Spanish colony In the 16th century, during the period of the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, the shore of the lake was the scene of a battle in which the Spanish and their
Kaqchikel allies defeated the
Tz'utujils. After the
Spanish conquest of Guatemala, the
Franciscans set up a church and monastery in Panajachel soon afterward, and used the town as a centre to convert the indigenous people of the region to the
Roman Catholic faith. The original façade of the church still stands and is considered one of the gems of the colonial style in Guatemala. Panajachel was part of the
Tecpán Atitlán "corregimiento" (English: Province) and when it turned into a major municipality in 1730, Panajachel became part of it as well; By 1700, Panajachel had a convent with three priests, in charge of ca. 1800 people, four doctrines and twelve
cofradías. Adults attended Mass every Sunday and holiday and after mass, there were religious teachings in their own language. In 1754, as part of the
Bourbon Reforms, the Franciscans were forced to give their doctrines to the
secular clergy; thus, when archbishop
Pedro Cortés y Larraz visited Panajachel in 1770, he described it as the "San Francisco Panajachel parish".
Visit of archeologist Alfred P. Maudslay in 1892 . in 1892. Photograph by
Alfred Percival Maudslay. By 1892, Panajachel people had already built numerous irrigation canals which had altered the normal stream bed to work on orchards, gardens and coffee plantations at the delta area. While in Panajachel, the visitors witnessed a religious ceremony by numerous pilgrims that were returning from visiting
Esquipulas; pilgrims gathered in the central plaza that night around fires that they set for their food, and once they were done with their supper, they placed
petates -native Guatemalan mats- on the floor in a line that crossed the plaza. Anne Maudslay tells in her book that even though this seemed like a Catholic ritual, it was, in fact, a Mayan one; several priests that they found during their journey told them that they were not sure that the natives had really absorbed the Catholic faith that the conquistadors tried to instill in them for centuries.
20th century The town attracted many
Hippies in the 1960s, but the numbers of foreign visitors plummeted during the
Guatemalan Civil War. After the war ended, tourists started coming back, and Panajachel's economy is once again primarily based on tourism.
21st century: Hurricane Stan Panajachel was seriously affected by torrential rains as a result of
Hurricane Stan in October 2005 with a major
mudslide destroying about 100 homes along the river. ==Places of interest==