The ancestors of the Maya gave up hunting, fishing and gathering at some point before 2000 BC and began growing crops. Corn was the reliable staple that allowed the great civilizations of what is now Mexico and Central America to develop, and the Maya inhabited a large area. Their greatest accomplishments were achieved from AD 250 to 800, though their civilization was still in existence when Europeans arrived in the early 1500s.

The Spaniards conquered the weak and divided Maya and took control of present-day Guatemala in 1524. During the colonial period, Spanish-born colonists held the reigns of power, but large groups of creoles (Spaniards born in the New World) and mestizos (those of mixed Spanish and indigenous heritage) also developed. At the bottom of the social hierarchy were those of pure Native-American or African heritage. The country gained independence from Spain in the early 1820s and became a republic in 1847.

The recent political unrest can be traced to a 1954 coup - assisted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency - that turned out a democratically elected leftist government. A series of military or military-influenced governments then ruled the country with a heavy hand and resistance became armed and organized. In response to growing popularity of guerrillas among the landless indigenous people in the 1960s, the army unleashed a campaign of terror in which thousands of people were killed and entire villages were massacred. In late 1996, the civil war ended when a series of agreements were signed between the Guatemalan government and guerrilla insurgents. Over its 36-year history, the war claimed the lives of an estimated 140,000 people.

Since the 1996 peace treaty, relations are better between the Maya and the Ladinos (as those of mixed Spanish and Amerindian descent are known).

The business climate also has improved, but poverty remains widespread in Guatemala, which is Central America's most populous country with about 13 million people. More than half of them are Maya (the largest indigenous population in the region), who still live in small farming villages, growing corn and beans as their ancestors did. They are world famous for their intricate handmade textiles of brilliant reds, yellows and purple. Most speak a variant of the Maya language - in remote areas of the highlands, you might hear more Maya than Spanish, even though Spanish is the country's primary language.