Part 17

_History._--Guatemala was conquered by the Spaniards under Pedro de Alvarado between 1522 and 1524. Up to the years 1837-1839 its history differs only in minor details from that of the neighbouring states of Central America (q.v.). The colonial period was marked by the destruction of the ancient Indian civilization, the extermination of many entire tribes, and the enslavement of the survivors, who were exploited to the utmost for the benefit of Spanish officials and adventurers. But although the administration was weak, corrupt and cruel, it succeeded in establishing the Roman Catholic religion, and in introducing the Spanish language among the Indians and Ladinos, who thus obtained a tincture of civilization and ultimately a desire for more liberal institutions. The Central American provinces revolted in 1821, were annexed to the Mexican empire of Iturbide from 1822 to 1823, and united to form a federal republic from 1823 to 1839. In Guatemala the Clerical, Conservative or anti-Federal party was supreme; after a protracted struggle it overthrew the Liberals or Federalists, and declared the country an independent republic, with Rafael Carrera (1814-1865) as president. In 1845 an attempt to restore the federal union failed; in 1851 Carrera defeated the Federalist forces of Honduras and Salvador at La Arada near Chiquimula, and was recognized as the pacificator of the republic. In 1851 a new constitution was promulgated, and Carrera was appointed president till 1856, a dignity which was in 1854 bestowed upon him for life. His rivalry with Gerardo Barrios (d. 1865), president of Salvador, resulted in open war in 1863. At Coatepeque the Guatemalans suffered a severe defeat, which was followed by a truce. Honduras now joined with Salvador, and Nicaragua and Costa Rica with Guatemala. The contest was finally settled in favour of Carrera, who besieged and occupied San Salvador and made himself dominant also in Honduras and Nicaragua. During the rest of his rule, which lasted till his death in April 1865, he continued to act in concert with the Clerical party, and endeavoured to maintain friendly relations with the European governments. Carrera's successor was General Cerna, who had been recommended by him for election. The Liberal party began to rise in influence about 1870, and in May 1871 Cerna was deposed. The archbishop of Guatemala and the Jesuits were driven into exile as intriguers in the interests of the Clericals. Pres. Rufino Barrios (1835-1885), elected in 1873, governed the country after the manner of a dictator; he expelled the Jesuits, confiscated their property and disestablished and disendowed the church. But though he encouraged education, promoted railway and other enterprises, and succeeded in settling difficulties as to the Mexican boundary, the general result of his policy was baneful. Conspiracies against him were rife, and in 1884 he narrowly escaped assassination. His ambition was to be the restorer of the federal union of the Central American states, and when his efforts towards this end by peaceful means failed he had recourse to the sword. Counting on the support of Honduras and Salvador, he proclaimed himself, in February 1885, the supreme military chief of Central America, and claimed the command of all the forces within the five states. President Zaldivar, of Salvador, had been his friend, but after the issue of the decree of union he entered into a defensive alliance with Costa Rica and Nicaragua. In March Barrios invaded Salvador, and on the 2nd of April a battle was fought, in which the Guatemalan president was killed. He was succeeded by General Manuel Barillas. No further effort was made to force on the union, and on the 16th of April the war was formally ended. Peace, however, only provided opportunity for domestic conspiracy, with assassination and revolution in view. In 1892 General Jose Maria Reina Barrios was elected president, and in 1897 he was re-elected; but on the 8th of February 1898 he was assassinated. Senor Morales, vice-president, succeeded him; but in the same year Don Manuel Estrada Cabrera (b. 1857) was elected president for the term ending 1905. Cabrera promoted education, commerce and the improvement of communications, but his re-election for the term 1905-1911 caused widespread discontent. He was charged with aiming at a dictatorship, with permitting or even encouraging the imprisonment, torture and execution without trial of political opponents, with maladministration of the finances and with aggression against the neighbouring states. A well-armed force, which included a body of adventurers from San Francisco (U.S.A.) was organized by General Barillas, the ex-president, and invaded Guatemala in March 1906 from Mexico, British Honduras and Salvador. Barillas (1845-1907) proclaimed his intention of establishing a silver currency, and gained, to a great extent, the sympathy of the German and British residents; he had been the sole Guatemalan president who had not sought to prolong his own tenure of office. Ocos was captured by his lieutenant, General Castillo, and the revolution speedily became a war, in which Honduras, Costa Rica and Salvador were openly involved against Guatemala, while Nicaragua was hostile. But Cabrera held his ground, and even gained several indecisive victories. The intervention of President Roosevelt and of President Diaz of Mexico brought about an armistice on the 19th of July, and the so-called "Marblehead Pact" was signed on the following day on board the United States cruiser "Marblehead." Its terms were embodied in a treaty signed (28th of September) by representatives of the four belligerent states, Nicaragua taking no part in the negotiations. The treaty included regulations for the improvement of commerce and navigation in the area affected by the war, and provided for the settlement of subsequent disputes by the arbitration of the United States and Mexico.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Besides the works cited under CENTRAL AMERICA see the interesting narrative of Thomas Gage, the English missionary, in Juarros, _Compendio de la historia de Guatemala_ (1808-1818, 2 vols.; new ed., 1857), which in Bailly's English translation (London, 1823) long formed the chief authority. See also C. Juan Anino, _La Republica de Guatemala_ (Guatemala, 1894); T. Brigham, _Guatemala, The Land of the Quetzal_ (London, 1887); J. M. Caceres, _Geografia de Centro-America_ (Paris, 1882); G. Lemale, _Guia geografica de los centros de poblacion de la republica de Guatemala_ (Guatemala, 1882); F. A. de Fuentes y Guzman, _Historia de Guatemala o Recordacion Florida_ (Madrid, 1882); A. C. and A. P. Maudslay, _A Glimpse at Guatemala, and some Notes on the Ancient Monuments of Central America_ (London, 1899); Gustavo Niederlein, _The Republic of Guatemala_ (Philadelphia, 1898); Ramon A. Salazar, _Historia del disenvolvimiento intelectual de Guatemala_, vol. i. (Guatemala, 1897); Otto Stoll, _Reisen und Schilderungen aus den Jahren 1878-1883_ (Leipzig, 1886); J. Mendez, _Guia del immigrante en la republica de Guatemala_ (Guatemala, 1895); Karl Sapper, "Grundzuge der physikalischen Geographie von Guatemala," Erganzungsheft No. 115, _Petermann's Mitteilungen_ (Gotha, 1894); _Anuario de estadistica de la republica de Guatemala_ (Guatemala); _Memoria de la Secretaria de Instruccion Publica_ (Guatemala, 1899); _Handbook of Guatemala_, revised (Bureau of the American Republics, Washington, 1897); _United States Consular Reports_ (Washington); _British Foreign Office Diplomatic and Consular Reports_ (London).

GUATEMALA, or GUATEMALA LA NUEVA (i.e. "New Guatemala," sometimes written Nueva Guatemala, and formerly Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala), the capital of the republic of Guatemala, and until 1821 of the Spanish captaincy-general of Guatemala, which comprised Chiapas in Mexico and all Central America except Panama. Pop. (1905) about 97,000. Guatemala is built more than 5000 ft. above sea-level, in a wide table-land traversed by the Rio de las Vacas, or Cow River, so called from the cattle introduced here by Spanish colonists in the 16th century. Deep ravines mark the edge of the table-land, and beyond it lofty mountains rise on every side, the highest peaks being on the south, where the volcanic summits of the Sierra Madre exceed 12,000 ft. Guatemala has a station on the transcontinental railway from Puerto Barrios on the Atlantic (190 m. N.E.) to San Jose on the Pacific (75 m. S. by W.). It is thrice the size of any other city in the republic, and has a corresponding commercial superiority. Its archbishop is the primate of Central America (excluding Panama). Like most Spanish-American towns Guatemala is laid out in wide and regular streets, often planted with avenues of trees, and it has extensive suburbs. The houses, though usually of only one storey, are solidly and comfortably constructed; many of them are surrounded by large gardens and courts. Among the open spaces the chief are the Plaza Mayor, which contains the cathedral, erected in 1730, the archiepiscopal palace, the government buildings, the mint and other public offices; and the more modern Reforma Park and Plaza de la Concordia, now the favourite resorts of the inhabitants. There are many large schools for both sexes, besides hospitals and an orphanage. Many of the principal buildings, such as the military academy, were originally convents. The theatre, founded in 1858, is one of the best in Central America. A museum, founded in 1831, is maintained by the Sociedad Economica, which in various ways has done great service to the city and the country. There are two fortresses, the Castello Matamoros, built by Rafael Carrera (see GUATEMALA [republic] under _History_), and the Castello de San Jose. Water is brought from a distance of about 8 m. by two old aqueducts from the towns of Mixco and Pinula; fuel and provisions are largely supplied by the Pokoman Indians of Mixco. The general prosperity, and to some extent the appearance, of Guatemala have procured it the name of the Paris of Central America. It is lighted by electricity and has a good telephone service. Its trade is chiefly in coffee, but it also possesses cigar factories, wool and cotton factories, breweries, tanneries and other industrial establishments. The foreign trade is chiefly controlled by Germans.

The first city named Guatemala, now called Ciudad Vieja or "Old City," was founded in 1527 by Pedro de Alvarado, the conqueror of the country, on the banks of the Rio Pensativo, and at the foot of the volcano of Agua (i.e. "Water"). In 1541 it was overwhelmed by a deluge of water from the flooded crater of Agua; and in 1542 Alvarado founded Santiago de los Caballeros la Nueva, now Antigua. This city flourished greatly, and by the middle of the 18th century had become the most populous place in Central America, with 60,000 inhabitants and more than 100 churches and convents. But in 1773 it was ruined by an earthquake. It was rebuilt, and ultimately became capital of the department of Sacatepeques, and a health-resort locally celebrated for its thermal springs. But the Guatemalans determined to found a new capital on the site occupied by the hamlet of Ermita, 27 m. N.E. Here the third and last city of Guatemala was built, and became the seat of government in 1779. The remarkable regularity of the streets is due to the construction of the city on a uniform plan. The wide area covered, and the lowness of the houses, were similarly due to an ordinance which, in order to minimize the danger from earthquakes, forbade the erection of any building more than 20 ft. high. Many of the belfries of convents or churches, added after the ordinance had fallen into abeyance, were overthrown by the earthquake of 1874, which also destroyed a large part of Antigua.

GUATOS, a tribe of South American Indians of the upper Paraguay. They are of a European fairness and wear beards. They live almost entirely in canoes, building rough shelters in the swamps. They aided the Brazilians in the war with Paraguay 1865-70. Very few survive.

GUATUSOS, a tribe of American Indians of Costa Rica. They are an active, hardy people, who have always maintained hostility towards the Spaniards and retain their independence. From their language they appear to be a distinct stock. They were described by old writers as being very fair, with flaxen hair, and these reports led to a belief, since exploded, that they were European hybrids. There are very few surviving.

GUAVA (from the Mexican _guayaba_), the name applied to the fruits of species of _Psidium_, a genus belonging to the natural order _Myrtaceae_. The species which produces the bulk of the guava fruits of commerce is _Psidium Guajava_, a small tree from 15 to 20 ft. high, a native of the tropical parts of America and the West Indies. It bears short-stalked ovate or oblong leaves, with strongly marked veins, and covered with a soft tomentum or down. The flowers are borne on axillary stalks, and the fruits vary much in size, shape and colour, numerous forms and varieties being known and cultivated. The variety of which the fruits are most valued is that which is sometimes called the white guava (_P. Guajava_, var. _pyriferum_). The fruits are pear-shaped, about the size of a hen's egg, covered with a thin bright yellow or whitish skin filled with soft pulp, also of a light yellowish tinge, and having a pleasant sweet-acid and somewhat aromatic flavour. _P. Guajava_, var. _pomiferum_, produces a more globular or apple-shaped fruit, sometimes called the red guava. The pulp of this variety is mostly of a darker colour than the former and not of so fine a flavour, therefore the first named is most esteemed for eating in a raw state; both, however, are used in the preparation of two kinds of preserve known as guava jelly and guava cheese, which are made in the West Indies and imported thence to England; the fruits are of much too perishable a nature to allow of their importation in their natural state. Both varieties have been introduced into various parts of India, as well as in other countries of the East, where they have become perfectly naturalized. Though of course much too tender for outdoor planting in England, the guava thrives there in hothouses or stoves.

_Psidium variabile_ (also known as _P. Cattleyanum_), a tree of from 10 to 20 ft. high, a native of Brazil (the Araca or Araca de Praya), is known as the purple guava. The fruit, which is very abundantly produced in the axils of the leaves, is large, spherical, of a fine deep claret colour; the rind is pitted, and the pulp is soft, fleshy, purplish, reddish next the skin, but becoming paler towards the middle and in the centre almost or quite white. It has a very agreeable acid-sweet flavour, which has been likened to that of a strawberry.

GUAYAMA, a small city and the capital of a municipal district and department of the same name, on the southern coast of Porto Rico, 53 m. S. of San Juan. Pop. (1899) of the city, 5334; (1910) 8321; (1899) of the district, 12,749. The district (156 sq. m.) includes Arroyo and Salinas. The city stands about 230 ft. above the sea and has a mild, healthy climate. It is connected with Ponce by railway (1910), and with the port of Arroyo by an excellent road, part of the military road extending to Cayey, and it exports sugar, rum, tobacco, coffee, cattle, fruit and other products of the department, which is very fertile. The city was founded in 1736, but was completely destroyed by fire in 1832. It was rebuilt on a rectangular plan and possesses several buildings of note. Drinking-water is brought in through an aqueduct.

GUAYAQUIL, or SANTIAGO DE GUAYAQUIL, a city and port of Ecuador, capital of the province of Guayas, on the right bank of the Guayas river, 33 m. above its entrance into the Gulf of Guayaquil, in 2 deg. 12' S., 79 deg. 51' W. Pop. (1890) 44,772; (1897, estimate) 51,000, mostly half-breeds. The city is built on a comparatively level _pajonal_ or savanna, extending southward from the base of three low hills, called Los Cerros de la Cruz, between the river and the partially filled waters of the Estero Salado. It is about 30 ft. above sea-level, and the lower parts of the town are partially flooded in the rainy season. The old town is the upper or northern part, and is inhabited by the poorer classes, its streets being badly paved, crooked, undrained, dirty and pestilential. The great fire of 1896 destroyed a large part of the old town, and some of its insanitary conditions were improved in rebuilding. The new town, or southern part, is the business and residential quarter of the better classes, but the buildings are chiefly of wood and the streets are provided with surface drainage only. Among the public buildings are the governor's and bishop's palaces, town-hall, cathedral and 9 churches, national college, episcopal seminary and schools of law and medicine, theatre, two hospitals, custom-house, and several asylums and charitable institutions. Guayaquil is also the seat of a university corporation with faculties of law and medicine. A peculiarity of Guayaquil is that the upper floors in the business streets project over the walks, forming covered arcades. The year is divided into a wet and dry season, the former from January to June, when the hot days are followed by nights of drenching rain. The mean annual temperature is about 82 deg. to 83 deg. F.; malarial and bilious fevers are common, the latter being known as "Guayaquil fever," and epidemics of yellow fever are frequent. The dry or summer season is considered pleasant and healthy. The water-supply is now brought in through iron mains from the Cordilleras 53 m. distant. The mains pass under the Guayas river and discharge into a large distributing reservoir on one of the hills N. of the city. The city is provided with tramway and telephone services, the streets are lighted with gas and electricity, and telegraph communication with the outside world is maintained by means of the West Coast cable, which lands at the small port of Santa Elena, on the Pacific coast, about 65 m. W. of Guayaquil. Railway connexion with Quito (290 m.) was established in June 1908. There is also steamboat connexion with the producing districts of the province on the Guayas river and its tributaries, on which boats run regularly as far up as Bodegas (80 m.) in the dry season, and for a distance of 40 m. on the Daule. For smaller boats there are about 200 m. of navigation on this system of rivers. The exports of the province are almost wholly transported on these rivers, and are shipped either at Guayaquil, or at Puna, its deep-water port, 6-1/2 m. outside the Guayas bar, on the E. end of Puna Island. The Guayas river is navigable up to Guayaquil for steamers drawing 22 ft. of water; larger vessels anchor at Puna, 40 m. from Guayaquil, where cargoes and passengers are transferred to lighters and tenders. There is a quay on the river front, but the depth alongside does not exceed 18 ft. The principal exports are cacao, rubber, coffee, tobacco, hides, cotton, Panama hats, cinchona bark and ivory nuts, the value of all exports for the year 1905 being 14,148,877 _sucres_, in a total of 18,565,668 _sucres_ for the whole republic. In 1908 the exports were: cacao, about 64,000,000 lb., valued at $6,400,000; hides, valued at $135,000; rubber, valued at $235,000; coffee, valued at $273,000; and vegetable ivory, valued at $102,000. There are some small industries in the city, including a shipyard, saw-mills, foundry, sugar refineries, cotton and woollen mills, brewery, and manufactures of soap, cigars, chocolate, ice, soda-water and liqueurs.

Santiago de Guayaquil was founded on St James's day, the 25th of July 1535, by Sebastian de Benalcazar, but was twice abandoned before its permanent settlement in 1537 by Francesco de Orellana. It was captured and sacked several times in the 17th and 18th centuries by pirates and freebooters--by Jacob Clark in 1624, by French pirates in 1686, by English freebooters under Edward David in 1687, by William Dampier in 1707 and by Clapperton in 1709. Defensive works were erected in 1730, and in 1763, when the town was made a governor's residence, a castle and other fortifications were constructed. Owing to the flimsy construction of its buildings Guayaquil has been repeatedly burned, the greater fires occurring in 1707, 1764, 1865, 1896 and 1899. The city was made the see of a bishopric in 1837.

GUAYAS, or EL GUAYAS, a coast province of Ecuador, bounded N. by Manabi and Pichincha, E. by Los Rios, Canar and Azuay, S. by El Oro and the Gulf of Guayaquil, and W. by the same gulf, the Pacific Ocean and the province of Manabi. Pop. (1893, estimate) 98,100; area, 11,504 sq. m. It is very irregular in form and comprises the low alluvial districts surrounding the Gulf of Guayaquil between the Western Cordilleras and the coast. It includes (since 1885) the Galapagos Islands, lying 600 m. off the coast. The province of Guayas is heavily forested and traversed by numerous rivers, for the most part tributaries of the Guayas river, which enters the gulf from the N. This river system has a drainage area of about 14,000 sq. m. and an aggregate of 200 m. of navigable channels in the rainy season. Its principal tributaries are the Daule and Babahoyo or Chimbo (also called Bodegas), and of the latter the Vinces and Yaguachi. The climate is hot, humid and unhealthy, bilious and malarial fevers being prevalent. The rainfall is abundant and the soil is deep and fertile. Agriculture and the collection of forest products are the chief industries. The staple products are cacao, coffee, sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco and rice. The cultivation of cacao is the principal industry, the exports forming about one-third the world's supply. Stock-raising is also carried on to a limited extent. Among forest products are rubber, cinchona bark, toquilla fibre and ivory nuts. The manufacture of so-called Panama hats from the fibre of the toquilla palm (commonly called _jipijapa_, after a town in Manabi famous for this industry) is a long-established domestic industry among the natives of this and other coast provinces, the humidity of the climate greatly facilitating the work of plaiting the delicate straws, which would be broken in a dry atmosphere. Guayas is the chief industrial and commercial province of the republic, about nineteen-twentieths of the commerce of Ecuador passing through the port of its capital, Guayaquil. There are no land transport routes in the province except the Quito & Guayaquil railway, which traverses its eastern half. The sluggish river channels which intersect the greater part of its territory afford excellent facilities for transporting produce, and a large number of small boats are regularly engaged in that traffic. There are no large towns in Guayas other than Guayaquil. Duran, on the Guayas river opposite Guayaquil, is the starting point of the Quito railway and contains the shops and offices of that line. The port of Santa Elena on a bay of the same name, about 65 m. W. of Guayaquil, is a landing-point of the West Coast cable, and a port of call for some of the regular steamship lines. Its exports are chiefly Panama hats and salt.

GUAYCURUS, a tribe of South American Indians on the Paraguay. The name has been used generally of all the mounted Indians of Gran Chaco. The Guaycurus are a wild, fierce people, who paint their bodies and go naked. They are fearless horsemen and are occupied chiefly in cattle rearing.