Granados (Baja Verapaz)

Granados on the map of Guatemala

Granados is a small town in the south of the department of Baja Verapaz in Guatemala. Granados is the administrative seat of the greater community ( municipality ), which extends to 248 km ² and 13,000 inhabitants. Named after former president Miguel García Granados Zavala municipality is divided into 13 rural communities with a total of 41 small villages or settlements.

Location

Granados located 78 km north of Guatemala City and 64 km south-west of Salamá at the foot of the Sierra de Chuacús at 954 meters altitude. You can reach Granados on the National Road 5, the old highway from Guatemala City to Salamá, Coban and El Petén. The road is very curvy and only partially paved. The municipality is located in a mountainous area, which falls away to the south to the valley of the Río Motagua, which also forms the border between the departments of Baja Verapaz and Guatemala. In the west, close to the departments of Quiché and Chimaltenango, in the north is bordered Granados to the municipios Cubulco and Rabinal, to the east by El Chol

Economy

Granados lives mainly from agriculture and the extraction of minerals. The place is located in a very remote and less developed area, so develop trade and tourism only very slowly. Granados is connected to the power and water supply, has primary and secondary schools and a small infirmary.

From 10 to 15 January will find in honor of the patron saint Cristo Negro de Granados instead of larger parties, which also attract tourists.

History

The area of Granados was colonized by Spaniards who migrated along the Río Motagua from the east. For this reason, the community has almost no indigenous inhabitants. The administrative headquarters of the municipios was until 1893 in Saltan, which is now a rural municipality ( Aldea ) of the Municipalities Granados. The place was called Granados to 1893 Finca El Rodeo and was then named after the President Granados, who had visited the estate at that time. In 1935 the neighboring Santa Cruz El Chol in the train of an administrative reform for a year to the municipality of Granados.