Guazacapán

Guazacapán developed as a colonial administrative and parish centre on Guatemala's Pacific side. Its earlier history belonged to the Xinca country confronted by Spanish campaigns in the 1520s. Under Spanish rule it became the seat of a corregimiento; during the eighteenth century that jurisdiction was incorporated into the larger administration of Escuintla.

A petition of 1589 records the practical difficulties of building the parish church. Indigenous craftsmen and labourers needed wages and food, but communal funds were insufficient; the parish priest's representative asked that some local fines be directed towards the work. The document reveals the church taking shape through Indigenous labour and negotiations over local resources. After independence, the territorial arrangements of 1825 placed Guazacapán in District Two alongside neighbouring communities including Chiquimulilla and Taxisco.

The later city of Cuilapa lies here.