This month, we present “La Republica de Guatemala”, from 1895. Created by Miles Rock for the Guatemalan Commission of Boundaries with Mexico, this map was made to help settle the border dispute between Mexico and Guatemala lasting from 1821 to 1895. It reflects and documents the post-independence history at the border between these two North American countries.
Under the title of the map, the author wrote that Guatemala is entitled to more land because of the previous, more expansive boundaries that were recognized by both countries. The cartographer, Miles Rock, was asserting that some land claimed by Mexico should belong to Guatemala due to existing cartographic documents produced by various preceding mapmakers.
How did these borders come about? On September 15th, 1821, independence from Spain was declared by much of Central America. Under Spanish rule, the Kingdom of Guatemala included multiple states from Chiapas to Costa Rica (Rieu-Millán 1990). However, this newfound sovereignty brought interstate conflict. Woodward (1993) estimated that Guatemala contained almost half of the Central American population at the time of independence, making them a powerful player due to sheer demographics.
The previous borders of the Kingdom of Guatemala are shown in the cross and dashed yellow lines. In 1824, the Chiapas elite in the state government undemocratically chose to join the first Mexican Republic, officially distancing themselves from Guatemala (Zárate 2023). Following this, the rest of the former Kingdom of Guatemala formed the Federal Republic of Central America in 1825. Meanwhile, Soconusco separated from Chiapas and contentiously joined the new federation.
The unstable federation dissolved in 1840 and Mexico sent military forces to occupy Soconusco in 1942. Simultaneously, Guatemala claimed Soconusco because the territory was valuable for control of trading routes (Zárate 2023). The region is mapped as partially within Guatemalan borders by cartographers during this period. The blue lines and red dashed lines show previous borders mapped between 1832 to 1875.
In 1882, after decades of tension, then Guatemalan president Barrios exchanged Chiapas and some of Soconusco for the southern portion of Soconusco and a western portion of Petén (Zepeda 2021). This was a net loss of territory for Guatemala. The tone of the map reflects this loss, suggesting that more territory is owed to Guatemala. The official border, according to the 1882 treaty, is represented as a solid black line on the map.
From the cartographer's perspective, Mexican officials invaded two areas. The red, jagged line on the right side of the map represents territory that was invaded by armed forces in May of 1894. Mexico invaded the area demarcated by the large green area in the center of the map due to misinterpretation of the earlier treaty in 1888. However, these claims are disputed. According to Zepeda (2021), the 1894 incident was a response to Guatemalan “incursion” into Mexican territory, provoking a military response by Mexico. Additionally, the larger territory “invaded” in 1888 was only agreed to belong to Guatemala in the 1895 agreement, not in the 1882 agreement.
The locations of these illegal ranches are marked by red and blue cross hatching near the border. Multiple sources (U.S. DOS, The Claims of Policarpo Valenzuela and others) reported Guatemalan forces treated these ranchers unjustly, burning their property and damaging their livelihoods.
This map illustrates the power of authorship in cartography. By displaying historic boundaries that show borders containing a larger territory, the author suggested that Guatemala was entitled to that land. All boundaries and borders have history, and the official delineation and representation of them is essential to their enforcement. Even maps that seem objective often carry political bias.
Title: La Republica de Guatemala
Date: 1895
Author: Miles Rock
Publisher: Guatemalan Commission of Boundaries with Mexico
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Works cited:
Rieu-Millán, M. L. (1990). Los diputados americanos en las cortes de cádiz: Igualdad O independencia. Editorial CSIC - CSIC Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=eztuMiP22bwC
The Claims of Policarpo Valenzuela and Others (April 1, 1895). https://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XV/1-21.pdf
U.S. DOS. (1895, April 1). Agreement between Mexico and Guatemala (April 1, 1895). Office of the Historian, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1895p2/d174
Woodward, R. L. J. (1993). Rafael Carrera and the emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821-1871. Univ. Georgia P.
Zepeda, B. (2021). The boundaries of power. The geopolitical configuration of Mexico’s borders in the 19th century. IdeAs, 18. https://doi.org/10.4000/ideas.11909
Zárate, A. M. (2023). Porous borders: The Soconusco between Chiapas and Guatemala, 1824–1882. Dynamics and Conflicts in a Cross-Border Region, 11–31. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003351924-3