Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Within this region Indigenous Nations have thrived for thousands of years, building complex civilizations and some of the most impressive building on Earth. Mesoamerica is noted for pre-Columbian writing and the domestication of cacao, maize, beans, tomato, avocado, vanilla, squash and chili, and hundreds of other plants and plant species. Trading routes linked Mesoamerica with Indigenous Nations as far away as Alaska and Argentina. Today Mesoamerica is home to one of the highest densities of Indigenous American populations, with roughly 5 million Mayan and 1 million Nahua speakers living in this area. In addition, speakers of dozens of other languages still thrive in communities across the region.
