Zacapa
Encyclopedia
Zacapa is a city in eastern 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...

, along the Río Grande de Zacapa
Río Grande de Zacapa
The Río Grande de Zacapa is a river in Guatemala. From its sources in the southern mountain range in the departments of Zacapa and Chiquimula the river flows northwards until it reaches the Motagua River at . The río Grande de Zacapa is 87 km long an its river basin covers an area of 2,462...

. It is renowned locally for its manual crafting of cigar
Cigar
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...

s, hard dry cheese and a flavored cake made with said cheese (Quesadilla).

Zacapa once was a bustling railroad stop and attracted a fair number of non-Guatemalan immigrants, it is not unusual to find people whose surnames were originally from England, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Zacapa is also the name of the departmental capital 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 Zacapa
Zacapa (department)
Zacapa is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. The capital is the city of Zacapa.- Municipalities :# Cabañas# Estanzuela# Gualán# Huité# La Unión# Río Hondo# San Diego# Teculután# Usumatlán# Zacapa-External links:***...

 and the municipal seat of Zacapa municipality. The population for the whole department of Zacapa as of the year 2000 is estimated at 212,794, 94.09% are non-indigenous (mostly of European ancestry or Mestizos), only about 4.39% are Indigenous.

Other cities close to Zacapa (in the same department of Zacapa) are Gualan
Gualán
Gualán is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Zacapa.Gualán is a small city located in the department of Zacapa in the country of Guatemala...

 (once a river port), Teculutan
Teculután
Teculután is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Zacapa.There is a Pollo Campero there and Pizza Burger Diner as well.-Sports:Deportivo Teculután football club play in Guatemala's second division, but spent 3 seasons at the highest domestic football level between 2001-2004.They play...

 (located on the Carretera al Atlantico providing stopover facilities) and Estanzuela
Estanzuela
Estanzuela is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Zacapa. It is a small town. Estanzuela was a passing place for Spaniards looking to go farther west to the ocean. A group of these Spaniards decided to rest for a while, and thought Estanzuela to be the perfect location. As they went...

, home to the Calado handicrafts and to the Archeological Museum.

Zacapa is mainly a rural area that contains a large amount of flat land used mostly to grow cantaloupe
Cantaloupe
"Rockmelon" redirects here, for the band see Rockmelons. See also Cantaloupe .Cantaloupe refers to a variety of Cucumis melo, a species in the family Cucurbitaceae which includes nearly all melons and squashes. Cantaloupes range in size from...

, tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 and roma tomatoes
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

. Bordering the Zacapa valley is the Sierra de las Minas
Sierra de las Minas
Sierra de las Minas is a mountain range in eastern Guatemala, extending 130 km west of the Lake Izabal. It is 15–30 km wide and bordered by the valleys of the rivers Polochic in the north and the Motagua in the south. Its western border is marked by the Salamá River valley which separates it...

, which harbors forests, and contains marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

 mines and coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 plantations. Some of the world's finest jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...

 is also found in this area.

As with most 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...

, Zacapa suffers terrible poverty and pollution problems. There is a pronounced dry season, often marked by more than two months without rain, which worsens the air quality of the region tremendously. The region's flat areas are known for their loud insects, called chicharra
Cicada
A cicada is an insect of the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha , in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent, well-veined wings. There are about 2,500 species of cicada around the world, and many of them remain unclassified...

s, which chirp in the fields and along the roads during the dry season.

Sports

Football club Deportivo Zacapa
Deportivo Zacapa
Club Deportivo Zacapa is a Guatemalan football club from Zacapa, nicknamed "Los Gallos" .The team plays its home games at the Estadio David Ordoñez Bardales, the local stadium.-Current squad:...

 competes in Guatemala's top division
Liga Nacional de Guatemala
Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala , formerly known as Liga Mayor "A" is a professional football division in Guatemala, the highest one in the country. It is sanctioned by the Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala...

 and play their home games at the Estadio David Ordoñez Bardales
Estadio David Ordoñez Bardales
The Estadio Municipal David Alfonso Ordóñez Bardales is a football stadium located in Zacapa, Guatemala. It is home to club Deportivo Zacapa . It has a capacity of 8,100 spectators....

,

External links

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