Tratado de amistad y alianza entre los estados de Guatemala y Los Altos. by Guatemala. Treaties - 1839

[Guatemala, 1850. Very good plus.. 12pp. Folio, stitched as issued. A couple of very minor chips along lower edge. Light dust soiling and minor foxing. A scarce treaty of friendship and trade between Guatemala and the free, northern German cities of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck, former leading members of the medieval Hanseatic League, and in the mid-19th century, members of the loose German Confederation. The agreement, dated June 7, 1850, is quite extensive, and printed in two columns in both Spanish and German. Although Rafael Carranza is here hailed as the President of the Guatemalan Republic, he had only returned from exile the previous year, and was in the midst of fighting not only the liberal Guatemalan faction that had deposed him, but also the forces of Honduras and El Salvador, in order to re-establish his power. The treaty names Karl Rudolph Klee as the representative of the republican German cities; Klee was one of the first German immigrants to Guatemala, arriving in 1828 and becoming a… Read More

Guatemala, 1839. Good plus.. Broadsheet, approximately 12.25 x 8.5 inches. Unevenly trimmed. Small chips at top edge and lower right corner, repaired with tape. Light dampstain across most of sheet. A rare, short-lived treaty of alliance between Guatemala and the short-lived Republic of Los Altos. The nation was created from parts of what are now Chiapas and northwestern Guatemala, and declared its independence on February 2, 1838. The separation arose from political differences between Conservative leaders in the Guatemalan capital and Liberals at the new Los Altos capital Quezaltenango, who were more aligned with the Central American federal government. This broadsheet treaty declares and prints ten articles of "amistad y alianza," in which Guatemala promises to respect the independence of Los Altos, and was promulgated on December 18, 1838. Nevertheless, the two countries were soon at war, and following a final defeat to the forces of Rafael Carrera, Los Altos was reincorporated in Guatemala in… Read More