Guamanian Coins

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Obverse of 1947 Guatemalan Five Cents

Countries Reverse of 1947 Guatemalan Five Cents

Arrival of the Conquistadors and Spanish Rule
Before the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors in 1524, Guatemala was home to the Maya Peoples, a culture considered by many to be one of the most advanced in the Americas prior to the arrival of Europeans. The Spanish however, had little time for Mayan civilisation, other than its gold, and over the next century and a half proceeded to conquer the Maya and bring them under the control of the Spanish Crown through warfare, taxation and religious conversion.
The last of the Mayan cities, Tayasal and Zacpeten, fell in 1697. Guatemala was governed as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain until the collapse of Spanish Rule in 1821.

Rafael Carrera
In 1821, Guatemala briefly became a province within the Mexican Empire, later joining the Federal Republic of Central America until it broke apart in 1840. Rafael Carrera, a Guatemalan conservative populist who was instrumental in breaking up this Federal Union and went to become Guatemala's president in 1844. Briefly driven out power by his liberal pro-federalist opponents in 1848, he returned in 1850 and was reappointed as president. He was made president for life in 1854 and remained as Guatemala's president until his death in April 14th 1865 (The same day, incidentally, that American President Abraham Lincoln was fatally wounded by John Wilkes Booth).

Liberal Revolution
The forces of Liberalism returned to dominance in 1871 when a revolt led by Generals Garcia Granados and Justo Rufino Barrios overthrew the conservative government. Under presidents Granados and Barrios, the new Liberal regime introduced a series of reforms designed to move Guatemala away from its colonial era social structures and towards a secular and modern administration. The liberals also harboured ambitions to resurrect the defunctFederal Republic of Central America, by force if necessary. This dream came to an end however, when President Barrios was killed in battle against El Salvadorian troops in 1885.

United Fruit Company
At the beginning of the 20th Century, Guatemala was suffering from a chronic lack of funds to improve infrastructure. The United Fruit Company (UFCO) had meanwhile, become massively prosperous as a result of the booming banana industry in Guatemala, and had already built over a hundred miles of railway track to transport the bananas to the ports. The President of Guatemala, Manuel Estrada Cabera, viewed a deal with the UFCO as a solution to his problems, and granted the UFCO exclusive rights to transport mail between Guatemala and the US (UFCO had its own fleet of ships).
In return for favourable treatment (such as tax concessions and the granting of monopolies) the UFCO was prepared to provide the investment capital Guatemala desperately needed.

Banana Republic
This investment came at a price however. Although the UFCO did provide money for building schools and hospitals and provided employment for many Guatemalans, it also used its power ruthlessly to protect its interests, and had no qualms about bribing local officials at the highest levels, including some very brutal dictators, such as Jorge Ubico, Guatemala's highly eccentric, yet utterly ruthless dictator between 1931 and 1944.
Ubico was a man modelled himself after Napoleon, who liked to strut around in ostentatious uniforms and was followed everywhere he went by his official biographer. He granted further concessions to the UFCO and brutally crushed labour disputes by use of force. During Ubico's time, UFCO owned the key port of Puerto Barrios as well as all the electrical power plants supplying power in Guatemala.
Although Ubico was almost totally subservient to the interests of UFCO, domestically, he brooked no opposition, and openly modelled himself on Franco, Mussolini and Hitler, boasting that like Hitler he 'executed first and asked questions later'.
Despite being a fascist, he did however, make at least one significant contribution to promoting free market economics, and passed a law that removed the state's monopoly on the right to dispense justice. Under Ubico, landowners and companies were granted the right to summarily execute workers who stepped out of line...
To unscrupulous landowners and companies like the UFCO, Guatemala's rule under their ally Ubico might have been described as 'the good old days'. Ubico's violence and arbitrary use of power to entrench himself and the foreign interests who supported him gave rise to the term 'banana republic' and Ubico's Guatemala became its most illustrative example of one.

CIA Coup and Civil War
This absurd and violent man was finally overthrown in 1944. In the aftermath, reformist president Juan Arevelo was elected to power, and he, and his successor Jacobo Arbenz, attempted to introduce agrarian reforms that were clearly contrary to UFCO's interests. UFCO enjoyed many friends in high places under the Eisenhower administration, including John Foster Dulles and his brother Allen Dulles, Secratary of State and Director of the CIA respectively. Both were major shareholders in UFCO and Allen Dulles was a member of UFCO's board of trustees. They lobbied for intervention in Guatemala on the grounds that it was turning Communist and would provide a 'Soviet Beachead' within the Americas. In 1954, the CIA instigated a coup which led to the downfall of Arbenz. What followed was a long period of repression and political instability. A civil war broke out in 1960 lasting until 1996, fought between rightists and leftists, sponsored at times by the US and the Soviet Union respectively. During the course of the war, over 200,000 people were killed and many more displaced as forces of the Government struggled with left wing guerrillas.
The UFCO (now Chiquita) has long since lost its overarching dominance over Guatemalan politics, and Guatemala has largely transformed itself from a banana republic to a successful democracy, although bananas remain an important part of Guatemala's economy.

Coinage of Guatemala
The first coins used in what is now Guatemala were Spanish Dollars. Independence saw the brief introduction of Mexican Reale, followed by the Federal Republic of Central America Reale. In 1859, the Guatemalan Peso (worth 8 reales) was introduced, and the centavo sub-denomination was introduced 10 years later in 1869. However, the reale coin continued to be used until 1912, when it was finally demonetised. Rafael Carrera's portrait was added to the obverse of Guatemalan coins in 1866, the year after his death.
In 1925, the quetzales (quetzal) was introduced, and coins of 1, 5, 10 centavos and quarter, half and 1 quetzal coins issued. Half and 2 centavo coins were issued in 1932. Coins of 5 centavos and above were struck in 72% silver until 1965.
Because it was pegged to the US Dollar until 1987, the quetzal did not suffer the rate of inflation typical of many of its neighbours, in spite of the turmoil experienced by Guatemala throughout the 20th Century. Today, coins of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 centavos and 1 quetzal are still struck and issued for circulation in Guatemala.

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Guatemalan Coins

Guatemalan Gold Coins