Chichicastenango
Chichicastenango | |
|---|---|
Municipality | |
| Nickname: Chichi | |
| Coordinates: 14°56′N 91°07′W / 14.933°N 91.117°W | |
| Country | Guatemala |
| Department | El Quiché |
| Municipality | Chichicastenango |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipal |
| Area | |
• Municipality | 270 km2 (100 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,965 m (6,447 ft) |
| Population (Census 2018) | |
• Municipality | 141,567 |
| • Urban | 71,394 |
| • Ethnicities | K'iche' people (98.5%) Ladino (1.5%) |
| • Religions | Roman Catholicism Evangelicalism Maya |
| Climate | Cwb |
| Website | Chichicastenango online |
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Chichicastenango, also known as Santo Tomás Chichicastenango, is a town, with a population of 71,394 (2018 census), and the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name in the El Quiché department of Guatemala. It is located in a mountainous region about 140 km (87 mi) northwest of Guatemala City, at an altitude of 1,965 m (6,447 ft). The Spanish conquistadors gave the town its name from the Nahuatl name used by their allied soldiers from Tlaxcala: Tzitzicaztenanco, or City of Nettles. Its original name was Chaviar.
Chichicastenango is a K'iche' Maya cultural centre. According to the 2012 census, 98.5% of the municipality's population is indigenous Mayan K'iche. Of the population, 21% speak only K'iche, 71% speak both K'iche and Spanish, and the remaining 8% speak only Spanish.