Central America · Independence and the federations
Los Altos
State, 1838–1840; 1848–1849
The State of Los Altos (Estado de Los Altos) was a short-lived polity in the western highlands of present-day Guatemala (together with the Soconusco region now in Chiapas), with its capital at Quetzaltenango. It comprised roughly eight departments — Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán, Sololá, and adjacent areas — covering about 23,800 km² with a population of some 200,000.
- Existed
- State, 1838–1840; 1848–1849
- Shown on the map
- 1840–1841
- Peak area
- 36k km²
- Region
- Central America
Overview
The State of Los Altos (Estado de Los Altos) was a short-lived polity in the western highlands of present-day Guatemala (together with the Soconusco region now in Chiapas), with its capital at Quetzaltenango. It comprised roughly eight departments — Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán, Sololá, and adjacent areas — covering about 23,800 km² with a population of some 200,000. Its liberal, largely criollo/ladino elite resented domination by conservative Guatemala City and sought a separate state within the federation. Independence from Guatemala was proclaimed on 2 February 1838, and Los Altos was recognized as the federation's sixth state in mid-1838, with Marcelo Molina Mata as its head of state and General Agustín Guzmán ("the Altense Hero") as military commander.
Decline and legacy
Rafael Carrera forcibly reincorporated Los Altos into Guatemala in January 1840, defeating Guzmán on 18–19 March 1840; the reconquest was violent, and Carrera dismantled the region's separate institutions. A second declaration of independence (26 August 1848), attempted during a brief exile of Carrera, likewise failed, and Los Altos was reabsorbed by May 1849, with Guzmán killed in the fighting later that year. Los Altos endures as the emblem of highland-Guatemalan regionalism and the persistent, unrealized dream of a "sixth state."
Common questions
- What were the Los Altos?
- The State of Los Altos (Estado de Los Altos) was a short-lived polity in the western highlands of present-day Guatemala (together with the Soconusco region now in Chiapas), with its capital at Quetzaltenango. It comprised roughly eight departments — Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán, Sololá, and adjacent areas — covering about 23,800 km² with a population of some 200,000.
- When did the Los Altos exist?
- The Los Altos existed State, 1838–1840; 1848–1849. On this map they are drawn 1840–1841.
- How large were the Los Altos?
- At their greatest extent drawn on this map, the Los Altos covered about 36,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives them across the years they are drawn, not necessarily their greatest extent in history.
- How did the Los Altos end?
- Rafael Carrera forcibly reincorporated Los Altos into Guatemala in January 1840, defeating Guzmán on 18–19 March 1840; the reconquest was violent, and Carrera dismantled the region's separate institutions. A second declaration of independence (26 August 1848), attempted during a brief exile of Carrera, likewise failed, and Los Altos was reabsorbed by May 1849, with Guzmán killed in the fighting later that year.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity and for the key figures and events as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, EBSCO Research Starters and academic sources. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Los Altos (state) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Altos_(state)
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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