| Volcán de Agua | |
|---|---|
 Volcán de Agua, seen fromAntigua, Guatemala, with temporary street carpeting forEaster celebrations in foreground. | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 3,760 m (12,340 ft)[1] |
| Coordinates | 14°27′54″N90°44′35″W / 14.46500°N 90.74306°W /14.46500; -90.74306[1] |
| Naming | |
| English translation | Volcano of Water |
| Language of name | Spanish |
| Geography | |
  Volcán de Agua | |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Stratovolcano |
| Volcanic arc | Central America Volcanic Arc |
| Last eruption | Late Pleistocene |
Volcán de Agua (also known asJunajpú by Maya) is an extinctstratovolcano located in the departments ofSacatepéquez andEscuintla inGuatemala. At3,760 m (12,340 ft), AguaVolcano towers more than3,500 m (11,500 ft) above thePacific coastal plain to the south and2,000 m (6,600 ft) above theGuatemalan Highlands to the north. It dominates the local landscape except when hidden by cloud cover. The volcano is within5 to 10 km (3.1 to 6.2 mi) of the city ofAntigua Guatemala and several other large towns situated on its northern apron. These towns have a combined population of nearly 100,000. It is within about 20 km (12 mi) ofEscuintla (population,c. 150,000) to the south.[2]Coffee is grown on the volcano's lower slopes.
The localKaqchikel people have always called the volcanoHunapú'place of flowers' orJun Ajpu''one hunter' (the calendar date for the sacred site; a typical method for naming sacred sites in Mayan cosmovision) in current Kaqchikel orthography.[citation needed] The Spanish conquistadors also called it Hunapú until alahar from the volcano on September 10, 1541,[4] destroyed the original capital of Guatemala (now known asCiudad Vieja), after which the capital was moved toAntigua Guatemala. Among the casualties was the governorBeatriz de la Cueva.[5] As the lahar produced a destructive flood of water, this prompted the modern nameVolcán de Agua meaning "Volcano of Water", in contrast to the nearbyVolcán de Fuego or "Volcano of Fire". The Kaqchikels call Volcán de FuegoChi Gag (Chi Q'aq' in current Kaqchikel orthography),'where the fire is'.
The volcano was active in thelate Pleistocene between 80,000 and 10,000 years ago,[2] but has not erupted since then.[1] Despite the lack of eruptive activity, the volcano can still producedebris flows andlahars that inundate nearby populated areas.[2] This was proven by the fact that on 11 September 1541, newly founded villa ofSantiago de los Caballeros was ruined by a "formidable landslide that came down Volcán de Agua; the mudslide brought along heavy rocks that destroyed part of the buildings and damaged the rest".[6] The city was destroyed and the survivors had no direction, since governor Beatriz de la Cueva died during the disaster, which took place shortly after her husband, AdelantadoPedro de Alvarado, died and she was appointed governor by the Ayuntamiento (City Hall).[7] Beatriz de la Cueva had been beside herself with grief and on 9 September 1541, when she had signed the Cabildo documents, she did so asla sin ventura (the unlucky one), a phrase that turned out to be prophetic.[8] In the aftermath Beatriz de la Cueva was blamed for the disaster as it was considered to be a godly punishment for her sins. Additionally her fate became a cautionary tale about giving women positions in government particularly when many qualified men were available.[9]
In 1895 Anne Cary Maudslay and her husband, archeologistAlfred Percival Maudslay, visited the Antigua Guatemala region as part of a journey through Guatemala's Maya and colonial archeological monuments, and climbed the Volcán de Agua; in her bookA Glimpse at Guatemala she explains that water from the volcano crater could not have destroyed the old Santiago:
The cause of this catastrophe is usually said to have been the bursting of the side of a lake which had been formed in the crater of the extinct Volcán de Agua; but an examination of the crater shows this explanation to be improbable, as the break in the crater-wall is in an opposite direction, and no water flowing from it could have reached the town. Moreover, there is no evidence to show that the deeper portion of the crater, which is still intact, has held water since the reported outbreak. Indeed, an accumulation of water during the exceptionally heavy rain, through some temporary obstruction in one of the deep worn gullies which indent the beautiful slope of that great mountain, and a subsequent landslip would probably account for the damage done without the aid of either an eruption of water from the crater or the supernatural appearances which are duly noted by the old chroniclers.[10]
The volcano was last blanketed by snowfall in January 1967.[citation needed]
The Volcán de Agua was declared aprotected area in 1956 and covers an area of 12,600 hectares (31,000 acres).[11]
On 21 January 2012, 12,000 Guatemalans formed a human chain all the way to the peak of Volcán de Agua in a protest against domestic violence.[12]
Guatemala portal
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the United States Geological Survey
Media related toVolcán de Agua at Wikimedia Commons| Guatemala |  | |
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| El Salvador | ||
| Nicaragua | ||
| Costa Rica | ||
| Panama | ||
Note: volcanoes are ordered from north-west to south-east. | ||