Founding of Ciudad Vieja
- When
- 1527
- Where
- Ciudad Vieja
- Episodes
- 1
In 1527, Jorge de Alvarado founded the second capital for the Captaincy General of Guatemala at Ciudad Vieja. This site became the second location of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala after the previous capital at Tecpán became untenable.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. Pedro de Alvarado declared Iximche the first capital of Guatemala in 1524. Later, the Spaniards founded their capital at Ciudad Vieja in 1527, after their previous capital at Tecpán Guatemala became untenable.
Founding. Jorge de Alvarado founded the second capital for the Captaincy General of Guatemala in 1527. Ciudad Vieja served as the second site of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, the colonial capital of the country.
Historical Disputes. Historian Domingo Juarros noted in 1818 that there was already discrepancy regarding the exact location of the original placement of Ciudad Vieja. Some sources suggest the city was temporarily set in Almolonga, while others place it on the old court of King's Sinacam in the Tzacualpa valley.
People involved
- Jorge de Alvarado · Founder of the second capital
- Domingo Juarros · Historian who noted location discrepancies
Sources
- Ciudad Vieja Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-19
- Pedro de Alvarado Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-06
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.