Guatemala
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
Discover how much you know about Guatemala with our comprehensive free 95-question trivia quiz with answers. From ancient Mayan civilizations to modern Central American culture, test your knowledge on this fascinating country's history, geography, landmarks, and traditions. Whether you're planning a trip or simply curious about Guatemala, this quiz will challenge and educate you.
30 of 95 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the official language of Guatemala?
Spanish
Spanish is Guatemala's only official language; the 2003 Language Law recognises the Mayan, Xinca and Garifuna tongues as national languages without giving any of them official status.
Q 02What is the national currency of Guatemala?
Quetzal
It was introduced in 1925 under President José María Orellana, whose portrait is on the one-quetzal note; the ancient Maya used the bird's tail feathers as currency.
Q 03The Castillo de San Felipe de Lara, built in 1652 where Guatemala's largest lake drains seaward, guarded against whom?
Pirates
Sunken ships still lie near the fort, and the surrounding water is home to manatees and howler monkeys.
Q 04What is the national flower of Guatemala?
White Nun Orchid
The White Nun Orchid (Lycaste skinneri var. alba) became the national flower by a 1934 decree of President Jorge Ubico, after a Miami Beach flower-show president suggested it.
Q 05What is the highest point in Guatemala, also the highest peak anywhere between Mexico and Colombia?
Volcán Tajumulco
Volcán Tajumulco, a stratovolcano in the western department of San Marcos, rises 4,220 metres (13,845 feet), the highest summit in Central America.
Q 06In what month does Guatemala celebrate the independence it proclaimed in 1821?
September
September 15 is the date; the young state was briefly absorbed by its northern neighbour before joining a regional federation.
Q 07How many other countries share a land border with Guatemala?
4
Mexico wraps around the north and west, with Honduras to the east and El Salvador to the southeast; the fourth neighbour lies across a disputed 'adjacency zone'.
Q 08Which of these agricultural products is among Guatemala's top exports?
Bananas
The United Fruit Company built vast banana plantations here in the early 20th century, and in 1930 bananas made up 13% of the country's exports.
Q 09The estimated population of Guatemala is closest to which of these figures?
18 million
About 17.6 million people live there, more than in any other country between Mexico and Colombia; the capital's metro area is the region's most populous.
Q 10About how many distinct Mayan languages are spoken in Guatemala?
21
About 21 Mayan languages are spoken, K'iche', Q'eqchi', Kaqchikel and Mam being the largest; a 2003 law also recognises Xinca and Garifuna as national languages.
Q 11After proclaiming independence in 1821, the Captaincy General of Guatemala briefly joined which state?
First Mexican Empire
It joined the First Mexican Empire under Agustín de Iturbide in 1822; after his abdication in 1823 it became part of the Federal Republic of Central America.
Q 12What was Guatemala's colonial capital before an earthquake largely destroyed it in 1773?
Antigua
Antigua, then called Santiago de los Caballeros, had been the seat of the Captaincy General since 1543; after the 1773 Santa Marta earthquakes the capital moved to today's Guatemala City, and its Baroque ruins became a UNESCO site in 1979.
Q 13Guatemala is located in which region of the Americas?
Central America
Q 21Which famous Guatemalan author won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1967?
Miguel Ángel Asturias
Miguel Angel Asturias, born in Guatemala City in 1899, won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Literature - only the second Latin American author to do so - with his novel Hombres de maiz (Men of Maize) central to the award.
Q 22The Maya site of El Mirador, famed for massive pyramids, lies in which region of Guatemala?
Petén Basin
El Mirador, a pre-Columbian Maya city, is situated deep within the Mirador Basin in the Petén region of northern Guatemala.
Q 23Which neighbor's entire territory has Guatemala long claimed?
Belize
Guatemala is a country in northern Central America, bordered by Mexico to the north and west.
Q 14Which body of water borders Guatemala to the south?
Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean waters wash the southern coast, while the Gulf of Honduras, part of the Caribbean Sea, lies to the northeast.
Q 15Temple IV, the tallest pyramid at the Maya city of Tikal, rises roughly how high above the plaza floor?
70 metres
Temple IV stands about 70 metres (230 feet), one of the tallest pre-Columbian structures in the Americas, topped only by pyramids at Toniná and El Mirador; Tikal became a UNESCO site in 1979.
Q 16What is the deep lake in western Guatemala ringed by escarpments and three volcanoes?
Atitlán
Lake Atitlán, about 340 metres deep, is the deepest lake in Central America; the volcanoes Atitlán, Tolimán and San Pedro ring it, and Aldous Huxley compared it to Lake Como.
Q 17What is the national instrument of Guatemala?
Marimba
The marimba, a wooden-keyed percussion instrument played with mallets, was declared Guatemala's national instrument by Congress in 1978 and anchors festival and folk music across the country.
Q 18In the colonial era, the Captaincy General of Guatemala was a subdivision of which viceroyalty?
New Spain
The Captaincy General of Guatemala, stretching from Chiapas to Costa Rica, answered nominally to the Viceroyalty of New Spain in Mexico City, though its own Audiencia ran day-to-day government.
Q 19Which Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Guatemala was an indigenous rights activist?
Rigoberta Menchú Tum
Rigoberta Menchú Tum won the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her work for indigenous rights during Guatemala's civil war, and later ran for president in 2007 and 2011.
Q 20What does the white stripe on Guatemala's flag symbolize?
Purity and Peace
The white stripe stands for purity and peace, set between two sky-blue bands for the Pacific and the Caribbean; the colours descend from the flag of the Federal Republic of Central America.
Guatemala has a long-running territorial dispute with Belize, claiming a significant portion, and at times, all of Belize's territory.
Q 24Guatemala's vibrant traditional textiles are often woven on what type of loom?
Backstrap
The backstrap loom uses sticks and a strap around the weaver's waist to hold tension; it was the only loom of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, the treadle loom arriving with the Spanish.
Q 25Which indigenous group, Guatemala's largest, had a powerful post-Classic kingdom in the country's west?
K'iche'
The K'iche' are the largest indigenous Mayan group in Guatemala, known for their powerful post-Classic kingdom and epic literary work, the Popol Vuh.
Q 26Which near-constantly active volcano looms southwest of Antigua Guatemala?
Volcán Fuego
Volcán Fuego, called Chi Q'aq' ('where the fire is') in Kaqchikel, erupts almost continuously and straddles the departments of Chimaltenango, Escuintla and Sacatepéquez southwest of Antigua.
Q 27The coat of arms on Guatemala's flag shows two crossed rifles of which make, used in the 1871 Liberal Revolution?
Remington
A parchment scroll between them reads 'Libertad' with the 1821 independence date, and the national bird perches on top.
Q 28What political event happened in Guatemala in 1944, often called the 'October Revolution'?
Overthrow of a dictator
The October Revolution was the overthrow of a dictator: on 20 October 1944 officers Jacobo Árbenz and Francisco Arana toppled Federico Ponce Vaides, successor to Jorge Ubico, opening ten years of democratic reform.
Q 29Which of these major rivers forms part of Guatemala's border with Mexico?
Usumacinta River
The Usumacinta River forms a significant portion of Guatemala's western border with the Mexican state of Chiapas.
Q 30What are the lay brotherhoods that keep up saints' cults in indigenous Guatemalan towns called?
Cofradías
Cofradías, lay brotherhoods introduced by Spanish friars, keep a saint's image and organise its feast; in Chichicastenango their members carry the saints in procession from the Santo Tomás church.