Getting to Know Your Country

Physical Geography

1. What is your countrys official name?

- Republic of Guatemala

2. Look at a map. Where is your country? Who are its neighbors? Who might be potential
allies or enemies?
- My country is in Central America, its about the size of Tennessee . Its neighbors are
Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. Potential allies are Colombia, Mexico, Spain,
United States, Norway, and Venezuela.

3. How big is your country in square miles?

- Guatemala is 42, 042 square miles, about the size of Tennessee.

4. How would you describe your countrys physical features and climate?
- It has lots of mountains, forestry, has some volcanoes, and ha slots of rivers. Throughout
the temperate goes from 58 degrees F to 84 degrees F.

Cultural Geography
1. What is your countrys population? What is your countrys population growth rate?
- There population is 15.47 million. Its growth rate is 3.7% annually.

2. What is your countrys ethnic composition?

- Some big ethnic groups are the maya and ladinos.

3. What is your countrys official language? How do you say hello in that language? What
other languages are spoken in your country?
- My countrys official language is spanish. You would say Hola in spanish. Other
languages they speak are the Mayan languages.

4. What are the major religions or cultures of your country?

- Some big religions there are Mayan spirituality, Catholicism, and Christianity. There
culture is influenced by the Spanish and the Mayan.

5. What is your countrys capital? What are some major cities?

- Guatemalas capital is Guatemala city. Some of its major cities are Mixco, Villa Nueva,
and Petapa.

6. How would you describe the quality of life for the average person in your country?
- The quality of life for an average person in Guatemala is not the greatest.
Political Geography
1. When was your country founded?
- My country was founded in September 15, 1821

2. What type of government does your country have?

- It has a Constitutional Democratic Republic. Which has Legislative, Judicial, and
Executive branches.

3. Who are some of your countrys leaders?

- There leader is Jimmy Morales.

4. Who are your countrys allies?

- Mexico, Spain, United States, Norway, El Salvador and Venezuela.

5. Who are your countrys enemies?

- Couldnt really find any

Economic Geography
1. What is your countrys total gross domestic product (GDP)?
- 53.8 Billion USD

2. What are some of your countrys natural resources?

- Rich soil, timber, fine wood, nickel, lead, zinc, iron, little bit of silver, gold, and jade.

3. What are some of your countrys energy sources?

- Hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, solar, and wind energy panels

4. What is your countrys currency?

- Guatemalan Quetzal

5. What are your countrys major exports and imports?

- Major exports are coffee($756M), sugar ($1B), gold ($361M), metal ore ($447M),
bananas ($895M), fruits, and vegetables, cardamom. Major imports are refined
petroleum ($2.71B), packaged medicaments ($477M), cars($456M), broadcasting
equipment ($365M), petroleum gas ($371M).

6. Who are your countrys biggest trading partners?

- The U.S, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Canada, and China.
United Nations
1. Date admitted to UN.
- 21 November 1945

2. How has your country recently acted within the UN (votes, speeches, resolutions etc)?
- Not that I can find.

3. Has the UN ever intervened in a conflict involving your country? If so, where and how?
- They helped with the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).It
helps strengthen the rule of law in a post-conflict country. This was renewed in 2015.
Another one is the United Nation Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) and the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) these help with human security.

4. How does your country contribute to UN peacekeeping?

- They have troops in Haiti serving with peacekeepers in conflict zones.

General
1. Briefly describe the history of your country?
- Guatemala is located in Central America. It was first an ancient Mayan civilization but
then the Spanish came and conquered it in 1524. After many years Central America
became independent from Spain in 1821. Then guatemala was founded September 15
of that year.

2. What are four important problems facing your country?

- Poverty, corruption, crime, and inequality.

3. What major conflicts, past and present, is/has your country been involved in?
- The latest conflicts were high-profile resignations and arrests of top officials.

4. What issues relating to food security has your country experienced?

- They have the 4th highest malnutrition in the world. They recently had poor harvest
because of the drought. Which led to a domino effect and worsened their food security.

5. Find at least one recent (from the past two weeks) news article that is about or makes
reference to your country.
- https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/poverty-injustice-still-drive-migration-guatemal
a