Atitlan

Atitlán lies on the southern shore of a deep lake enclosed by the volcanic mountains of the Guatemalan highlands. The Tz’utujil Maya ruled a lakeside kingdom from their fortified center at Chwitinamit, overlooking the water and the surrounding settlements. The lake connected its shores by canoe, while routes led from the highlands toward the Pacific foothills.

In 1524 Pedro de Alvarado marched against the Tz’utujil with Spanish soldiers and Kaqchikel allies. The defenders were defeated, and their kingdom came under Spanish rule. In the following decades the colonial town of Santiago Atitlán was established, drawing together Indigenous inhabitants near the lake. Franciscan missionaries built a church there, but the Tz’utujil language and community endured through the upheaval of conquest and colonial rule.

The later city of Sololá lies here.