetzaltenango

168-621: Is home to the Club Xelajú MC soccer team. The team competes at Estadio Mario Camposeco which has a capacity of 13,500 and is the most successful non-capital team in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala . Due to the city's high altitude many athletes have prepared themselves here such as Olympic silver medalist Erick Barrondo and the 2004 Cuban volleyball team. The swimming team has enjoyed success in national and international events. Quetzaltenango withdrew from hosting

196-415: The 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games . It planned to build a 30,000-seat stadium by 2016, as well seven new facilities for indoor sports and aquatics. The city has a system of micro-buses for quick and cheap movement. A micro-bus is essentially a large van stuffed with seats. Micro-buses are numbered based on the route they take (e.g., " Ruta 7 "). There is no government-run mass transport system in

224-524: The "capital of the Mayas". From 1838 to 1840 Quetzaltenango was the capital of the state of Los Altos , one of the states or provinces of the Federal Republic of Central America . As the union broke up, the army of Rafael Carrera conquered Quetzaltenango making it part of Guatemala. In 1850, the city had a population of approximately 20,000. During the 19th century, coffee was introduced as

252-569: The Americas who allied with Spain and fought alongside the conquistadors during the Spanish colonization of the Americas . These auxiliaries acted as guides, translators and porters, and in these roles were also referred to as yanakuna , particularly during the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire . The term was also used for formations composed of indigenous warriors which were used by

280-772: The Liceo Javier College of La Verapaz. Further support came from the Flemish Universities Network VLIR , Belgium. The Campus San Roque González de Santa Cruz SJ, Huehuetenango , opened in January 2000 on the premises of La Salle College Diversified, with the Bachelor of Law and Social Sciences, Master in Business Administration, and Bachelor of Social Work, with a technical focus for local development management. It

308-604: The 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." Quetzaltenango became the city's official name in colonial times . However, many people (especially the indigenous population) continue to call the city "Xelajú" or more commonly "Xela" for short, and some proudly, but unofficially, consider it

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336-573: The Spanish for reconnaissance and combat duties. Indian auxiliaries continued to be used by the Spanish to maintain control over their colonies in the Americas; frequently stationed on the frontier , they were often used to suppress anti-colonial revolts such as Arauco War . The formations of auxiliary Indians arose commonly from alliances established by the Spaniards , exploiting ethnic and tribal antagonisms that they found during their occupation of

364-663: The Spanish once they had submitted to the conquest, such as the Tz'utujil and the K'iche' of Quetzaltenango , and provided them with warriors to assist further conquest. In 1524, fresh from his victory over the Tz'utujil, Pedro de Alvarado led his army against the non-Maya Xinca of the Guatemalan Pacific lowlands. At this point Alvarado's force consisted of 250 Spanish infantry accompanied by 6,000 indigenous allies, mostly Kaqchikel and Cholutec. The Mam fortress of Zaculeu

392-477: The Spanish routinely fielded indigenous allies; at first these were Nahua brought from the recently conquered Mexico, later they also included Maya . It is estimated that for every Spaniard on the field of battle, there were at least 10 native auxiliaries. Sometimes there were as many as 30 indigenous warriors for every Spaniard, and it was the participation of these Mesoamerican allies that was particularly decisive. Some newly conquered Maya groups remained loyal to

420-570: The Spanish to storm the entrance and break the defences. After the initial conquest, most of these allies were considered less necessary and, sometimes, a liability. At times they were needed for defense of the extended Spanish Empire . They were incorporated into the military forces of the Empire, forming their own units, organised along European models under their own names, such as Compañías de Indios Nobles ("Companies of Noble Indians"). The necessity of defence came from either European threats like

448-399: The average low is 6.4 °C or 43.5 °F and the average high is 22.5 °C or 72.5 °F. Historically, the city produced wheat , maize , fruits, and vegetables. It also had a healthy livestock industry. Livestock was exported throughout the country and to El Salvador . As of 1850, wheat was the largest export, followed by cacao , sugar , wool and cotton . Quetzaltenango

476-507: The city. The sole public means of transport is the bus or micro-buses. Transportation to other cities is provided by bus. Bicycling is a way to get around and to travel to (and in) rural areas. Quetzaltenango Airport provides air service to the city. Quetzaltenango (Xela) is the center of many schools and Universities that provide Education to locals and many thousands of students from the surrounding cities and departments (states) and international students from North America and Europe, that's

504-462: The climate in Quetzaltenango can go from mild to chilly, with occasional sporadic warm episodes. The daily high is usually reached around noon. From then on, temperatures decrease exceptionally fast. The city is quite dry, except during the rainy season. Quetzaltenango is the coolest major city in Guatemala. There are two main seasons in Quetzaltenango (as in all of Guatemala); the rainy season, which generally runs from late May through late October, and

532-678: The dry season, which runs from early November until April. During the rainy season, rain falls consistently, usually in the afternoons, but there are occasions in which it rains all day long or at least during the morning. During the dry season, the city frequently will not receive a single drop of rain for months on end. The coldest months are November through February, with minimum temperatures averaging 4 °C or 39.2 °F, and maximum temperatures averaging 22 °C or 71.6 °F. The warmest months are March through July, with minimum temperatures averaging 8 °C or 46.4 °F and maximum temperatures averaging 23 °C or 73.4 °F. Yearly,

560-644: The final siege of the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan , Cortés, according to the account of one of his soldiers, Bernal Díaz del Castillo , had some 200,000 Tlaxcallan and other native auxiliaries, while the Aztec warriors drawn from the numerous cities surrounding Lake Xochimilco in the Valley of Mexico numbered more than 300,000. The expedition of Pedro de Alvarado to Guatemala was composed of 480 Spaniards and thousands of auxiliary Indians from Tlaxcala , Cholula and other cities in central Mexico. In Guatemala

588-695: The railway. A railway museum has been established in the city center. Since the late 1990s Quetzaltenango has been having an economic boom, which makes it the city with the second-highest contribution to the Guatemalan economy . With its first high-rise buildings being built, it is expected by 2015 to have a more prominent skyline, with buildings up to 15 floors tall. In 2008, the Central American Congress PARLACEN announced that every September 15, Quetzaltenango will be Central America 's capital of culture. Quetzaltenango

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616-598: The reason it's a very important city for the south-west/north-west region of the Country of Guatemala, for many decades Quetzaltenango has produced distinguished Citizens through all Educational establishments, among those we can mention: Quetzaltenango is twinned with: 14°50′N 91°31′W  /  14.833°N 91.517°W  / 14.833; -91.517 Indian auxiliaries Indian auxiliaries , also known as Indios amigos ( lit.   ' friendly Indians ' ), were those indigenous peoples of

644-703: The status of Regional Campus under the name Regional Campus San Luis Gonzaga, SJ, of Zacapa. The university has a Department of Academic Social Responsibility whose function is to be a bridge between social groups in need and entities providing such assistance including disciplines at the university. The university has the following schools: Activities at the main campus include: 14°35′45″N 90°29′3″W  /  14.59583°N 90.48417°W  / 14.59583; -90.48417 Quetzaltenango Quetzaltenango ( Spanish pronunciation: [ketsalteˈnaŋɡo] , also known by its Maya name Xelajú [ʃelaˈχu] or Xela [ˈʃela] )

672-653: The territory they were attempting to conquer. Hernán Cortés was one of the first captains who was known to strengthen his columns with these natives. Commonly after the conquest these auxiliary Indians were divided among the settlers of the territories already conquered. They often constituted the most numerous group of the conquerors' followers: During Hernán Cortés ' campaign against the Aztecs from 1519 to 1521, he supplemented his meagre force of Spanish soldiers (numbering some 1,300) with hundreds of thousands of native auxiliaries, from various states such as Tlaxcala . During

700-530: Was a city of the Mam Maya people called Xelajú, although by the time of the Spanish Conquest it had become part of the K'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj . The name may be derived from xe laju' noj meaning "under ten mountains". The city was said to have already been over 300 years old when the Spanish first arrived. With the help of his allies , Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado defeated and killed

728-464: Was attacked by Gonzalo de Alvarado y Contreras , brother of Pedro de Alvarado, in 1525, with 40 Spanish cavalry and 80 Spanish infantry, and some 2,000 Mexican and K'iche' allies. When the Spanish besieged the Ixil city of Nebaj in 1530, their indigenous allies managed to scale the walls, penetrate the stronghold and set it on fire. Many defending Ixil warriors withdrew to fight the fire, which allowed

756-713: Was selected for scholarships by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (2003-2007) and KfW Bankengruppe Foundation in a grant-credit project mainly aimed at students of Mayan descent, fostering regional development and teacher training. Zacapa Regional Headquarters opened in 1977 with technical training in irrigation, union management, and social work. The following year business administration and social work with an emphasis on research and development management were added, along with agricultural sciences with an emphasis on horticulture. It enrolls about 1,500 students from Salama, Jalapa, Jutiapa, and Petén. In 2008 it acquired

784-494: Was supposed to host 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games but dropped out due to a lack of funding for the event. In March 2022, indigenous activists began blockading the central waste deposit near Valle de Palajunoj to protest a city development plan enacted by the municipal authorities in June 2017. According to Köppen climate classification , Quetzaltenango features a subtropical highland climate ( Cwb ). In general,

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