Geography: The Maya lived in the southern area of Mexico, a mountainous highland region which includes eastern Chiapas in Mexico. Their area also includes parts of what is today Guatemala and western El Salvador in Central America. They lived in in the densely forested area which reaches from the states of Tabasco and southern Campeche in Mexico, the Peten region in northern Guatemala, Belize and the far western area of Honduras.

Click here to see a map of the Maya area.

Climate: In the rainforest area of the Maya lands it is hot and tropical and there is a long rainy season. It can rain for half of the year so the crops grew well and their landscape was full of vegetation.

Vegetation: In the rainforests there were mahy different kinds of trees such as mahogany, cedar, ceiba, palm, sapodillo, breadnut, vanilla vines and rubber trees. The Maya uses these trees for woodd to build their houses and for firewood. They also used the rubber tree to collect rubber which they used for many purposes.

Fauna: Many animals live in the jungle. These includes: peccary, deer, wild pg, agouti, sloth, rabbit, fox, monkey, and jaguar. The reptiles include: boa constrictor, rattlesnake, coral snake, lizards, toads, frogs. And, of course, there were many kinds of insects. Jungle varieties of birds include: wild turkeys, curassows, toucans, and red-breasted trogons, In the Maya highlands there was a bird called the quetzal whoc long blue-green tails feathers were highly prized by the Mayas for their headresses.