Note XXVII-2 — Chapter XXVII · REVOLT OF THE CAKCHIQUELS. 1524-1525.

Vazquez observes, 'Llegó â Vulvusya que oy llaman Almolonga; y auiendo en la falda de su bolcan assentado el Real a los 25 de Jullio de 1524, diò su primer ser a la Ciudad de Guatemala, con Nõbre de Villa que le duró muy pocos dias.' Chronica de Gvat., 7. Remesal also states that the city was founded on the slopes of the Volcan de Agua, at a place called Panchoy, which signifies Great Lagoon, the valley there being surrounded by mountains. The material of which the first houses were built consisted, he says, of forked posts for the corner pillars, of canes and mud for the walls, while the roofs were thatched with dry grass. By the aid of the Mexicans they were rapidly thrown up. A sufficient number for the accommodation of all the army being completed, they waited for the day of the Apostle Santiago, in order to found the city on that day and dedicate it to their patron saint. It fell on Monday, the 25th of July, when the founding was consummated. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 4. I have elsewhere shown that Patinamit was the city which Alvarado called Guatemala. Now there is positive evidence from his own despatch that he founded the city of Santiago at or upon that same city of Guatemala. 'Antes acorde me bolver à esta Ciudad de Guatemala, ... asi que Yo soi venido à esta Ciudad ... hice, i edifiquè, en nombre de su Magestad, vna Ciudad de Españoles, que se dice la Ciudad del Señor Santiago,' he writes. The use of the expression 'esta Ciudad de Guatemala' in other portions of the despatch proves that it was written at the capital of the Cakchiquel king, while at the conclusion it is dated thus: 'De esta ciudad de Santiago, à veinte i ocho de Julio de mil i quinientos i veinte i quatro Años.' Thus it is clear that the city of Guatemala and the city of Santiago were one, and that Alvarado appropriated to himself Sinacam's capital. Alvarado, Relacion, i. 161-2, 165-6. It may be here stated that in direct opposition to Alvarado's application of the term ciudad to the new settlement, both Vazquez and Remesal assert that it was a villa, the latter adding that it retained this title eighteen days, and was erected into a city on the 12th of August. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 4, 6. Pelaez says the city was called 'Ciudad de Santiago de los caballeros,' but not till November 22, 1527. Vazquez affirms, Chronica de Gvat., 11, that it was so called on the 29th of July, 1524, while Remesal gives August 12th of the same year. Pelaez, in his introduction to vol. i., states that Guatemala took its name from the expression of Guhatezmalhá, that is to say 'the hill which throws out water.' From the acts of the cabildo we know that it was called a city on the 29th of July, 1524. Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 8.