Guatemala, with an area of 108,890 sq km, is located in Central America south of Mexico, with Belize to its northeast, and Honduras and El Salvador to its southeast and south. It has a 300 km long Pacific coast in the southwest and a shorter Caribbean coast in the east.
The country, especially south of the Peten region is mountainous. It is divided by two mountain ranges. The northern range runs from the north from the Mexican border across the country until it reaches the Caribbean coast below the region of Peten. The southern mountain range starts from the northwest on the Mexican border and runs southeast into El Salvador and Honduras. All the countries over 30 volcanoes are in the southern range; several of them are active, including Santiaguito – the youngest and most active volcano in the country, and the Pecaya, which erupted recently. Between the two mountain ranges is the Motagua river valley; the river ends in the Caribbean.
North of the mountain ranges is the Peten region, which is sandwiched between Mexico and Belize. This region consists of plateaus or lowlands and was once heavily populated by the Mayans before they were decimated by wars with the Spanish or by diseases brought by the latter in the 16th century. It is the region where many of the Mayan ruins remain.
South of the mountain ranges facing the Pacific is a coastal plain with sandy beaches, mangrove swamps and forests, dissected by rivers originating from the southern mountains
