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Precolumbian Mesoamerica comprises the modern territory of Mexico (excluding its northern states),
Guatemala, adjacent Belize, western Honduras, and all of El Salvador. Within Mesoamerica, we define
three major areas of high civilization: the "Mexican Highlands" to the northwest, the "Maya
Lowlands" to the southeast, plus an intervening area called the "Coastal Lowlands." The latter
zone is a long tropical rain forest corridor straddling the Gulf Coast of Mexico (today the state
of Veracruz) as well as the southern Pacific Coast of Chiapas, Guatemala, and El Salvador - those
Atlantic and Pacific coasts being joined by the low Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
At the center of this region, on the Gulf side of the isthmus, Mesoamerica's first
civilization arose: the Olmec (1200-500 B.C.), at such precocious ceremonial centers
as San Lorenzo and La Venta. The ancient Olmecs ultimately influenced all of
Mesoamerica.
Chronologically, we divide Mesoamerican history into a "Preclassic" period
(1500 B.C.-A.D. 200), a "Classic" period (A.D. 200-900), and a "Postclassic"
period (ca. A.D.900-1500). Each of these has its subdivisions, though all
authorities do not agree on precise divisions. Some academics prefer to call
the Preclassic "Formative." These divisions were originally predicated upon
the Classic Maya inscribed calendrical dates, which were extensively recorded
on stone stelae from the third century to the ninth century A.D. in the central Peten.
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references
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Author information: Justin Kerr, Lee Parsons
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