[1] The Chiapas Highlands comprise a limestone mass with extrusive volcanic rocks at the highest peaks, covering over 11,000 km2.

[3] The northern and eastern slopes of the Central Highlands are drained by the Usumacinta River, which empties northwards into the Gulf of Mexico.

The Sierra Madre de Chiapas forms the divide between the basins of the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers and those that drain southwards into the Pacific Ocean.

[5] montane cloud forests are found on the windward north- and east-facing slopes with high year-round rainfall.

Predominant trees include oaks, majagua (Trichospermum mexicanum), American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and alder (Alnus sp.).

The seasonal pattern of rain is ideal for the cultivation of maize and beans which are the staple food for most local indigenous people.

[6] Other cash crops are also produced within the region such as cabbage in Chamula or Mandarins in Tenejapa, but their importance is null compared with coffee.

[10] San Cristobal or 'Jovel' (in Tsotsil) was founded in 1528 as "Ciudad Real" by Spanish conquerors as the capital of the province and the headquarters of Hispanic control in the highlands.

San Cristobal was described as a "parasitic city that used its political, administrative, and religious powers to strip the Indians of the fruits of their labors.

At the center of the exploitation system there are long term ethnic divisions where mestizos (person of Hispanic culture from outside of Los Altos), ladinos (Person of Hispanic culture from within Los Altos historically San Cristobal) and indigenas (people from indigenous descent most of them are Tsotsiles or Tsetsales) have a place.

Starting in the 1940s the Instituto Nacional Indigenista (INI) run a program aimed at "integrating" the indigenous people to the modern world.

Acculturation took place through the training of promotores -indigenous instructors- that taught Spanish, hygiene[citation needed] and cultural norms to indigenous communities.