The Maya made their home in northern Central America. Today, this region falls into modern day southern Mexico, most of Guatemala, all of Belize, the northern tip of Honduras, and a northeast piece of El Salvador.
The geography varies greatly in different parts of this region of the world. You can find dry and arid land, rainforests, swamps, and coastal areas. Earthquakes were frequent. There was flooding and mudslides, hurricanes and droughts. In the highlands to the south, among the Sierra Madre mountains, there are 37 volcanoes.
The ancient Maya were a clever people. They invented many things to overcome the various problems their geography and climate created to disturb their comfort. One thing they did was to clear large sections of the rain forest to build underground reservoirs for fresh water storage. They did this without metal tools. (The Maya were great builders.)
