The Maya Tropical Forest: People, Parks, and Ancient CIties

Preface

Preface Working in the Maya Tropical Forest for more than 25 years gave me the opportunity to examine scores of books on the region, but my research in libraries and bookstores never turned up the one book I was looking for. I was seeking a book that brought together the basic information on the region’s people, archaeology, and natural resource conservation. Most of all, the book would tell interesting stories about the people, history, and wildlife of the Maya Tropical Forest. This volume represents my effort to create that book for future travelers and researchers. The Maya Tropical Forest: People, Parks, and Ancient Cities tells a uni- fied story of the lowland tropical forest of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. The Maya Tropical Forest is the closest rainforest to the United States and one of the most visited tourist sites in the Western Hemisphere. Journalists have called the Maya the most fascinating ancient culture since Egyptian pharaohs first inspired the public imagination, and few months go by without at least one major article on the ancient or modern Maya in National Geographic, Natural History, Newsweek, or Time. Descriptions of Maya archaeology appear regularly in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. Simultaneously, questions about the fate of the world’s rainforests have seeped deep into public concern during the past 25 years, and generations of students are seeking to learn more about the fate of these forests. The Maya Tropical Forest: People, Parks, and Ancient Cities guides the reader through the past and future of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, telling some of the stories I have heard and experienced in the region’s archaeological sites, national parks, and communities. The book describes the region’s plants and wildlife, explains how the ancient Maya x  the maya tropical forest used and guarded these resources, and shows how indigenous people utilize these same plants and animals today in village life and international trade. Sections within the chapters on Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize take the reader on quick tours of the protected areas of the Maya Tropical Forest , from Mexico’s Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve to the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Reserve of southern Belize. On these pages, you will learn how the protection of these parks and reserves also protects the artifacts of ancient Maya civilization and the biological germplasm that will help define the future of humankind. You will also find an explanation of how the expanding industry of ecotourism helps protect both national parks and archaeological sites. The book is intended for travelers to the Maya region and students of the region’s environment and natural history. Tourism, especially naturebased tourism, is increasing every year in the Maya Tropical Forest. Among the most visited states in Mexico are Chiapas and Quintana Roo, homeland of the Maya Tropical Forest. The 1994 Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas, Mexico, focused world attention on the rainforest of the Selva Lacandona, the westernmost part of the Maya Tropical Forest, and tourism to the state is again on the rise, now that the rebellion has calmed. Tourism in Guatemala is increasing by 9 percent per year, in the wake of the 1996 Peace Accords that ended civil strife between the Guatemalan government and leftist guerrilla forces. Since 1985 the number of visitors to Tikal National Park has increased 29 percent annually. In Belize, the government has recognized tourism as the number one generator of foreign exchange, and new ecological tourism facilities, hotels , and archaeological excavations bring thousands more visitors each year. The number of annual visitors has increased by more than 80 percent since the early 1990s. But The Maya Tropical Forest: People, Parks, and Ancient Cities is designed to be a reader’s book, rather than a tourist guide. I have not attempted to write an on-site handbook to the area’s attractions (“Turn left at Temple II and proceed north 150 meters (492 feet) . . .”). Instead, the book answers questions: Why did the Maya build the stone skyscraper city of Tikal in the middle of a tropical forest? How did Hernán Cortés’s wounded horse change the history of the Maya people? Why do the descendants of the ancient Maya gather wild products from the forest, and which of their products will you find in your kitchen? How did Maya fish harvesting lead to the development of birth control pills? How does wildlife conservation assist...