The Mayans are an ancient people inhabiting Mesoamerica and very particularly in Guatemala and in the Mexican states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Chiapas and Tabasco. They also developed in Belize, El Salvador and Honduras and today they are the direct descendants of the creators of the marvelous Mayan culture that has existed for approximately four thousand years. To differentiate the various ethnic groups that make up this people, a large group is called Yucatecan Maya or Peninsular Maya (in relation to the Yucatan Peninsula inhabited by them). Other groups linked linguistically, anthropologically and culturally are the Tojolabales, the Mam, the Tzotziles, the Tseltales, the Lacandones, among other groups from Mexico; as well as various ethnic groups from Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador. The language spoken by the majority indigenous group of this ethnic family is the so-called Yucatec Mayan, although each ethnic group in particular has developed its own language.
Photo Credit: Josué Goge