Purulhá
title: "Purulhá" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["municipalities-of-the-baja-verapaz-department"] topic_path: "general/municipalities-of-the-baja-verapaz-department" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purulhá" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| official_name | Purulhá |
| settlement_type | Municipality |
| imagesize | 300px |
| pushpin_map | Guatemala |
| pushpin_map_caption | Location in Guatemala |
| subdivision_type | Country |
| subdivision_name | [[Image:Flag of Guatemala.svg |
| subdivision_type1 | Department |
| subdivision_name1 | [[Image:Flag of Baja Verapaz Department.svg |
| leader_title | Mayor |
| government_footnotes | |
| leader_name | Sebastián Castro García |
| area_total_km2 | 536 |
| population_as_of | 2018 census |
| population_footnotes | |
| population_total | 56822 |
| population_density_km2 | auto |
| population_urban | 7901 |
| unit_pref | Metric |
| coordinates | |
| blank_name | Climate |
| blank_info | Cfb |
| :: |
|official_name = Purulhá |settlement_type = Municipality |imagesize = 300px |pushpin_map = Guatemala |pushpin_map_caption = Location in Guatemala |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = [[Image:Flag of Guatemala.svg|25px]] Guatemala |subdivision_type1 = Department |subdivision_name1 = [[Image:Flag of Baja Verapaz Department.svg|25px]] Baja Verapaz |leader_title = Mayor |government_footnotes= |leader_name = Sebastián Castro García |leader_party = |area_total_km2 = 536 |population_as_of = 2018 census |population_footnotes = |population_total = 56822 |population_density_km2 = auto |population_urban = 7901 |unit_pref = Metric |coordinates = |blank_name = Climate |blank_info = Cfb Purulhá is a town and municipality in the Baja Verapaz department of Guatemala. It is situated at 1,570 m (5,151 ft) above sea level. The municipality covers an area of 536 km² and the population was 56,822 at the 2018 census. The annual festival is June 10-June 13.
History
Verapaz Railroad
|border=black |caption=Ferrocarril Verapaz main stations in Alta Verapaz.
- Pancajché
- Santa Catalina La Tinta
- Panzós
- Cobán | label=1| position=right|bg=white|label_size=70 | lat=15.292027| long=-90.025021 | label2=2|label2_size=70 | pos2=right| bg2=white | lat2=15.311661| long2=-89.884086 | label3=3|label3_size=70 | pos3=right| bg3=white | lat3=15.400458| long3=-89.643545 | label4=4|label4_size=70 | pos4=right| bg4=white | lat4=15.469727| long4=-90.381646 | width=220 | float=left
The Verapaz Railroad began on 15 January 1894 with a contract for 99 years between Guatemala, then ruled by president José María Reina Barrios, and Walter Dauch, representative of the "Verapaz Railroad & Northern Agency Ltd." The contract settled the rules for the construction and maintenance of a 30 mile railroad line between Panzós and Pancajché. Passenger service travelled twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays; mail also arrived by ship every Wednesday and cargo came from Livingston, Izabal. Besides, there were train stops in Santa Rosita, Santa Catalina La Tinta, and Papalhá.
In 1898, it was reported that given the coffee prosperity in Cobán, which in those days was the third largest city in Guatemala, the railroad was going to be extended to that city. The railroad was in operation until 1965, when it was superseded by truck and highways.
Image:Ferrocarrilverapaz1895.jpg|Verapaz Railroad maiden voyage in 1894. Image:Vaporferrocarrilverapaz1898.jpg|Verapaz Railroad steamboat sailing the Polochic river. Image:Vaporpolochic1898.jpg|Coffee transport. Image:Ferrocarrilverapaz1900.jpg|Verapaz Railroad engine in the 1900s.
Thomae family
The Thomae family, coming from German settlers from the 1880s, was the ruling family in Purulhá for most of the 20th century. By taking advantage of the pro-German policies of president Justo Rufino Barrios, Mauricio Thomae gathered the following coffee haciendas:
::data[format=table]
| Year | Hacienda | Location | 1882 | 1889 | 1897 | 1897 | 1900 | 1902 | 1902 | 1902 | 1905 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cubilgüitz | Cobán | ||||||||||
| San Isidro | Purulhá | ||||||||||
| Comija | Tamahú | ||||||||||
| Popabaj | Tucurú | ||||||||||
| Nueve Aguas | Purulhá | ||||||||||
| Panzal | Purulhá | ||||||||||
| Rocjá | Tamahú | ||||||||||
| Paijá | Tucurú | ||||||||||
| Chimox | Tucurú | ||||||||||
| :: |
During the régime of general Jorge Ubico (1931-1944), Mauricio Thomae became one of the most influential German Verapaz landowners, along with the Sarg, Sapper and Diesseldorf families. He took advantage of his close relationship with president Ubico, who had been Cobán's governor during the presidency of Manuel Estrada Cabrera and befriended several German families, including Thomae's.
For most of the 20th century, the Thomae family kept Puruhlá under its control thanks to their large coffee plantations and farm land holdings, and despite the expulsion of most Germans from Guatemala during World War II. After the coffee crisis in 2000, the Thomaes diversified their investments into the power, tourism and forest incentive businesses; in fact, by 2015 they were planning on building the Enerjá megaproject (25 MW) which will connect to their other power generation project, El Cafetal (8,36 MW) in Finca Bremen, also owned by the Thomaes.
Climate
Purulhá has a temperate climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb).
|location = Purulhá |metric first = yes |single line = yes |Jan mean C = 14.6 |Feb mean C = 15.4 |Mar mean C = 16.7 |Apr mean C = 17.5 |May mean C = 18.2 |Jun mean C = 18.2 |Jul mean C = 17.8 |Aug mean C = 17.8 |Sep mean C = 17.9 |Oct mean C = 17.3 |Nov mean C = 16.2 |Dec mean C = 15.3 |year mean C = |Jan high C = 18.8 |Feb high C = 20.2 |Mar high C = 21.7 |Apr high C = 22.4 |May high C = 22.8 |Jun high C = 22.2 |Jul high C = 21.5 |Aug high C = 21.8 |Sep high C = 22.0 |Oct high C = 21.1 |Nov high C = 20.3 |Dec high C = 19.7 |year high C = |Jan low C = 10.4 |Feb low C = 10.7 |Mar low C = 11.8 |Apr low C = 12.6 |May low C = 13.6 |Jun low C = 14.3 |Jul low C = 14.1 |Aug low C = 13.9 |Sep low C = 13.9 |Oct low C = 13.5 |Nov low C = 12.1 |Dec low C = 10.9 |year low C = |Jan precipitation mm = 81 |Feb precipitation mm = 48 |Mar precipitation mm = 68 |Apr precipitation mm = 68 |May precipitation mm = 174 |Jun precipitation mm = 325 |Jul precipitation mm = 329 |Aug precipitation mm = 245 |Sep precipitation mm = 272 |Oct precipitation mm = 205 |Nov precipitation mm = 125 |Dec precipitation mm = 66 |year precipitation mm = |source 1 = Climate-Data.org |title = Climate: Purulhá |access-date= 20 August 2015 |website= Climate-Data.org}}
Geographic location
|Center=Purulhá |North=Tactic, Tamahú y Tucurú, Alta Verapaz Department municipalities |Northwest=Tactic, Alta Verapaz Department municipality |Northeast=Santa Catalina La Tinta, Alta Verapaz Departament municipality |South=Salamá, Baja Verapaz Department municipality |East=Santa Catalina La Tinta, Alta Verapaz Departament municipality
References
- (8 September 2015). "Byron Tejeda gana elección a alcalde de Salamá". Prensa Libre.
- [https://www.citypopulation.de/en/guatemala/admin/ Citypopulation.de] Population of departments and municipalities in Guatemala
- {{harvnb. La Ilustración del Pacífico. 15 March 1898
- {{harvnb. La Ilustración del Pacífico. 15 March 1898
- (20 July 2015). "Nepotismo y la decadencia de la familia Thomae".
- SEGEPLAN. "Municipios de Baja Verapaz, Guatemala".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::