Editing Geography of Guatemala (section)

==Regions==

The southern edge of the [[Guatemalan Highlands|western highlands]] is marked by the [[Sierra Madre de Chiapas|Sierra Madre]], which stretches from the [[Guatemala-Mexico border|Mexican border]] south and east, and continues at lower elevations toward [[El Salvador]]. The mountain chain is characterized by steep volcanic cones, including [[Volcán Tajumulco|Tajumulco Volcano]] {{convert|4220|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}, the highest point in the country and [[Central America]]. All of [[List of volcanoes in Guatemala|Guatemala's 37 volcanoes]] (3 of them active: [[Pacaya]], [[Santa María (volcano)|Santiaguito]] and [[Volcán de Fuego|Fuego]]), are in this mountain chain, and are abundant in the highlands.

The northern chain of mountains begins near the Mexican border with the [[Cuchumatanes]] range, then stretches east through the [[Sierra de Chuacús|Chuacús]] and Chamá sierras, down to the [[Sierra de Santa Cruz (Guatemala)|Santa Cruz]] and [[Sierra de las Minas|Minas]] sierras, near the [[Caribbean Sea]]. The northern and southern mountains are separated by the Motagua valley, where the [[Motagua River|Motagua river]] and its tributaries drains from the highlands into the [[Caribbean]] being navigable in its lower end, where it forms the boundary with [[Honduras]].

The rivers are short and shallow in the Pacific vertient, larger and deeper, such as the [[Polochic River|Polochic]] which drains in [[Lake Izabal]], [[Río Dulce (Guatemala)|Río Dulce]], [[Motagua]] and [[Sarstoon River|Sarstún]] that forms the boundary with [[Belize]] in the Caribbean and the [[Gulf of Mexico]] vertient ([[Usumacinta]], which forms the boundary between [[Chiapas]], [[Mexico]] and Petén and its tributaries such as [[Pasión River|La Pasión]] and [[San Pedro River (Guatemala)|San Pedro]].

Most of the major cities are located in the Highlands. Major cities are the capital [[Guatemala City]], elevation 1,500 m ([[Guatemalan Highlands|Central Highlands]]), [[Antigua Guatemala]], elevation 1,530 m ([[Guatemalan Highlands|Central Highlands]]), [[Quetzaltenango]] elevation 2,350 m ([[Guatemalan Highlands|Western Highlands]]) and [[Puerto Barrios]] on the Caribbean coast. The largest lake [[Lago de Izabal]] (589.6&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), is close to the Caribbean coast. [[Volcán Tajumulco]], 4,220 m, the highest point in Central America, is located in the western department of [[San Marcos department|San Marcos]].

The last [[1976 Guatemala earthquake|major earthquake]] was on February 4, 1976, killing more than 23,000 in the Central Highlands.