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Chichicastenango
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Chichicastenango

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Chichicastenango, also known as Santo Tomás Chichicastenango, is a town, with a population of 71,394 (2018 census), and the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name in the El Quiché department of Guatemala. It is located in a mountainous region about northwest of Guatemala City, at an altitude of 1,965 m (6,447 ft). The Spanish conquistadors gave the town its name from the Nahuatl name used by their allied soldiers from Tlaxcala: Tzitzicaztenanco, or City of Nettles. Its original name was Chaviar.

Key facts

Settlement.official_name
Chichicastenango
Settlement.nickname
Chichi
Settlement.settlement_type
Municipality
Settlement.image_skyline
Santo Tomas Church, Chichicastenango.jpg
Settlement.imagesize
250px
Settlement.image_caption
Iglesia de Santo Tomás
Settlement.pushpin_map
Guatemala#Guatemala Quiché
Settlement.pushpin_label_position
bottom
Settlement.pushpin_map_caption
Location in Guatemala
Settlement.subdivision_type
Country
Settlement.subdivision_name
25px Guatemala
Settlement.subdivision_type1
Department
Settlement.subdivision_name1
25px El Quiché
Settlement.subdivision_type2
Municipality
Settlement.subdivision_name2
Chichicastenango
Settlement.government_type
Municipal
Settlement.leader_title
Mayor
Settlement.area_total_km2
270

via Wikipedia infobox

~4 min read

Encyclopedic overview

10 sections
Contents
  • Market
  • Church of Santo Tomás
  • In music
  • Geography
  • In films
  • The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935)
  • Sacred City of the Mayans (1936)
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

Chichicastenango, also known as Santo Tomás Chichicastenango, is a town, with a population of 71,394 (2018 census), and the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name in the El Quiché department of Guatemala. It is located in a mountainous region about northwest of Guatemala City, at an altitude of 1,965 m (6,447 ft). The Spanish conquistadors gave the town its name from the Nahuatl name used by their allied soldiers from Tlaxcala: Tzitzicaztenanco, or City of Nettles. Its original name was Chaviar.

Chichicastenango is a K'iche' Maya cultural centre. According to the 2012 census, 98.5% of the municipality's population is indigenous Mayan K'iche. Of the population, 21% speak only K'iche, 71% speak both K'iche and Spanish, and the remaining 8% speak only Spanish.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Chichicastenango” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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On the map

3 mapped locations