Qualla: Coban https://qualla.com/coban en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/z/8/coban-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Coban https://qualla.com/coban Coban: Introduction https://qualla.com/coban/ Photo credit BladimiroAlvarado, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Spanish renamed it "Vera Paz" -- true peace -- and for once the name was not entirely ironic. While conquistadors put the rest of Guatemala to the sword in the 1530s, the highland region around what is now Coban was converted through negotiation, Christian hymns set to indigenous melodies, and the sheer stubbornness of Bartolome de las Casas, a Dominican friar who had spent years arguing that the sword was the wrong tool for spreading the Gospel. The city that grew from that experiment sits at 1,320 meters above sea level in the department of Alta Verapaz, 219 kilometers from Guatemala City, surrounded by cloud forest and coffee plantations that still define its economy and its character.

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Image: BladimiroAlvarado | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/z/8/coban-wp/9fz8-coban-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Coban: The Friar Who Chose Words Over Swords https://qualla.com/coban/ Photo credit Manfredwinslow, Public domain. By the mid-1530s, every Spanish attempt to conquer the Tezulutlan -- the "War Zone" -- had failed. Pedro de Alvarado tried from Guatemala, Francisco de Montejo from Yucatan, others from Chiapas and New Spain. The indigenous people of the region knew what conquest meant and had re...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/z/8/coban-wp/9fz8-coban-the-friar-who-chose-words-over-swords.mp3 0:06 2 full Coban: The German Colony in the Cloud Forest https://qualla.com/coban/ Photo credit chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Three centuries after the Dominicans, a different group of Europeans remade Coban. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, German coffee planters arrived under generous land concessions from Guatemala's liberal presidents -- Manuel Lisandro Barillas Bercian, Jose Maria Reyna Ba...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/z/8/coban-wp/9fz8-coban-the-german-colony-in-the-cloud-forest.mp3 0:06 3 full Coban: War, Expulsion, and the Shadow of the Swastika https://qualla.com/coban/ Photo credit Andy9696down, CC BY-SA 4.0. During the Nazi era, rumors spread that the Germans in Verapaz intended to establish a National Socialist "new Germany" in Guatemala. The fears were not entirely baseless: Guatemala's dictator Jorge Ubico admired Mussolini and Franco, and when Nazi Germany held a vote on the anne...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/z/8/coban-wp/9fz8-coban-war-expulsion-and-the-shadow-of-the-swastika.mp3 0:06 4 full Coban: The Daughter of the King https://qualla.com/coban/ Photo credit Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0. Modern Coban belongs to the Q'eqchi' Maya. The Q'eqchi' language fills the market squares where farmers from surrounding hills sell their harvests. Each July, the city hosts La Fiesta Nacional Indigena de Guatemala, a week-long festival of indigenous culture whose centerpiece is ...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/z/8/coban-wp/9fz8-coban-the-daughter-of-the-king.mp3 0:06 5 full Coban: Orchids, Quetzals, and the Monja Blanca https://qualla.com/coban/ Photo credit Jorgelandrin122, CC0. The mountains surrounding Coban are heavy with orchids, including the rare Monja Blanca, a white orchid that serves as the departmental symbol. Nature reserves ring the city: Las Victorias National Park and San Jose la Colonia National Park are close at hand, while Laguna Lachua ...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/z/8/coban-wp/9fz8-coban-orchids-quetzals-and-the-monja-blanca.mp3 0:06 6 full