Isolated, culturally rich Chiapas offers jungle-draped pyramids and breathtaking scenery. Adopting Christianity early on, the Maya have maintained their own spiritual belies, resulting in one of Mexico’s most synergistic versions of Catholism.

To speak of Chiapas is to speak of the Maya, the largest Native American group north of Peru. The early 16th century Spanish conquest of Chiapas was particularly swift and brutal. Discouraged by the lack of gold and other riches, the conquerors established San Juan Chamula as a slave market and inflicted other atrocities. Among the most advanced civilizations of the world at the time, the Classic Maya achieved great heights in mathematics, astronomy, architecture, and the arts.

Today, Chiapas is one of Mexico’s most rural states, its economy based on fishing, forestry, and agriculture. Coffee, cotton, bananas, and cacao are among its most important exports, and subsistence agriculture is widely practiced. Mostly mountainous, Chipas shares a fringe of tropical lowlands with neighbouring Tabasco, Campeche, and Guatemala.