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Back to article: COBAN, or SANTO DOMINGO DE COBAN

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COBAN, or SANTO DOMINGO DE COBAN, the capital of the department of Alta Vera Paz in central Guatemala; about 90 M. N. of the city of Guatemala, on the Cojab6n, a left-hand tributary of the Polochic. Pop. (1905) about 31,000. The town is built in a mountainous and fertile district, and consists chiefly of adobe Indian cottages, surrounded by gardens of flowering shrubs. More modern houses have been erected for the foreign residents, among whom the Germans are numerically pre-dominant. In the chief square of the town stands a 16th-century Dominican church, externally plain, but covered internally with curious Indian decorations. The municipal offices, formerly a college for priests, are remarkable for their handsome burs
disproportionately large gateway in Renaissance style. Despite the want of a railway, Cohan has a flourishing trade in coffee and cinchona; cocoa, vanilla and sugar-cane are also cultivated, and there are manufactures of rum, cotton fabrics, soap and cigars. The prosperity of the town is largely due to the industry of the Quecchi, Kacchi or Kakchi Indians who form the majority of the inhabitants.
Cohan was founded in the 16th century by Dominican monks under Fray Pedro de Angulo, whose portrait is preserved in the church. In honour of the emperor Charles V. (1500-1558), Cohan received the name of Ciudad Imperial (which soon became-obsolete), together with a coat of arms and other privileges belonging to a Spanish city of the first class.