Guatemala City Founded

Spanish conquest of the highlands of Central America followed Pedro de Alvarado's campaigns in the 1520s. The colonial capital was established at Santiago de los Caballeros, but the city was repeatedly damaged by earthquakes and volcanic activity. After the devastating earthquakes of 1773, the authorities resolved to relocate, and in 1776 a new capital, today's Guatemala City, was founded in the Valley of the Hermitage.

The Spanish organized their Central American possessions as the Captaincy General of Guatemala, a jurisdiction within the larger viceroyalty of New Spain. It comprised the territory of present-day Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, as well as the modern Mexican state of Chiapas, administered from the captaincy's capital.

The captaincy general persisted until 1821, when Central America declared independence from Spain. After a brief annexation to Mexico, the region formed the Federal Republic of Central America, with Guatemala City as a leading center. Although the federation dissolved into separate nations by the early 1840s, Guatemala City remained the capital of Guatemala and one of the most important cities in the isthmus.