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 incorporated into the modern countries of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.[18] Most of the peninsula is formed by a vast plain with few hills or mountains and a generally low coastline.[19]
The Petén region consists of densely forested low-lying limestone plain;[20] a chain of fourteen lakes runs across the central drainage basin of Petén.[21] To the south the plain gradually rises towards the Guatemalan Highlands.[22] Dense forest covers northern Petén and Belize, most of Quintana Roo, southern Campeche and a portion of the south of Yucatán state. Further north, the vegetation turns to lower forest consisting of dense scrub.[23]
The littoral zone of Soconusco lies to the south of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas,[24] and consists of a narrow coastal plain and the foothills of the Sierra Madre.[25] The Maya highlands extend eastwards from Chiapas into Guatemala, reaching their highest in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes. The major pre-Columbian population centres of the highlands were located in the largest highland valleys, such as the Valley of Guatemala and the Quetzaltenango Valley in the southern highlands, a belt of volcanic cones running parallel to the Pacific coast. The highlands extend northwards into Verapaz, and gradually descend to the east.[26]