The first inhabitants of Central America set foot in what is now Guatemala as early as 18,000 BC, living as hunters and gatherers, moving from place to place in search of food and resources. 

The Ancient Maya
After the early development of civilizations in Mesoamerica, archeologists divide its history into three periods: Pre-Classic (2000 BC – 250 AD), Classic (250 – 900 AD) and Post Classic (900 – 1500 AD).

The prosperity of the Maya lasted until 900 AD when therewas inexplicably a vast decline in construction and monumental inscriptions. There is debate among scientists and archeologists as to what caused this decline.  Theories include drought-induced famine, over-population, foreign invasion, collapse of trade routes, epidemic disease and climate change).

The “Mayan Collapse” greatly affected the civilizations in the central lowlands.  Cities like Tikal were abandoned and over time buried under the growth of the tropical vegetation.

Spanish Conquest & Colonialism
Spanish invasion into Guatemala began in 1518, bringing devastating epidemics of disease and violence to the indigenous people. However, in 1523 the world of the Maya dramaticallychanged when under the authority of Hernán Cortés, Spaniard Pedro de Alvarado and his brother, Gonzalo de Alvarado, entered the Guatemala highlands.

After the deaths of more than 750,000 indigenous people from disease and violence during the Spanish conquest, the Mayan people of Guatemala found themselves slaves in their own land as the Spanish implemented the encomienda system in the late 1500s.  Under this system, the conquistadores and priests received land grants from the royal Spanish government, and the land was worked by the indigenous people who were forced into indentured servitude through the early 1800s. 

While the encomienda system, similar to the Medieval feudal system, was designed in theory to indoctrinate the indigenous people into the Catholic faith by paying tribute to the Spanish in return for protection and religious instruction, it was largely abused by the Spanish.  Abused, oppressed, and exploited, the Mayan people were stripped of their freedom, rights, religion and culture.

Guatemalan Independence
In the early 1800s, Guatemala saw rapid political changes.  On September 15, 1821, Guatemala held a council meeting in the capital and officially declared independence from Spain.  Guatemala joined the Mexican Empire in 1822, but civil war caused a governmental collapse of the empire. Subsequently a Central American convention was held, thus freeing Central America from Mexico and forming the federation of The United Provinces of Central America which included Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

The “Ten Years of Spring” (1945-1955)
The overthrow of Ubico began what is known as the “Ten Years of Spring.”  Beginning with the first democratic election of civilian writer and teacher Juan José Arévalo Bermejo as the Guatemalan president in 1945, this became a time of free speech, new political parties and social and land reforms.  Arévalo was responsible for initiating voter registration drives, national literacy programs and farming cooperatives as well.

The government’s new socio-economic programs spurred the growth of other programs around the country.  Communities began their own health and education programs, and churches became involved in land cooperatives.  This and other changes of a socialist nature led to cries of communism to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 

At the same time, the beginning of the Cold War between the U.S. and the USSR created a prominent anticommunist sentiment and had a vast impact on U.S. involvement in Guatemalan affairs.

The CIA made its first attempt at overthrowing Arbenz under the PBFORTUNE initiative in 1952 with authorization from U.S. President Harry Truman.  Not long after, memos came from CIA Headquarters with titles reading, “Guatemalan Communist Personel to be Disposed of During Military Operations.” These documents listed categories of people to be “neutralized” through murder or imprisonment and exile). 

With support from landowners and old military personnel, the CIA enacted a second attempt at a coup under the codename PBSUCCESS, this time successfully overthrowing Arbenz and installing a number of temporary leaders until appointing Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas as the new president in 1954.

Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996)
In 1962, the first official guerrilla group emerged as the start of the Guatemalan Civil War was coming to light.  Ex-military officers, students and communist party members joined together to form the Armed Rebel Forces (FAR).  Meanwhile, the U.S. continued to support the Guatemalan government sending weapons and providing counter-insurgency training for the national military.

In 1966, under the pretense as a civilian president, Julio César Méndez Montenegro was elected.  Military efforts were fortified under Méndez’s reign between 1966 and 1970.  During this time, the paramilitary organizations “White Hand” (Mano Blanca) and the “Anticommunist Secret Army” (Ejército Secreto Anticomunista) were formed.  These groups, trained by the U.S. Army Special Forces were forerunners of the death squads used to wipe out guerrilla armies.  Using napalm and death squads, the FAR was almost annihilated, and more than 30,000 people were killed, most of which were reportedly civilians.

Tthe Violent Years
In 1982, as the current president General Fernando Romeo Lucas García was exiting power, a number of army officers staged a coup to prevent he rise of the next hand-picked president, General Angel Aníbal Guevara.  The leaders of the coup instead appointed General José Efraín Ríos Montt to assume the presidency instead.

Montt was no exception to the military-controlled government that had dominated Guatemala for almost 32 years prior.  He disbanded the Congress, annulled the constitution, and gave himself the title of the “President of the Republic”.  Montt exerted his authority militarily, continuing massacres of thousands of civilians.  He was quoted in the New York Times on July 18, 1982 saying to a group of indigenous people, “If you are with us, we’ll feed you; if not, we’ll kill you".

In all, more than 200,000 innocent civilians were murdered by the end of the violence. Enumerated in Nunca Mas, the four-volume work published by Archbishop Juan Gerardi, more than 90% of the killings were attributed to the Guatemalan military.

Discussions of Peace (1994-1996)
Between 1994 and 1995, the United Nations with the cooperation of Guatemalan civil and political groups, began negotiating peace agreements.  As the longest, most gruesome battle in Central America was coming to an end, the first of the peace agreements was signed in March 1994, identifying the human rights for the Guatemalan people.  Though this was outlined in the 1985 Constitution, the Human Rights Accord provided the placement of U.N. officials in the country to supervise and protect the respect for human rights.

Recently, in the 2007 election, Alvaro Colom defeated former military general Otto Pérez Molina in the November 2007 election, garnering 52 percent of the vote in a run-off.  Colom faces the challenges of poverty, drug trafficking, gangs, high crime rates and poor education.  His social agenda includes creating jobs and re-enforcing security against violence along with building more schools and health care facilities.