Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park Aegean Region in general. The peninsula was shaped into its current form over several geological eras with the tectonic merging of Paleozoic schist formations, Mesozoic limestone and marble deposits, and finally the accretion of large clays and other sediments during the Neogene period. This is partly because of Turkey's unstable fault block terrain, and because of the close proximity of the Anatolian-Aegean plate boundary, which generates massifs of mountains all across western Turkey. This includes the peninsula and the mountains surrounding the Büyük Menderes River, known collectively as the Menderes Massif. The peninsula is highly mountainous, with most of its
Yucatán Peninsula Maya culture extended south of the Yucatán Peninsula, through present Guatemala and into Honduras and highland Chiapas), and was the center of the Mayan civilization. There are many Maya archaeological sites throughout the peninsula; some of the better-known are Chichen Itza, Tulum and Uxmal. Indigenous Maya and Mestizos of partial Maya descent make up a sizable portion of the region's population, and Mayan languages are widely spoken there. The peninsula comprises the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo, as well as large parts of Belize and Guatemala's Petén Department. In the late historic and early modern eras, the