vEtymology

"Maya" is a modern term used to refer collectively to the various peoples that inhabited this area.
They did not call themselves "Maya" and did not have a sense of common identity or political
unity.[2]

Geography
Main article: Maya Region

Maya area
The Maya civilization occupied a wide territory that included southeastern Mexico and northern
Central America. This area included the entire Yucatán Peninsula and all of the territory now in
the modern countries of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and
El Salvador.[3] Most of the peninsula is formed by a vast plain with few hills or mountains and a
generally low coastline.[4] The territory of the Maya covered a third of Mesoamerica,[5] and the
Maya were engaged in a dynamic relationship with neighbouring cultures that included
the Olmecs, Mixtecs, Teotihuacan, and Aztecs.[6] During the Early Classic period, the Maya cities
of Tikal and Kaminaljuyu were key Maya foci in a network that extended into the highlands of
central Mexico;[7] there was a strong Maya presence at the Tetitla compound of Teotihuacan.
[8]
The Maya city of Chichen Itza and the distant Toltec capital of Tula had an especially close
relationship.[9]
The Petén region consists of densely forested low-lying limestone plain;[10] a chain of fourteen
lakes runs across the central drainage basin of Petén.[11] To the south the plain gradually rises
towards the Guatemalan Highlands.[12] The dense Maya forest covers northern Petén and Belize,
most of Quintana Roo, southern Campeche, and a portion of the south of Yucatán state. Farther
north, the vegetation turns to lower forest consisting of dense scrub. [13]
The littoral zone of Soconusco lies to the south of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas,[14] and consists of
a narrow coastal plain and the foothills of the Sierra Madre.[15] The Maya highlands extend
eastwards from Chiapas into Guatemala, reaching their highest in the Sierra de los
Cuchumatanes. Their major pre-Columbian population centres were in the largest highland
valleys, such as the Valley of Guatemala and the Quetzaltenango Valley. In the southern
highlands, a belt of volcanic cones runs parallel to the Pacific coast. The highlands extend
northwards into Verapaz, and gradually descend to the east.[16]

History