Guatemalan Americans

Guatemalan Americans

Overview

The most populous country in Central America, Guatemala is located in the northern part of the Central American region. Its land mass encompasses 42,042 square miles (108,889 square kilometers), bordered by Mexico to the north and west, El Salvador and Honduras to the south and east, the Pacific Ocean along its West Coast, and Belize and the Caribbean Sea to the north and east. The southern half of the Republic of Guatemala mainly consists of beautiful mountain highlands and plateaus, which are susceptible to devastating earthquakes. The northern region contains the department of the Petén, a sparsely populated lowland tropical jungle. There is also a narrow Pacific coastal plain and a small Caribbean lowland area. Most of Guatemala's population and its major cities, including the capital, Guatemala City, are located in the southern region.

Guatemala has a population of about ten million people and the largest indigenous population in Central America. Although estimates of the indigenous population vary greatly from as low as 40 percent of the total population to as high as 85 percent, most sources estimate it at over 50 percent. Most of the indigenous groups are Mayan, although small numbers of Pipil Aztecs live in the southern and eastern areas and Xincas in the east.

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