1821    Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica jointly declare independence from Spain.

1851    Honduras and El Salvador, during their invasion of Guatemala, are repelled at the Battle of La Arada.

1902    Quetzaltenango, second largest city of Guatemala, destroyed by Earthquake.

1913    Guatemala becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1941    World War II: The Republic of China, Cuba, Guatemala, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, and the Philippine Commonwealth, declare war on Germany and Japan.

1945    Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Guatemala are established.

1957    Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated.

1976    In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.

1982    Río Negro massacre in Guatemala.

1982    Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt.

1982    268 campesinos ("peasants" or "country people") are slain in the Plan de Sánchez massacre in Ríos Montt's Guatemala.

1996    Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.