San Jerónimo, Baja Verapaz
Encyclopedia
San Jerónimo is a municipality
in the Baja Verapaz
department
of Guatemala
. It is situated at 940 m above sea level
. It contains 18,000 people. It covers a terrain of 474 km². The annual festival is September 28-September 30.
The predominant language is Spanish. There is a party and main fair held from 27 to 30 September each year, in honor of the patron Saint Jerome
.
, Bartolomé de las Casas
, Luis de Ladrada and Pedro Angulo
, were the first newcomers to the Valley of San Jerónimo, as Friar Luis Cancer ordered the construction of the Church in the year 1537 and, in the same year in October, took the news to the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala.
The Hacienda de San Jerónimo was founded between the years 1540 and 1550.
The first sugar plantation in Central America
was founded here in 1601 by Rafael Lujan, becoming the most important heritage of the Spanish Kingdom in Central America for its production of sugar, cochineal
, grapes, wine and pot liquor (licores de olla).
Friar Francisco Callejos, who was the manager of the Hacienda, constructed a Roman style aqueduct to bring water to the people. The Dominican coat of arms can be found in the ruins of the aqueduct, which still remain. It is located in the town of San Jerónimo, and can be more easily observed along the road to the San Lorenzo farm.
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 Baja Verapaz
Baja Verapaz
Baja Verapaz is a department in Guatemala. The capital is Salamá.Baja Verapaz houses the Mario Dary Biotope Preserve, preserving the native flora and fauna of the region, especially the endangered national bird of Guatemala, the Resplendent Quetzal....
department
Departments of Guatemala
||Guatemala is divided into 22 departments :#Alta Verapaz#Baja Verapaz#Chimaltenango#Chiquimula#Petén#El Progreso#El Quiché#Escuintla#Guatemala#Huehuetenango#Izabal#Jalapa#Jutiapa#Quetzaltenango#Retalhuleu#Sacatepéquez...
of 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...
. It is situated at 940 m 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...
. It contains 18,000 people. It covers a terrain of 474 km². The annual festival is September 28-September 30.
The predominant language is Spanish. There is a party and main fair held from 27 to 30 September each year, in honor of the patron Saint Jerome
Saint Jerome
Saint Jerome is a Christian church father, best known for translating the Bible into Latin.Saint Jerome may also refer to:*Jerome of Pavia , Bishop of Pavia...
.
History
After the conquest of the Verapaces by the Spanish, the Hacienda de San Jerónimo was created, in the care of Dominican priests, it is believed that friars Luis CancerLuis Cancer
Father Luis Cancer or Fray Luis de Cancer was a Dominican priest and pioneer Spanish missionary to the New World.He was born at Barbastro, in Aragon...
, Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
, Luis de Ladrada and Pedro Angulo
Pedro Angulo
Pedro Angulo was a Spanish Dominican missionary in Guatemala, in the sixteenth century.He was a native of Burgos in Spain, and came to America in 1524 as a soldier, but joined the Dominican order in 1529. He became a companion of Bartolomé de las Casas in Guatemala, Central America in general, and...
, were the first newcomers to the Valley of San Jerónimo, as Friar Luis Cancer ordered the construction of the Church in the year 1537 and, in the same year in October, took the news to the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala.
The Hacienda de San Jerónimo was founded between the years 1540 and 1550.
The first sugar plantation in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
was founded here in 1601 by Rafael Lujan, becoming the most important heritage of the Spanish Kingdom in Central America for its production of sugar, cochineal
Cochineal
The cochineal is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the crimson-colour dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico, this insect lives on cacti from the genus Opuntia, feeding on plant moisture and...
, grapes, wine and pot liquor (licores de olla).
Friar Francisco Callejos, who was the manager of the Hacienda, constructed a Roman style aqueduct to bring water to the people. The Dominican coat of arms can be found in the ruins of the aqueduct, which still remain. It is located in the town of San Jerónimo, and can be more easily observed along the road to the San Lorenzo farm.
External links
- Muni in Spanish
- http://www.inforpressca.com/sanjeronimo/historia.php
- http://www.arqueotur.org/yacimientos/hacienda-de-san-jeronimo-museo-regional-del-trapiche.html