Lake Petén Itzá
lake
Lake Petén Itzá (Lago Petén Itzá, Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlaɣo peˈten iˈtsa]) is a lake in the northern Petén Department in Guatemala. It is the third largest lake in Guatemala, after Lake Izabal and Lake Atitlán. It is located around 16°59′0″N 89°48′0″W. It has an area of 99 km2 (38 mi2), and is some 32 km (20 mi) long and 5 km (3.1 mi) wide. Its maximum depth is 160 m (520 ft). The lake area presents high levels of migration, due to the existence of natural resources such as wood, chewing gum, oil, and agricultural and pasture activities. Because of its archaeological richness, around 150,000 tourists pass through this region yearly. The city of Flores, the capital of the Petén Department, lies on an island near its southern shore.
Several streams flow into Lake Petén Itzá, but it has no surface outflow. Although it loses water mostly by evaporation, it is not a salt lake.
Notable sites
There are at least 27 Maya sites around this lake and the archaeological remains of Tayasal, located across the lake on a peninsula close to the former Itza Maya capital, the last to be conquered in Mesoamerica in 1697.
The public source identifies “Lake Petén Itzá” as lake. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Lake, Petén and Itzá.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Lake Petén Itzá”, the useful work is to connect “lake” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1347461. VIAF identifies the subject as 315530578. The Library of Congress control number is sh2004014021. Authority coordinates are 16.983, -89.800. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1697.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lake Petén Itzá” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.