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26-591: El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve has an area of 1191.77 km in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas , a mountain range that extends roughly east–west parallel to the Pacific coast of Mexico and Guatemala. To the west El Triunfo borders the Zona de Protección Forestal en los terrenos que se encuentran en los municipios de La Concordia, Angel Albino Corzo, Villa Flores y Jiquipilas a natural resources protection area that protects

52-591: A line well south of the range, where over twenty volcanoes form five clusters. Between the Sierra Madre and the Volcanic line lies a central plateau. Guatemalan Highlands The Guatemalan Highlands is an upland region in southern Guatemala which lies between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south and the Petén lowlands to the north. The Highlands lie between 6360 ft and 13780 ft and are made up of

78-454: A living by growing corn, beans, and other crops for community use and coffee as a cash crop. In 1972 this area was declared a state park, in 1990 the Mexican government designated El Triunfo as a biosphere reserve, with an area of 934.58 km. In 1993 UNESCO declared El Triunfo an international biosphere reserve, with an area of 1191.77 km. Sierra Madre de Chiapas The Sierra Madre

104-571: A series of high valleys enclosed by mountains. There are volcanoes which are both active and extinct. The local name for the region is Altos, meaning "highlands." The relief of the mountainous country which is north of the Highlands and drains into the Atlantic is varied by terraces, ridges, and underfalls. Its general configuration is compared by E. Reclus to the appearance of "a stormy sea breaking into parallel billows". A range called

130-569: A way through the Sierra Madre at the bottom of deep ravines. On the eastern side a number of the rivers of the Atlantic slopes attain a considerable volume and size. The Sierra Madre moist forests ecoregion covers the southern slopes of the mountains. The mountains intercept winds from the Pacific, creating fog, clouds, and orographic precipitation that sustain the ecoregion's cloud forests. The Central American pine–oak forests ecoregion covers

156-635: Is a major mountain range in Central America . It is known as the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in Mexico. It crosses El Salvador , Guatemala , Mexico and Honduras. The Sierra Madre is part of the American Cordillera , a chain of mountain ranges that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America , Central America , and South America . The range runs northwest–southeast from

182-421: Is notable for its cloud forests, which occur in mountain areas with high year-round rainfall. El Triunfo includes some of the largest remaining cloud forests in Mexico. El Triunfo's cloud forests are biodiverse , with many plant and animal species and outstanding diversity of tree species. The cloud forests' vegetation and soils absorb the mountains' high rainfall, releasing it slowly into the rivers that drain from

208-706: Is the Polochic River , which is about 290 km (180 mi) in length, and navigable about 32 km (20 mi) above the river-port of Telemán. A vast number of streams, among which are the Chixoy , Lacantún , and Ixcán , unite to form the Usumacinta River , which passes along the Mexican frontier, and flows on through Chiapas and Tabasco into the Bay of Campeche . The Grijalva and its tributaries

234-684: The Caribbean Sea have their sources in the highlands. The Motagua River , whose principal head stream is called the Rio Grande, has a course of about 400 kilometres (250 mi), and is navigable to within 140 km (90 mi) of Guatemala City which is situated on one of its confluents, the Rio de las Vacas . It empties in the Gulf of Honduras , an arm of the Caribbean. Of similar importance

260-754: The Cuilco and San Miguel rivers drain west into the Chiapas Depression and from there into the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Atitlan is a land-locked basin encompassed with lofty mountains. About 14 km (9 mi) south of Guatemala City lies Lake Amatitlán and the town of Amatitlán . The Highlands have a more temperate climate compared to the surrounding lowlands and Pacific coastal plains. Their annual temperatures fall between 15° and 25°C. In this climate, there are typically pronounced rainy and dry seasons. The rainy season lasts from May to November, with

286-611: The Guatemalan Highlands also provided a vital source of agricultural products sustaining the Mayan population. An important Pre-Maya site located in the Highlands is Kaminaljuyu . It was a huge settlement, complete with big structures, organization, and cities. The Highlands were significant to the Maya for a variety of reasons. First, at one point, there was only one Mayan language, Proto-Mayan , which likely originated in

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312-461: The Highlands. Over time, various dialects of the language separated spreading across the rest of the Maya area. They were also significant because of their large lakes, or more specifically, the Maya cave sites near these lakes, which sometimes were ritual pilgrimage places for the Maya. The lakes were popular sites to live by, as they made water more accessible to the Maya. Many birds were trapped by

338-519: The Maya with various minerals which were culturally important including jade and serpentine . In addition to these minerals, fertile landscapes were created by large amounts of rainfall during the rainy season of the Guatemalan Highlands(May-December). Canals were built and maintained to use a raised field system of agriculture that took advantage of the ecology of the landscape. Households grew their food in open areas and

364-443: The Mexican frontier, but has a more southerly trend, especially towards El Salvador. The base of many of the volcanic igneous peaks rests among the southern foothills in the southern region of the range. It is, however, impossible to subdivide the Sierra Madre into a northern and a volcanic chain; for the volcanoes are isolated by stretches of comparatively low country; at least thirteen considerable streams flow down through them, from

390-549: The Sierra Madre from the Chiapas Plateau , the Guatemalan Highlands , and Honduras' interior highlands. The range forms the main drainage divide between the Pacific and Atlantic river systems. On the Pacific side the distance to the sea is short, and the streams, while very numerous, are consequently small and rapid. A few of the streams of the Pacific slopes rise in the Guatemalan Highlands , and force

416-804: The Sierra de Chamá travels eastward towards Belize and is connected by low hills with the Cockscomb Mountains. The Sierra de Santa Cruz , a similar range, continues east to Cape Cocoli between the Polochic and the Sarstoon rivers. A third, the Sierra de las Minas , or its eastern portion, Sierra del Mico , stretches between the Polochic and the Motagua rivers. Between Honduras and Guatemala,

442-399: The Sierra's high peaks and northern slopes. It is known near Guatemala city as the Sierra de las Nubes, and enters Mexico as the Sierra de Istatan. Its summit is not a well-defined crest, but is often rounded or flattened into a table-land. The direction of the great volcanic cones, which rise in an irregular line above it, is not identical with the main axis of the Sierra itself, except near

468-416: The frontier is formed by the Sierra de Merendón . A few of the streams of the Pacific slope actually rise in the highlands pushing through the Sierra Madre at the bottom of deep ravines. A large river, the Chixoy or Salinas River , flows northwards towards the Gulf of Mexico . In addition to the streams which break through to the Pacific, a number of larger streams which drain to the Gulf of Mexico or

494-460: The heaviest rainfall happening in June and October. One of the prevalent groups which has been present in the Guatemalan Highlands is the Maya civilization . They rose to importance around A.D. 250 and then declined beginning around A.D. 850. The Guatemalan Highlands were a significant source of raw materials for the Maya society; farming and agriculture dominated the region. The highlands provided

520-722: The main watershed to the sea. Viewed from the coast, the volcanic cones seem to rise directly from the central heights of the Sierra Madre, above which they tower; but in reality their bases are, as a rule, farther south. East of Volcán Tacana (4,092 metres) which marks the Mexican frontier, the principal volcanoes are Tajumulco (4,220 meters); Santa Maria (3,777 meters), which erupted in October 1902, after centuries of quiescence, in which its slopes had been overgrown by dense forests; Atitlan (3,557 meters), overlooking Lake Atitlan ; Acatenango (3,976 meters); Fuego (i.e. "fire," 3,763 metres), which received its name from its activity at

546-535: The mountains to the Pacific coastal plain to the south and the Chiapas Depression to the north, or releasing it back into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration to fall again as rain. The reserve is home to 548 species of terrestrial vertebrates, 45% of the total number of species recorded for Chiapas and 22% of the total for Mexico. 112 of those are mammals, representing 56% of the mammal species in Chiapas and 23% of those in Mexico. 63 reptile species are native to

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572-472: The northern slope of the Sierra. El Triunfo, the Zona de Protección Forestal, and La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve further to the west form a continuous protected corridor along the western Sierra. El Triunfo is home to a range of plant communities, including tropical dry forest, foothill and montane evergreen moist forest, and pine–oak forest . 977 species of plants have been recorded in the reserve. El Triunfo

598-406: The reserve, including 32% of the known species in Chiapas and 9% of the total for Mexico. The reserve has 22 species of amphibians, 23% of the total recorded in Chiapas and 7.5% of those for the Mexico as a whole. 588 species of daytime Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) have been recorded in the reserve, 49% of the total identified in Chiapas. Residents of the reserve's buffer zone mostly make

624-604: The state of Chiapas in Mexico , across western Guatemala , into El Salvador and Honduras . Most of the volcanoes of Guatemala, part of the Central America Volcanic Arc , are within the range. A narrow coastal plain lies south of the range, between the Sierra Madre and the Pacific Ocean . To the north lie a series of highlands and depressions, including the Chiapas Depression, which separates

650-425: The surplus of these agricultural products was traded in community markets. In the Highlands, various fruits, vegetables, flowers, and coffee were traded throughout the Maya society. The Maya had maize fields that were called milpas , which grew different types of maize in addition to squashes, beans, and manioc . The lowlands are often considered the center of the Maya society, but it is important to recognize that

676-517: The time of the Spanish conquest; Agua (i.e. "water," 3,765 meters), so named in 1541 because it destroyed the former capital of Guatemala with a deluge of water from its flooded crater; and Pacaya (2,550 metres), a group of igneous peaks which were in eruption in 1870. East of the Guatemalan border, the range forms the boundary between El Salvador and Honduras. In El Salvador, the volcanoes form

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