"The Maya Empire is centered in the tropical lowlands of what is now Guatemala. It reached the peak of its power and influence around the sixth century A.D. The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making and mathematics. They left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork. Most of the great stone cities of the Maya were abandoned by A.D. 900. Ever since the 19th century scholars have debated what might have caused this dramatic decline.

The Maya civilization was one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mexico and Central America before the Spanish conquest. Unlike other scattered indigenous populations, the Maya were centered in one geographical block. This included all of the Yucatan Peninsula and modern-day Guatemala; Belize and parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador. This concentration showed that the Maya remained relatively secure from invasion by other peoples.

Three Distinct Cultures

The Maya lived in three separate sub-areas with distinct environmental and cultural differences. The northern Maya lowlands were on the Yucatan Peninsula. The southern lowlands were in the Peten district of northern Guatemala and adjacent portions of Mexico, Belize and western Honduras. And the southern Maya highlands were in the mountainous region of southern Guatemala.

The Maya of the southern lowland region reached their peak during the Classic Period of Maya civilization from A.D. 250 to 900. They built the great stone cities and monuments that have fascinated explorers and scholars of the region.​"