San Benito, El Petén

San Benito on the map of Guatemala

San Benito is a 40,000 inhabitants town in Guatemala. It is located in the department of Petén, and is the administrative seat of the Municipalities of San Benito, which covers 112 km ² and has a population of almost 50,000.

Geography

The City of San Benito is in the middle Peténs on the southwestern shore of Lake Petén Itzá to 130 m altitude. With Flores, the capital of the department adjacent to the east, and its suburb of Santa Elena San Benito is in the heart of the Petén a metropolitan area, which occupies a central role within the department in the areas of trade, transport and tourism. San Benito is connected via the CA Highway 13 with Belize to the east and with Izabal in the south, along the national road 5 with Alta Verapaz. About Izabal, there are 507 km to Guatemala City. A few kilometers east of San Benito is the international airport of Flores.

Because of the territorial extension Peténs and the very low population density, the municipios of the department of Petén are usually extremely large. The exception is San Benito, this is the smallest of the twelve departments of the Municipalities with more than 110 square kilometers. The population density is comparatively very high contrast. Also unusual is that almost the entire population is concentrated in the city.

The municipality covers the hills in the south and west of the Petén Itzá lake. In recent years, the once full of tropical rain forest -covered area was deforested in a startling way. The climate is tropical and hot.

The adjacent municipios are La Libertad in the southwest and west, San Andrés in the north, Flores to the east and San Francisco in the southeast.

History

The area around the PTEN Itzá lake was originally inhabited only by Itza Maya, who subdued the Spaniards because of the fierce resistance until 1697. 1799, the Catholic Church began to settle dark-skinned, Afro-Caribbean immigrants from what is now Belize before Flores. Originally this had settled on the northwest shore of the lake, near San José, were there but not particularly welcome. The summary of these immigrants immediately southwest of Flores then led to the founding of the village of San Benito, which was appointed by the church significantly after Benedict the Moor. The influx of Afro-Caribbeans lasted until 1824. Over time, these mixed then with indigenous Maya.

In 1805 San Benito was elevated to municipality, but lack of adequate infrastructure had to be canceled a short time later. San Benito, in turn, was part of Flores. On January 26, 1873, the municipality was newly established.

Population

San Benito is over 200 years known for its colorful folk mixture. Among the Afro-Caribbeans were joined over time Maya various ethnic groups and backgrounds and Ladinos from all parts of the country and immigrants from Mexico. In the village of La Cobanerita be Kekchi focus of Alta Verapaz. The name of their village is a diminutive of Coban, the capital of Alta Verapaz. La Cobanerita is next to San Antonio one of the two " rural communities " ( Aldeas ) of the Municipalities. There are also smaller rural settlements and hamlets.

Economy

San Benito along with Flores and Santa Elena, the economic and trade center Peténs, and a major transportation hub. The people live mainly from trade and services, as well as the crafts, agriculture and tourism. For tours in Petén San Benito together with the neighboring resorts, the ideal starting point.