Cultural Landscape

The Mayan civilization built ruins along large pieces of lands

People tend to build the market places where they sell their crops on flat land that they find. they normally house on the mountiain.

Due to the lack of money, many of the roads are made out of dirt. Many children walk back and foward to and from school and some young children don't even go to school so that they can work and help support the family.

There are areas where paved roads are found such as in areas around a park. The outfits seen in the pictures are how many guatemalan people dress. Women are often seen carrying children around as seen in the picute as well.

along places where tourist are likely to go, the markets are much nicer and the roads are typically paved if possible. The city gets more money from the tourist and are able to use that money to beautify their city to attract even more tourist.

Urban/Economic Geography

Population

Need some personal space? Well, soon will Guatemalans! there are aproximately 1253 people per square mile! Guatemala has a population of 13,824,463 as of July 2011. The growing rate is 2.3% with aprox 5 children per women. It is the highest population growth in Central America. Urbanization is on the high rise. Rural areas are starting to prosper and new american styles of living are helping people find jobs and leading them to move into cities. 40% of the population is urbanized and the rate of urbanization is at 3.4%

GDP per capita is $5000 American Dollars.When looking at their GDP per sector, the CIA world factbook reported that agriculture was contributing 13.3% industry contributed 24% and services contributed for 62.7%

Political and Cultural aspects

Political Guatemalan Aspects

Political System

Guatemala has a constitutional democratic republic. Constitutional democracy is a form of government in which the sovereign power of the people is spelled out in a governing constitution. It's current president is the retired army general, Otto Perez Molina. He started his service on January 14th, 2012 and will be serving for 4 years as president.

Religion

Over half of the Guatemalan population identify themselves as Roman Catholics. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion in the country. There is an archbishopric at Guatemala City and bishoprics at Quezaltenango, Verapaz, and Huehuetenango. There are also a lot of protestant, and people with indigionous mayan beliefs. The constitution separates the church from the governement. Freedom of religion is important in Guatemala. Religion is sacred for most guatemalans. There is still a high Mayan influence in many Guatemalans, some still practice mayan rituals. Semana Santa or Easter is celebrated in Antigua Guatemala with beatiful handmade creations.

Physical Geography

Physical Geography 

Where is Guatemala?

Guatemala is located in Central America, south of Mexico between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Guatemala is a small country that is less than 1% of the United States without even including Alaska. It's total area is 42,042 squared miles, and in comparitive size is almost as big as Tennessee . Guatemala is boardered by Mexico as previously said, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador totalling in boarder length of 1,048 miles. Guatemala's coastline along the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea totals 249 miles.

What is the Climate like?

Guatemala may be small but it has very diverse climates! Although it is known as the country with eternal spring, temperature tends to change with altitude. This country is known for it's variety in altitudes. Along the coast, average temperatures range from 77° to 86° F. o In it's capital, the minimum is normally around 52 degrees and the maximum is around 79 degrees although with the recent years, the maximum and minium temperatures have increaced and decreced to new highs and lows. The rainy seasons are normally from May to October and Dry Season is November to April.