Yepocapa
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name =San Pedro Yepocapa
|other_name =Yepocapa
|native_name = Apocapa
|nickname =
|settlement_type = Municipality and town of Guatemala
|motto =
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|image_flag =
|flag_size =
|image_seal =
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|image_map =
|mapsize =
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|pushpin_map =Guatemala#Guatemala Chimaltenango
|pushpin_label_position =
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|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name ={{flag|Guatemala}}
|subdivision_type1 = Department
|subdivision_name1 = 25px Chimaltenango
|subdivision_type2 =
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|government_footnotes =
|government_type =Municipal
|leader_title =Mayor (2016-2020)
|established_title =
|established_date = 1839
|area_magnitude =
|unit_pref =Imperial
|area_total_km2 =214
|area_land_km2 =
|population_as_of =2018 census
|population_footnotes =[https://www.citypopulation.de/en/guatemala/admin/ Citypopulation.de] Population of departments and municipalities in Guatemala
|population_note =
|population_total = 34948
|population_density_km2 = auto
|timezone =Central Time
|utc_offset = +6
|timezone_DST =
|utc_offset_DST =
|coordinates = {{coord|14|30|N|90|57|W|region:GT|display=inline}}
|elevation_footnotes =
|elevation_m = 1400
|elevation_ft =
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|blank_name_sec1 = Climate
|blank_info_sec1 = Am
|website =
|footnotes =
}}
Yepocapa, also known as San Pedro Yepocapa, is a town with a population of 17,021 (2018 census),[https://www.citypopulation.de/en/guatemala/cities/ Citypopulation.de] Population of cities & towns in Guatemala and a municipality in the Chimaltenango department of Guatemala. It is located at the base of Volcán de Fuego, which has destroyed the town several times, most recently on 15 October 1974.
History
San Pedro Yepocapa has its origins in the times before the Spanish conquest of Guatemala; originally the town was right next to Volcán de Fuego, but it had to be moved to a different location because of the numerous eruptions of it. Spanish soldier Antonio de Guzmán is credited with being the one that found the town when the conquistadors arrived in the 1520s.
=Spanish colony: Franciscan doctrine=
After the Spanish conquest of Guatemala the town was in charge of the franciscans, who had convents and doctrines in the area covered by the modern departments of Sacatepéquez, Chimaltenango, Sololá, Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán, Suchitepéquez and Escuintla. The "Provincia del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús" (English:"Province of the most Holy Name of Jesus"), as the Franciscan area was then called, reached up to 24 convents by 1700.{{harvnb|García Añoveros|1989|p=891}}
The Franciscans tried to have daily religious teaching for 6-year-old girls and older starting at 2:00 pm and for boys of the same age starting at sunset; the class lasted for 2 hours and consisted on memorizing the church teaching and prayers and to make some exercises with the catechism and it was run by a priest or by elder natives, called "fiscales".{{harvnb|García Añoveros|1989|p=896}} Adults attended Mass every Sunday and holiday and after mass, there were religious teachings in their own language.
Lent was a time of the year when the friars prepared the natives thoroughly, using their own language to accomplish their goals; every Friday of Lent there was a procession following the Rosary steps all the way to the Calvary temple.{{harvnb|García Añoveros|1989|p=897}}
A document from Franciscan friar Francisco de Zuaza written on 8 July 1686, found in the Archdiocese of Guatemala archives and made public in 1944, describes Franciscan convents and doctrines in Guatemala and regarding the Acatenango convent says: "There is another visit town, named San Pedro Yepocapa, which is 16 km from the convent, on the way to the sea shore, on badly maintained road. The temperature of this town is warm because it is close to the coast".{{cite web|url=http://www.deguate.com/municipios/pages/chimaltenango/yepocapa/historia.php#.ViFFSk2FOJB|title=Historia de San Pedro Yepocapa|access-date=16 October 2015|location=Guatemala|website=De Guate|language=es}}
In 1754, as part of the borbon reforms, the Franciscans where forced to giae their doctrines to the secular clergy.{{sfn|Juarros|1818|p=338}}
=After independence from Spain=
When the State of Guatemala was created on 11 October 1825, after independence from Spain, San Pedro Yepocapa was established as town, and then was raised to a municipality of the Chimaltenango District by a decree from 12 September 1839. By 1880 already had a population a little over a thousand focused mainly on agricultural activities.
=1974 Volcán de Fuego eruption=
{{Main|Volcán de Fuego}}
File:Volcan de Fuego pyroclastic flows - october 1974 eruption.jpg eruption partially destroyed San Pedro Yepocapa.]]
{{Location map many| Guatemala
|caption=Towns impacted by the 1974 eruption.
| label=San Pedro Yepocapa| position=right|label_size=70
| lat=14.500001| long=-90.955078
| label2=Acatenango| pos2=top| label2_size=70
| lat2=14.553503| long2=-90.944352
| label3=Coatepeque|label3_size=70
| pos3=top
| lat3=14.704742| long3=-91.867118
| label4=Champerico|label4_size=70
| pos4=bottom
| lat4=14.301771| long4=-91.908059
| label5=Tiquisate|label5_size=70
| pos5=top
| lat5=14.287777| long5=-91.365008
| label6=Retalhuleu|label6_size=70
| pos6=left
| lat6=14.536655| long6=-91.680116
| width=260 | float=right
}}
On 15 October 1974, tremors woke up people in the settlements surrounding the Volcán de Fuego at 2:00 AM, followed by rumbling and cinders and ashes falling from the sky, which submerged the town into darkness for a few days. President Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García gave order to evacuate people, most of whom were sorry about losing all of their belongings after the eruption; in the meantime, ash was travelling as far away s the Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, to the point that Mexican authorities were on alert due to the amounts of it that they were getting.{{harvnb|Prensa Libre|2015|p=1}}
San Pedro Yepocapa was one of the most impacted towns, ending under more than 1m of ash after the four days that the eruption lasted; approximately 1100 people from Morelia hacienda and annexes had to be evacuated to temporary shelters in neighboring Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, Escuintla or Patulul, Suchitepéquez.{{harvnb|Prensa Libre|1974|p=1}}
Democracia Cristiana Guatemalteca —DCG— directors -then the main opposition party in the country after losing the presidency to Laugerud Garcia in fraudulent elections earlier that year ,{{sfn|Elías|2009|p=}} asked to all the mayors to help their colleagues from San Pedro Yepocapa and Acatenango, which were practically destroyed by the catastrophe; those two mayor belonged to DCG. Help began to arrive on 24 October 1974, when the eruption ceased and equipment from the Road General Direction of Guatemala arrived to the towns to clean them up, and operation that lasted three months.
Climate
San Pedro Yepocapa has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen: Am).
{{Weather box
|width=auto
|location = Acatenango
|metric first = yes
|single line = yes
|Jan mean C = 19.5
|Feb mean C = 19.7
|Mar mean C = 20.6
|Apr mean C = 21.0
|May mean C = 21.2
|Jun mean C = 21.0
|Jul mean C = 20.9
|Aug mean C = 20.8
|Sep mean C = 20.3
|Oct mean C = 20.0
|Nov mean C = 19.9
|Dec mean C = 19.2
|year mean C =
|Jan high C = 25.5
|Feb high C = 25.9
|Mar high C = 26.8
|Apr high C = 26.7
|May high C = 26.4
|Jun high C = 25.3
|Jul high C = 25.6
|Aug high C = 25.7
|Sep high C = 25.0
|Oct high C = 24.8
|Nov high C = 25.3
|Dec high C = 25.0
|year high C =
|Jan low C = 13.5
|Feb low C = 13.6
|Mar low C = 14.4
|Apr low C = 15.4
|May low C = 16.0
|Jun low C = 16.7
|Jul low C = 16.2
|Aug low C = 16.0
|Sep low C = 15.7
|Oct low C = 15.3
|Nov low C = 14.6
|Dec low C = 13.5
|year low C =
|Jan precipitation mm = 8
|Feb precipitation mm = 18
|Mar precipitation mm = 29
|Apr precipitation mm = 65
|May precipitation mm = 209
|Jun precipitation mm = 494
|Jul precipitation mm = 324
|Aug precipitation mm = 345
|Sep precipitation mm = 534
|Oct precipitation mm = 302
|Nov precipitation mm = 60
|Dec precipitation mm = 13
|year precipitation mm =
{{cite web|url=http://en.climate-data.org/location/1017743/
|title= Climate: Yepocapa
|access-date= 15 October 2015
|website= Climate-Data.org}}
}}
Geographic location
{{Geographic location
|Center=San Pedro Yepocapa
|North= Acatenango, Chimaltenango Department
|Northwest=Pochuta, Chimaltenango
|East=Alotenango, Sacatepéquez.{{cite web|url=http://www.segeplan.gob.gt/2.0/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=category&id=4:chimaltenango&Itemid=333|website=SEGEPLAN|location=Guatemala|access-date=22 July 2015|title=Municipios del departamento de Chimaltenango|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707075907/http://www.segeplan.gob.gt/2.0/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=category&id=4:chimaltenango&Itemid=333|archive-date=7 July 2015|language=es}}
|West=Patulul, Suchitepéquez Department municipality
|South=Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, Escuintla Department municipality
}}
See also
- {{Portal-inline|Guatemala}}
- {{Portal-inline|Geography}}
- La Aurora International Airport
- List of places in Guatemala
Notes and references
{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
=References=
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book|title=Descripción Geográfico-Moral de la Diócesis de Goathemala
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5ZaAAAAMAAJ|author-link=Pedro Cortés y Larraz|series=Corpus Hispanorum de Pace. Segunda Serie|issn=0589-8056 |last=Cortés y Larraz|first=Pedro|editor=García, Jesús María |editor2=Blasco, Julio Martín|publisher=Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas|year=2001 |isbn=9788400080013 |orig-year=1770|language=es}}
- {{cite news|url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/Necrologicas/Kjell/Laugerud/ex/presidente/Guatemala/elpepinec/20091215elpepinec_1/Tes/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630003725/http://www.elpais.com/articulo/Necrologicas/Kjell/Laugerud/ex/presidente/Guatemala/elpepinec/20091215elpepinec_1/Tes/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 June 2012 |title=Kjell Laugerud, expresidente de Guatemala |access-date=15 December 2009 |first=José |last=Elías |year=2009 |newspaper=El País |language=es |location=Madrid, Spain }}
- {{cite journal|last=García Añoveros|first=Jesús|title=Las misiones franciscanas de la Mosquitia nicaragüense|journal=Actas del III Congreso Internacional sobre los franciscanos en el nuevo mundo (Siglo XVII)|location=Madrid, España|publisher=DEIMOS; Universidad Internacional de Andalucía|year=1989|url=http://dspace.unia.es/bitstream/handle/10334/1844/20García.pdf|language=es}}
- {{cite book|last=Juarros|first=Domingo|title=Compendio de la historia de la Ciudad de Guatemala|year=1818|publisher=Ignacio Beteta|location=Guatemala|url=https://archive.org/stream/compendiodelahis21juar#page/n3/mode/2up|language=es}}
- {{cite news|url=http://www.prensalibre.com/hemeroteca/volcan-de-fuego-causa-daos-en-1974|title=Arena a punto de sepultar Yepocapa|newspaper=Prensa Libre|author=Prensa Libre|date=21 October 1974|location=Guatemala|access-date=16 October 2015|language=es}}
- {{cite news|url=http://www.prensalibre.com/hemeroteca/volcan-de-fuego-causa-daos-en-1974|author-mask=1|title=Volcán de Fuego causa caos en 1974|newspaper=Prensa Libre|author=Prensa Libre|date=14 October 2015|location=Guatemala|access-date=16 October 2015|language=es}}
{{refend}}
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140523162635/http://www.chimaltenango.org/departamentos/region-central/chimaltenango/san-pedro-yepocapa San Pedro Yepocapa History]}} (in Spanish)
{{Chimaltenango Department}}
{{coord|14|30|N|90|57|W|display=title|region:GT_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki}}