Guatemala City. Guatemala City (Spanish: Ciudad de Guatemala, also known nationally colloquially by the nickname as Guate), is the national capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala. It is also a municipality capital of the Guatemala Department and the most populous urban metropolitan area in the region of Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nestled in a mountain valley called Valle de la Ermita (English: Hermitage Valley). Guatemala City is the site of the native Mayan city of Kaminaljuyu, founded around 3,500 years ago around 1500 B.C. in Pre-Columbian America / Mesoamerica. Following a substantial devastating earthquake in the nearby city and then Imperial Spanish colonial second capital city of La Antigua on the 29 July 1773, with aftershocks continuing through the rest of that year to December. Because of the massive devastation of this "Santa Marta...
