Santa Catalina La Tinta
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Santa Catalina la Tinta La Tinta |
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Central park of Santa Catalina la Tinta
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 Santa Catalina la Tinta
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| Coordinates: 15°18′N 89°55′W / 15.300°N 89.917°WCoordinates: 15°18′N 89°55′W / 15.300°N 89.917°W | ||
| Country |
 Guatemala
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| Region | Corredor Seco | |
| Department |
 Alta Verapaz
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| Municipality | Santa Catalina la Tinta | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | Municipal | |
| Area | ||
| • Municipality | 196 km2 (76 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 195 m (640 ft) | |
| Population (Census 2002) | ||
| • Municipality | 27,027 | |
| • Urban | n/d | |
| • Ethnicities | Q'eqchi', Poqomchi', Ladino | |
| • Religions | Roman Catholicism, Evangelicalism, Maya | |
| Time zone | Guatemala (UTC-6) | |
| Climate | Am | |
| Patron Saint | Saint Catherine of Alexandria (November 24–28) | |
Santa Catalina la Tinta is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz. It is located in the hot Polochic River valley. It was originally part of the municipality of Panzós, but was given separate municipal status in 1999. La Tinta is the commercial center of the lower Polochic valley, and merchants and shoppers clog the town's streets especially on the official market days of Tuesdays and Thursdays. The town of Santa Catalina la Tinta is located at 110 km from Cobán and 278 km from Guatemala City.
La Tinta settlement was founded on 14 August 1896 by German immigrant Erwin Pablo Dieseldorf, who lived in Cobán, Alta Verapaz, and whom owned the land where the town was settled. Dieseldorf donated a large land portion to his workers, properly registered as rustic farm #12 of Alta Verapaz.
Historically, La Tinta has been as an important political and religious place given that it was there where the Order of Preachers friars established their doctrine's center of operations in the 16th century. However, after the Independence of Central America, due to the expulsion of the regular clergy -first from Central America in 1829, and then from Guatemala in 1873 after Rafael Carrera had brought them back in 1840-, the order properties were confiscated by the Guatemalan government led by Justo Rufino Barrios.
Due to the coffee production blossoming during the Liberal regimes and the construction of the Verapaz Railroad in the 1890s, the fluvial port of Panzós became strategically and economically relevant and the municipality offices were transferred from La Tinta to Panzós. Since that moment, La Tinta residents started asking for independence from Panzós, but to no avail.
The Verapaz Railroad began on 15 January 1894 with a contract for 99 years between Guatemala -then ruled by president José María Reina Barrios- and Walter Dauch, representative of the "Verapaz Railroad & Northern Agency Ltd." The contract settled the rules for the construction, maintenance and exploitation of a 30-mile railroad line between Panzós and Pancajché. Passenger service travelled twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays; besides, mail arrived by ship every Wednesday and cargo came from Livingston, Izabal. Besides, there were train stops in Santa Rosita, Santa Catalina La Tinta, and Papalhá.
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Wikipedia