Chisec
Encyclopedia
Chisec is a municipality
in the north of the Guatemala
n department of Alta Verapaz
that was founded in 1813. It is situated at 230m above sea level
at 15.812570°N 90.288391°W. The municipality covers a territory of 1488 km². Approximately 95% of the municipality's inhabitants are Mayan, spread over the town of Chisec and approximately 140 communities. (There used to be closer to 240 communities, but a number of these have officially split off to the new municipality of Raxruha
, created by the Guatemalan Congress in 2008.) Q'eqchi'
is widely spoken there alongside Spanish
.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in the north of the Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n department of Alta Verapaz
Alta Verapaz
Alta Verapaz is a department in the north central part of Guatemala. The capital and chief city of the department is Cobán. Verapaz is bordered to the north by El Petén, to the east by Izabal, to the south by Zacapa, El Progreso, and Baja Verapaz, and to the west by El Quiché.Also in Alta Verapaz...
that was founded in 1813. It is situated at 230m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
at 15.812570°N 90.288391°W. The municipality covers a territory of 1488 km². Approximately 95% of the municipality's inhabitants are Mayan, spread over the town of Chisec and approximately 140 communities. (There used to be closer to 240 communities, but a number of these have officially split off to the new municipality of Raxruha
Raxruha
Raxruha is a municipality in the north of the Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz. The municipality, which was formerly part of Chisec, was founded in 2008....
, created by the Guatemalan Congress in 2008.) Q'eqchi'
Mayan languages
The Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras...
is widely spoken there alongside Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
.