CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHWEST GUATEMALA—McBRYDE 15 
(1,312 it.), in the 80-mile stretch from Coatepeque to 
Chiquimulilla.§ Only nine of these are on the rail- 
road, which winds above and below the 250-m. 
isohyps. Lower than this there are virtually no 
towns except the ports, which are small, open road- 
steads, and most of the land is in large cattle ranches ; 
above, the few centers are mainly concentrated along 
trade routes that lead between volcanoes to the High- 
land centers of San Marcos, Quezaltenango, Totoni- 
capan, Solola, Chimaltenango, Antigua, and Guate- 
mala City. 
The 1,400-m. (4,593 ft.) to 1,500-m. (4,921 ft.) 
dividing zone between independent farming and 
plantation concentrations is strikingly coincident with 
the upper limit of the orographically conditioned 
zone of tropical monsoon climate (K6ppen defini- 
tion, hot and extremely rainy, except for a short 
winter-dry season, here December to March; map 6). 
This climatic region is essentially the same as the 
settled portion of the coffee belt (map 14), cultiva- 
tion usually extending somewhat higher in elevation 
than settlements of coffee planters. The upper limit 
of coffee growth is about 1,650 m. (5,413 ft.) on 
slopes bordering Lake Atitlan. Above a variable ele- 
vation zone, the center averaging about 1,450 m. 
(4,757 ft.), climates are cool to cold, and below it, 
warm to hot; there is but one annual corn harvest 
above, and two below; the independent subsistence 
Indians live mainly higher, their plantation kins- 
men lower than this level. At low elevations there 
are a few Indian villages, such as San Sebastian 
Retalhuleu, whereas in the mountains there are oc- 
casional small plantations, as of wheat. Yet, in broad 
terms, the generalization of Highland-village and 
Lowland-plantation holds true for Indian settlements. 
In pre-Columbian times, just as today, there were 
Highland and piedmont concentrations, the latter 
for cacao and, to some extent, for maize plantation 
settlements, colonized from the Highlands. The 
centers of population were strung along the pied- 
mont as they are now; but the mid-19th century 
shift from cacao to coffee here put the settlements 
at the base of the present plantation belt, instead of 
near the top, as in the case of lower-level cacao 
(maps 11 and 12). The only outer coastal cacao 
settlement to which I have found reference is that 
of 16th-century Ixtapa (Pineda, 1908, p. 429). 
8 These are, from west to east (italicized if over 1,000 population), 
Coatepeque, Genova, Flores, Nuevo San Carlos, Retalhuleu, San Se- 
bastidn, Mulud, San Andrés, Cuyotenango, Mazatenango, San Ber- 
nardino, San Antonio, San Miguel, Chicacao, San Pedro Cutzan, Santa 
Barbara, Patulul, Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, Siquinala, Guachipilin, 
Escuintla, Guanagazapa, Taxiscd, Guasacapdn, Chiquimulilla. 
Pineda’s statements tend to exaggerate the Indians’ 
wealth, however (see p. 91). 
CULTURAL FACTORS AFFECTING POPULATION 
DENSITY 
A distinction may be made in the Highlands be- 
tween certain almost purely agricultural areas of 
dense population and those where industrial pursuits 
have an important supplementary place in the re- 
gional economy. Since agriculture and trade are 
important in some measure to nearly all, these per- 
haps should be called, respectively, “agricu!tural- 
commercial” and “‘industrial-agricultural-commer- 
cial.” In the southwestern Guatemala “Altos” 
(Highlands west of Patzicia and south of Huehue- 
tenango) all the major areas of dense population 
fall into the latter category, with the exception of the 
Lake Atitlan Basin. Here some of the Lake villages 
have minor industries, such as the making of rush 
mats, or even fairly large-scale craft production, as 
in the fabrication of rope. Yet, generally speaking, 
it is an area without industries (nearly all artisans 
are imported), there being in their stead, as in the 
case of Solola and Panajachel, specialized, intensive 
vegetable culture, or, as at Santa Catarina Palopo, 
fishing, until a law was passed prohibiting it. Such 
substitutions seem to account for this exception to 
the general rule that Highland Indians are mainly 
craft Indians, having areal specializations, with goods 
produced by specialists among their communities. 
Of all the well-peopled regions, that of Momosten- 
ango is perhaps the one in which more of the inhabi- 
tants are craftsmen and the population as a whole is 
less dependent upon agriculture than elsewhere. They 
market their woolen goods in large quantities as far 
as El Salvador and Honduras. It seems significant 
that here soil erosion has completely ruined more land 
than almost anywhere else in the Southwest. Areas 
around Santa Cruz Quiché and Chiché and between 
Patzité and Totonicapan offer the only comparable 
examples of destruction with which I am familiar, 
and these are not so far advanced as are the rilled red 
clay lands and the famous pinnacled riscos of Momo- 
stenango (pl. 30, f).. Here Indians from far-off 
Todos Santos Cuchumatan bring maize to sell in large 
quantities in April, when it is usually still plentiful in 
most Highland communities, but is very scarce in 
Momostenango. Much maize also comes from Quiché. 
TOWNS AND VILLAGES 
Maps 1 and 3 show by symbols the relative abun- 
dance of Indians and Ladinos in all the towns and 
villages which are included in the present study, as 
