Bibliography

Alfaro, R. J., Limites entre Panamá y Costa Rica (Panama 1913); Anderson, L., El Laudo Loubet: contribucion al Estudio de la cuestión de Límites entre Costa Rica y Panamá (San José 1911); Cosby, J. T., Latin American Monetary Systems and Exchange Conditions (New York 1915); Financial Conference, Proceedings of the First Pan American (Washington 1915); James, W., The Mulberry Tree (Chapters xiii and xiv, London 1913); Pan American Union, Costa Rica (Washington 1914); Périgny, M. de, Costa Rica (In Bulletin de la Société de Geographie Commerciale, Tome xxxii, Paris 1910); Shepherd, W. R., Latin America (New York 1914).

POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND CITIES

The Republic of Costa Rica is divided politically into Provinces which are again divided into cantons and these into districts. The political subdivisions with their populations are as follows:

The capital and commercial centre of Costa Rica, lies in a fertile valley, 3,868 feet above the level of the sea. Its excellent climate, well paved streets, beautiful parks, and magnificent public and private buildings make it one of the most delightful capitals of Latin America. It has a good water supply and is well lighted by electricity. It is connected by rail with Port Limon on the Atlantic coast and Puntarenas on the Pacific. It is the centre of a rich agricultural region. Limon

The principal seaport of Costa Rica is situated on the eastern coast, at the eastern terminus of the interoceanic railroad to Puntarenas. It has a good harbor and has regular steamship communication with New York and other North American ports. Most of the coffee produced in the country is exported from this port. It is also prominent as a banana shipping point, besides rubber and dyewoods.

Puntarenas

The principal seaport on the Pacific, is situated on the Gulf of Nicoya, 44 miles west of San José. The harbor is provided with an iron breakwater. It has steamer communication with the Pacific ports of the United States. Coffee, rubber, tortoise shell, and silver are exported. A consular agent of the United States is stationed here.

GUATEMALA

BY MARRION WILCOX

T

TOPOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

HE Republic of Guatemala is a country in Central America bounded on the north by Mexico, British Honduras, and the Gulf of Honduras, on the east and southeast by British Honduras, the Gulf of Amatique, Honduras and Salvador; on the south and southwest by the Pacific Ocean; and on the west by Mexico. Its area is estimated at 48,290 square miles; its territory extending from lat. 13° 42′ to 17° 49′ N., and from lon. 88° 10' to 92° 30′ W.

The mountains of Guatemala are commonly referred to as "Cordillera of the Andes," "Guatemalan Andes," or simply "Andes," though there is no propriety in those names. The Andes terminate in northern Colombia, and have no genetic connection with the mountains of Central America. In order to understand the independent character of the latter (so far as the great continental ranges are concerned), we must realize that they are also in their geologic history totally distinct from the Rocky Mountain system, or North American Cordilleras, which terminate in southern Mexico. If the trends of the Andean and Rocky Mountain systems were protracted from their termini (in 70° W. and 97° W., respectively), they would not connect with each other, but would pass the latitude of Guatemala in parallel lines nearly 2,000 miles apart. The Guatemalan mountains belong to the Antillean system, which lies between the termini just referred to; its ranges, composed of folded sedimentaries, in eastern Guatemala have an eastand-west trend. But the ranges near the Pacific coast of the republic, crossing the western ends of the Antillean corrugations diagonally, or with a northwest-and-southeast trend, must be

assigned to still another class; they form a part of the volcanic chain which extends along the entire western coast of Central America, and is continued in Mexico. The Sierra Madre is the principal range of the west and south; in the central and eastern districts are the Sierra de Chama, Sierra de las Minas, Sierra de Santa Cruz, and the Sierra de Copán- the last named on the frontier of Honduras. The highest points of the Cordillera are given as: Tajumulco volcano (12,600 feet), Tacaná volcano (12,400 feet), both in the southwest; Acatenango volcano (11,100 feet), south-central; and the volcano de Fuego (11,400 feet), also southcentral.

Hydrography

Rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico are: the Usumacinta, on the Mexican frontier, and the Cuilco and Salequa, which are also tributaries of Mexican streams. The following empty either into the Gulf of Honduras or Izabal Lake (Golfo Dulce): the Montagua, Rio Hondo, the Dulce, the Belice, the Sarstoon, and the Polochic. Those which flow into the Pacific are: Rio de los Esclavos, Rio de Paz, the Michatoya, Guacalate, Coyelate, Patulul, Nagualate, Samalá, Tilapa, Naranjo, and Suchiate. Steamship navigation has been established on the Dulce and Polochic rivers; seven or eight of the others are navigable for small boats. The most important lakes are: Atitlán and Izabal (both navigated by steamers), Petén, Amatitlán, Ayarza, and Güija (on the frontier of Salvador). Ports on the Caribbean side of the republic are: Puerto Barrios, Livingston, and Santo Tomás - the first two being ports of entry and delivery, while the last is a "minor port," at which importation and exportation are restricted to certain articles. On the Pacific coast the most important ports are: San José, 742 miles from Guatemala City; Champerico, and Ocós — all ports of entry and delivery, provided with iron piers, etc.

Climate

The lowlands of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts are torrid; interior table-lands, at an altitude of 2,000 to 5,000 feet, have an agreeable climate; and the high districts, where the elevation is more than 5,000 feet, are decidedly cool. The larger towns are built in the temperate or cool zones. The rainy season, beginning in May, lasts until October in the interior, but sometimes until December, on the coast. December and January are the coldest months; March and April the hottest. Snow sometimes falls (in December or January) on the uplands of the cool zone.

Flora and Fauna

The very name of the country signified in the Indian language "the land covered with trees." The rich soil and varying climatic conditions favor a wide range of products in the vegetable kingdom; no systematic classification of these, however, has yet been made. The extent of the forest land, which abounds in mahogany, is estimated at 1,300,000 acres. The fauna and avifauna resemble those of Costa Rica in general, but especially characteristic of Guatemala are the aquatic birds on its rivers and lakes, and the quetzal (also written quezal and quezale). Mexican deer are quite numerous. The tapir, honey-bear, armadillo, wild pig, cougar, jaguar, etc., are found as in other parts of Central America. The over-abundance of insect life is particularly noteworthy.

Geology

The calcareous formations of the Antillean ridges and, generally, the eastern and central regions, deserve special mention. Volcanic products characterize the Pacific slope and Sierra Madre, where they occur in connection with granite rocks, porphyries and trachytes.

Mineral Resources

Gold and silver are found near the Montagua River and elsewhere; salt in the departments of Alta Verapaz and Santa Rosa. Other minerals reported to exist are: coal, lignite, manganese, lead, tin, cinnabar, copper, kaolin, opals, slate, alum, antimony, marble, alabaster, sulphur, ochre, asbestos, plumbago, chalk and bitumen. A belt of country extending from the coast range of mountains on the western frontier, near the Pacific, across the Sierra Madre to the coast range of the Caribbean slope, is regarded as essentially a mineral territory, in which there has been comparatively little exploiting or prospecting, though enough to reveal the presence of the precious and base metals.

HISTORY OF GUATEMALA

Pedro de Alvarado, one of the lieutenants of Cortés, 1523-24 conquered the country, and on 25 July 1524 proclaimed the sovereignty of Spain at Almolonga, the native town which was afterward to be known as Santiago de los Caballeros. The important

fact in connection with this conquest is that it did not lead to the extermination of the natives. Two explanations of this circumstance are offered. Mr. Bancroft says that the Indians, after fighting desperately in defense of their homes, maintained a sullen resistance, and therefore both here and in the adjoining state of Chiapas the natives probably retain to the present day their original traits with fewer modifications than elsewhere in the Pacific States." But this theory is at variance with the Central American records in general. A suggestion which may be preferred is that the natives of Guatemala were obviously available as agricultural laborers; that they were not uninfluenced by that civilization which had survived here, as in southern Mexico and Honduras, from very ancient times; that they were therefore allowed to survive, after the first decade of cruel and useless oppression (grossly exaggerated, of course, by Las Casas), while the more warlike tribes, such as those inhabiting Costa Rica and Veragua, were gradually being exterminated. And their descendants in great numbers still possess the land. After the conquest all of the territory now divided up among the Central American countries was included in the captaingeneraley of Guatemala. Independence was proclaimed 15 Sept.