Towards the end of the thirteenth century the central Guatemalan highlands were invaded by a group of Toltec-Maya , who had controlled the Yucatán until this time. Their numbers were probably small but their impact was profound, and following their arrival life in the highlands was radically altered.

What once had been a relatively settled, peaceful and religious society became, under the influence of the Toltecs, fundamentally secular, aggressive and militaristic. The well-organized Toltec quickly established themselves as a ruling elite, presiding over a series of competing tribes. The greatest of these were the K'iche' , who dominated the central highlands and had their capital, Utatlán , to the west of the modern town of Santa Cruz del Quiché. Next in line were the Kaqchikel , centred around Iximché . On the slopes of the San Pedro volcano on Lago de Atitlán were the Tz'utujil , while in the west the Mam occupied the area around the modern town of Huehuetenango, with their capital at Zaculeu . A number of smaller tribes controlled the high Cuchumatanes mountain region.

To the east, around the modern city of Cobán, were the notoriously fierce Achi nation with the Q'eqchi' to their north, while around the modern site of Guatemala City the land was controlled by the Poqomam . Finally, the Pipil occupied the stretch along the Pacific coast. The sheer number of these tribes gives an impression of the extent to which the area was fragmented, and it's these same divisions, now surviving on the basis of language alone, that still shape the highlands today.

The Toltec rulers probably controlled only the dominant tribes - the K'iche', the Tz'utujil, the Mam and the Kaqchikel - initially terrorizing the local highlanders and gradually establishing themselves at the top of a new, rigidly hierarchical society. It was the K'iche' tribe, with strong Toltec influence, that grew to become the dominant power in the highlands, conquering the neighbouring Mam and Kaqchikel tribes under their great ruler, K'ikab . After his death in 1475, their empire lost much of its authority and for the next fifty years the tribes were in a state of almost perpetual conflict, fighting for access to the inadequate supplies of farmland. The tribal capitals from this period - Iximché, Zaculeu and Utatlán - are all fortified hilltop sites, surrounded by ravines and man-made ditches.

When the Spanish arrived, the highlands were in crisis. The population had grown so fast that it had outstripped the food supply, leaving a situation that could hardly have been more favourable to the conquistadors