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[German Version] I. General – II. Mayan Religion – III. Catholicism and Protestantism – IV. Religion, Society, and Culture Today I. General The etymology of Guatemala is unexplained. Goathemala is first mentioned in 1524, in the fourth letter from H. Cortés to the Spanish crown. Political independence from Spain was achieved in 1821; there was a liberal revolution in 1871, followed by dictatorships from 1898 to 1944, the year of a popular revolution. Democracy lasted until 1954, when it was ended by a military putsch w…

[German Version] 1. Spanish-speaking Indios (Native American Indians); in Mexico and Central America, “mestizos” of white and Indian parentage. 2. In Latin America, also synonymous with “devious, crafty” ( ladino). 3. Jews in the Mediterranean region who speak the Judeo-Spanish language. 4. Obsolete name for Rhaetians. 5. In Guatemala today, all whites or people of mixed ancestry. There is an ethnic conflict between the Ladino minority and the indigenous Maya. Originally the Maya discriminated against the Ladinos as “bastar…