September 11, 1541 Eruption of Agua
Agua in Guatemala erupted on September 11, 1541. The eruption killed 1,300 people.
Where it erupted
Agua, Guatemala, with its other significant eruptions.
The eruption
The toll
- Deaths
- 1,300
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Note: No eruption. Some previous catalogs list an eruption but that has been discredited.
No dated Holocene tephra deposits or recorded eruptions are known from Agua, but its name (the water volcano) originates from a devastating mudflow on 11 September 1541. The mudflow destroyed Ciudad Vieja, the first Guatemalan capital city established by the Spanish Conquistadors, prompting the establishment of a new capital at nearby Antigua. (reference #2432)
Draining of crater lake evidently created mud-flows which destroyed former Guatemalan capital of Cuidad Vieja. Gobernadora Donna Beatrix, the first woman head of government in the American continent, was one of the dead. (reference #9675)
More
Every eruption in 1541The 1500sAguaEarthquakes near AguaThis day in weather history
Sources
Volcanoes and significant eruptions from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. Volcano numbers are the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program’s. NCEI event 7579.