Zacapa Department

Department of Guatemala

This article is about the department. For the municipality, see Zacapa (municipality). For more on the rum, see Zacapa rum.

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish.  (January 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

*   * Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
* Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
* You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is `Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Departamento de Zacapa]]; see its history for attribution.`
* You may also add the template `{{Translated|es|Departamento de Zacapa}}` to the talk page.
* For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

|

Department of Guatemala

Zacapa Department

Departmento de Zacapa

Department of Guatemala

Central park of Zacapa

Flag

Coat of arms

Zacapa and its neighbors[a]

Guatemala on the Western Hemisphere

Country|  Guatemala
Capital| Zacapa
Municipalities| 10
Government

• Type| Departmental
Area

• Department of Guatemala

| 2,690 km2 (1,040 sq mi)
Population

(2018)[1]

• Department of Guatemala

| 245,374
• Density| 91/km2 (240/sq mi)
• Urban

| 108,485
• Religions

| Roman Catholicism Evangelicalism Maya
Time zone| UTC-6

Zacapa (Spanish pronunciation: [saˈkapa]) is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. It lies in eastern Guatemala with its capital in the city of Zacapa, approximately 112 kilometers (70 miles) from Guatemala City.

## Geography

[edit]

To the north lie the departments of Alta Verapaz and Izabal; to the east is the border with the Republic of Honduras; on the south are Chiquimula and Jalapa and to the west is El Progreso.

The northern half of the department is mountainous, crossed from west to east by the Sierra de las Minas. The southern part of the department has small chains of mountains and isolated hills that are separated by fairly deep ravines. The central part of the department is formed by the riverbed and surroundings of the Motagua River. The river forms a huge valley and depending on the topographic configuration, narrows or widens, giving rise to very fertile valleys and large plains. This is a benefit to the department and helps in the harvest of products such as sugar cane, tomatoes, good quality tobacco, and other plants.[2]

## Etymology

[edit]

Historian and poet, Capitán Don Francisco Antonio De Fuentes y Guzmán noted[3] that the name "Zacapa" derived from Nahuatl zacatl meaning grass or weed, and apan meaning in the river, a word which in turn is from atl meaning water. Zacapa means on the river of grass.[4]

## History

[edit]

Zacapa department was created on 10 November 1871,[2] as a much larger department. Since then, portions have become other departments, such as the creation of part of El Progreso Department from western Zacapa in 1908.[5]

## Population

[edit]

The population for the whole department of Zacapa is 245,374 (2018 census).[1]

## Climate

[edit]

The climate as in almost the whole region of Zacapa, excluding inhabited highlands, is semi-arid chaparral. This is due to the shadow effect the Sierra de las Minas has over the following land to the south. The average maximum average temperature oscillates between 30° and 40 °C throughout the whole year, with highs of 45 °C reached during the "Semana Santa" (Holy Week) and Summer (March, April, May), though there have been instances where the maximum capped at 25 °C for the day. The minimum might go from some 15 °C in cases of "extreme" conditions over some cold spell north winds, to 25 °C. The previous almost never happens, the latter is considered hot, and the usual hovers around 20 °C. There is a pronounced dry season, often marked by more than two months without rain, which worsens the air quality of the region tremendously. The region's flat areas are known for their loud insects, called chicharras, which chirp in the fields and along the roads during the dry season.

## Economy

[edit]

Zacapa is mainly a rural area that contains a large amount of flat land used mostly to grow cantaloupe, tobacco and roma tomatoes. Bordering the Zacapa valley is the Sierra de las Minas, which harbors fine hardwood forests, and contains marble mines and coffee plantations. Some of the world's finest jade is also found in this area.

## Municipalities

[edit]

1. Cabañas
2. Estanzuela
3. Gualán
4. Huité
5. La Unión
6. Río Hondo
7. San Diego
8. San Jorge
9. Teculután
10. Usumatlán
11. Zacapa

## References

[edit]

1. ^

* Chiquimula
* Jalapa
* El Progreso
* Alta Verapaz
* Izabal
* In Honduras,  Copán

1. ^ a b Citypopulation.de Population of departments in Guatemala
2. ^ a b "Datos de Zacapa" (in Spanish). deGUATE. 7 March 2004.
3. ^ Reference not found de Fuentes y Guzmán, Francisco Antonio (1882). Historia de Guatemala ó Recordación Florida (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Luis Navarro.
4. ^ Mendizábal Solares, Flor De María (28 November 2005), La Falta de Educación, Obstáculo para el Desarrollo Turístico de Guatemala (PDF), Thesis (in Spanish), Universidad del Istmo, archived (PDF) from the original on 23 June 2018
5. ^ El Progreso: Plan de desarollo departamental El Progreso 2011–2025. Guatemala: Secretaría de Planificación y Programación de la Presidencia (SEGEPLAN). 2011. p. 13.

## External links

[edit]

* www.zacapa.net - Official Website
* Gualán
* Interactive department map

* v
* t
* e

Departments of Guatemala

* Alta Verapaz
* Baja Verapaz
* Chimaltenango
* Chiquimula
* El Progreso
* Escuintla
* Guatemala
* Huehuetenango
* Izabal
* Jalapa
* Jutiapa
* Petén
* Quetzaltenango
* Quiché
* Retalhuleu
* Sacatepéquez
* San Marcos
* Santa Rosa
* Sololá
* Suchitepéquez
* Totonicapán
* Zacapa

Flag of Guatemala

14°58′21″N 89°31′42″W﻿ / ﻿14.97250°N 89.52833°W﻿ / 14.97250; -89.52833
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template