Captaincy General of Guatemala

The Captaincy General of Guatemala (Spanish: Capitanía General de Guatemala), also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala (Spanish: Reino de Guatemala) was an administrative division in Spanish America which covered much of Central America, extending from the Soconusco region - located in what is now the southern part of Mexico (states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan) - to Costa Rica. It was founded in 1540, with the city of Ciudad Vieja as its capital. However, this settlement was destroyed in 1542 by a flood, and the new capital of La Antigua Guatemala (photos), was founded to replace the old capital. Although it became one of the richest of the New World capitals, this city was itself ordered abandoned in 1776, after further earthquakes destroyed it. The third capital was the modern-day Guatemala City.

The Captaincy was effectively ended in 1821, when the Guatemalan elite rebelled against Spain. While the region remained politically cohesive for a short time, (in the form of United Provinces of Central America), centrifugal forces soon pulled the individual provinces apart.