Maya (Yucatán Peninsula)
Middle America and the CaribbeanhorticulturalistsMap
expand_more Description
As in pre-Columbian times, the Maya still inhabit the Yucatán Peninsula, including the Mexican states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, and Campeche. They also live adjacent to other Maya groups such as the Kekchí; and Mopán in Belize, Guatemala, and the Mexican state of Tabasco. For most of the thousands of years of occupation of the peninsula, the Maya have relied upon slash-and-burn (milpa) agriculture. Maize, beans, and squash have long been planted together. The corn tortilla is a dietary staple. There is increasing pressure to participate in wage labor and sale to supplement subsistence. While there are Maya doctors, lawyers, school teachers and government officials, the vast majority of Maya men are limited to manual wage labor, and the women, mostly monolingual, produce embroidered hipil dresses, as well as home-raised animals and vegetables for sale.
Identifier
Region
- Middle America and the Caribbean
Subregion
- Maya Area
Subsistence Type
- horticulturalists
Samples
Countries
- Mexico