Xelahuh

Xelahuh, later known as Quetzaltenango, lies in a high valley surrounded by the volcanic mountains of western Guatemala. It was an important K’iche’ Maya center before the Spanish conquest. Its highland location placed it among highland communities connected to the larger K’iche’ political world, whose principal royal centers lay farther northeast.

In 1524 Pedro de Alvarado’s Spanish and Indigenous forces advanced into K’iche’ territory. Warriors resisted them in the Quetzaltenango valley before the invaders continued their march toward the K’iche’ capital. The settlement was subsequently drawn into colonial rule and came to be known by the Nahuatl name Quetzaltenango. Its K’iche’ name endured alongside the new one, preserving a connection to the city’s earlier inhabitants and the highland landscape around it.