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Yalain

Northern Guatemala is a flat lowland plain dropping off from the Cuchumatanes mountain range sweeping across in an arc to the south. To the east of the mountains is the large lowland Lake Izabal, with an outlet into the Amatique Bay to the east, which itself opens onto the Gulf of Honduras. Immediately north of the mountains is the Lacandon forest, with Petén to the northeast. Ystapalapán was a settlement in the western Cuchumatanes, in the territory of the Chuj. Cobán was in Q'eqchi' territory, in the foothills halfway between Ystapalapán in the west and Lake Izabal in the east. Xocolo was at the northeastern extreme of Lake Izabal, where it flows out towards the sea. Nito, also known as Amatique, was on the coast where the river flowing out of the lake opened into the Amatique Bay. The area south of the lake was Toquegua territory. The Manche occupied the lands to the northwest of the lake, with the Acala to their west between the Manche and the Chuj. The Lacandon were northwest of the Acala, straddling the border with Mexico. Lake Petén Itzá was in the centre of Petén, to the north. It was the location of Nojpetén, with the Itza lands stretching southwards from the lake. To the east of the Itza and northeast of the Manche were the Mopan, on the border with Belize. North of the Mopan were the Yalain, east of Lake Petén Itzá. The Kowoj were to the northeast of the lake and the Kejache to the northwest. The "Tierra de Guerra" ("Land of War") covers a broad northern swathe of the mountains and the southern portion of the lowlands.
Map of the northern Guatemalan lowlands at the time of Spanish contact
This article is part of a series on the
Maya civilization
Drawing of a Mayan stone carving with elaborate decoration.
History
Spanish conquest of the Maya

The Yalain have been proposed as a Maya polity that existed during the Postclassic period (c. AD 1000–1697) in the Petén Basin of northern Guatemala, based in the central Petén lakes region.[1] A small town called Yalain was described in 1696 by the Franciscan friar Andrés de Avendaño y Loyola. It was said to consist of a relatively small number of residences clustered within rich agricultural land. The town was located to the east of Lake Petén Itzá and was said to have been farmed by the inhabitants of Nojpetén, the capital city of the Itza kingdom.[1] The political extent and archaeology of the Yalain is poorly understood.[2]

  1. ^ a b Rice and Rice 2009, p. 11.
  2. ^ Rice 2009, p.17.

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