Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
country's infrastructure. Unfortunately, his entire presidency was dogged by corruption
claims, from straight-out vote buying to backroom deals granting contracts to companies
who had contributed to his campaign fund.
But probably the most bizarre twist of the Colom presidency happened as he was leav-
ing office. The Guatemalan constitution prohibits members of the president's family from
running for the subsequent presidency (supposedly an anti-dictatorship measure), so Co-
lom and his wife filed for divorce in the lead-up to the 2011 elections in an attempt to
make her a valid candidate. The Constitutional Court banned her candidature anyway,
leaving the door open for hardline ex-civil war general Otto Pérez Molina to take office in
early 2012.
TIMELINE
3114 BC
The Maya creation story says that the world was created on August 13 of this year, which corres-
ponds to the first date on the Maya Long Count Calendar.
1100 BC
Proto-Maya settlements begin to appear in the Copán Valley. By 1000 BC settlements on the Guatem-
alan Pacific coast show early signs of developing a hierarchical society.
c 250 BC
Early Maya cities El Mirador and Kaminaljuyú flourish between 250 BC and 100 AD due to tactical
and commercial advantages. Agricultural techniques are refined as the trade in obsidian and jade
booms.
AD 230
El Mirador begins to decline in importance. King Yax Ehb' Xooc of Tikal establishes the dynasty that
will make Tikal the dominant city of the southern Maya world.
682
King Moon Double Comb, or Lord Chocolate, ascends Tikal's throne and begins remodeling and re-
constructing Tikal's grand plazas and temples that had been destroyed by Caracol and Calakmul.
900
