瓜地马拉(Guatemala)

正式名称瓜地马拉共和国（Republic of Guatemala）

中美洲国家。面积108,889平方公里。人口约11,687,000（2001）。首都︰瓜地马拉市。马雅印第安人约占人口的55%，约占总人口42%的拉迪诺人多为西班牙人和美洲印第安人混血人种的後裔。语言：西班牙语（官方语）。宗教︰天主教。货币︰格查尔（Q）。瓜地马拉最广阔的低地是犹加敦半岛的佩滕区和北面加勒比海沿岸。山脉约占全国面积的一半，贯穿该国中部。北部佩滕的热带森林有大量优质树木和橡胶树。瓜地马拉的经济是正处於开发中的市场经济，主要以农业为基础。是中美洲最大的咖啡生产国。政府形式是共和国，一院制。国家元首暨政府首脑为总统。

从西元前2500年的简单农村开始，瓜地马拉和犹加敦的马雅人发展出一种令人印象深刻的文明。其核心在佩滕北部，在那里建立了最古老的马雅石柱和蒂卡尔的祭祀中心。西元900年以後，马雅文明衰败，而西班牙人在1523年开始征服他们的後裔。1821年瓜地马拉城的中美洲殖民地宣布从西班牙独立，瓜地马拉被并入墨西哥帝国，直到1823年帝国解体为止。1839年瓜地马拉成为第一批独裁者统治下的独立共和国，他们几乎持续掌权到下个世纪结束。1945年一个自由民主联盟执政，进行了彻底的改革。政府试图没收那些隶属於美国企业产权的土地，以促使美国政府在1954年支援一次军事入侵。翌年，瓜地马拉的社会革命结束，大部分的改革被扭转过来。此後，长期政治动荡与暴力成为瓜地马拉政治的特点，造成约二十万人死亡，其中大部分要归咎於政府的军队。1991年瓜地马拉放弃长久以来对贝里斯的主权要求，两国建立了外交关系。随着游击队试图掌权，瓜地马拉继续受到暴力之害。1996年签订和平条约後，该国开始从内战中慢慢复苏。

English version：

Guatemala

Country, Central America. Area: 42,042 sq mi (108,889 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 11,242,000. Capital: Guatemala. Mayan Indians are about 55% of the population; Ladinos, mostly of mixed Hispanic-Indian origin, are about 42%. Language: Spanish (official). Religion: Roman Catholicism. Currency: quetzal. Guatemala has extensive lowlands in the Petén portion of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Caribbean littoral in the north. Mountains comprise about half the total area and cut across the country's midsection. The northern tropical rain forests of the Petén are rich in fine woods and rubber. It has a developing market economy based largely on agriculture, and is Central America's leading coffee producer. It is a republic with one legislative body; its head of state and government is the president. From simple farming villages dating to 2500 BC, the Maya of Guatemala and the Yucatán developed an impressive civilization. Its heart was the northern Petén, where the oldest Mayan stelae and the ceremonial center of Tikal are found. Mayan civilization declined after AD 900, and the Spanish began the subjugation of their descendants in 1523. Independence from Spain was declared by the Central American colonies in Guatemala City in 1821, and Guatemala was incorporated into the Mexican empire until its collapse in 1823. In 1839 Guatemala became an independent republic under the first of a series of dictators who held power almost continuously for the next century. In 1945 a liberal-democratic coalition came to power and instituted sweeping reforms. Attempts to expropriate land belonging to U.S. business interests prompted the U.S. government in 1954 to sponsor an invasion. In the following years Guatemala's social revolution came to an end and most of the reforms were reversed. Chronic political instability and violence henceforth marked Guatemalan politics; most of the 200,000 deaths that resulted were blamed on government forces. In 1991 it abandoned its long-standing claims of sovereignty over Belize and the two countries established diplomatic relations. It continued to experience violence as guerrillas sought to seize power. A peace treaty was signed in 1996, and the country started slowly to recover from its civil war.