Guatemala

Guatemala differs from its Central American neighbors in the dominance of an indigenous culture in its interior highlands. The name Guatemala is indigenous, but where it came from and what it means is debated. Some believe the original form to be Quauhtemallan, which indicates an Aztec rather than Maya origin and means "land of trees," and others believe it to be derived from Guhatezmalha, which means "mountain of water that vomits," undoubtedly a reference to volcanic eruptions like the one that destroyed Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, the first permanent Spanish capital in the region. The current capital, Guatemala City, is a large metropolis, and Quetzaltenango, in the western highland, is the heart of the native population. The country is considered the fifth most biodiverse country in the world, and has 14 ecological regions, ranging from mangroves along the two coasts, to dry woods and scrubland in the east of the country, to sub-tropics and tropical rainforest, to wetlands, to cloud forest in Verapaz, to mixed woods and pines in the highland. There are 7 wetlands of international importance which have been included in the Ramsar list. According to the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, there are 1246 known amphibian, bird, mammal and reptile species in Guatemala. Out of these, 6.7% are endemic and 8.1% are threatened species. In addition, there are at least 8681 vascular plant species, with 13.5% endemic, and it has the highest percentage of protected areas in Central America, with a total of 123 protected areas and more than 29% of its territory declared protected.