Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley: originary habitat of Mesoamerica

Nowhere else in North America packs so much life into arid country. The Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley holds the world's densest forests of columnar cacti, spiking a landscape of agaves, yuccas and oaks across its three component areas. People shaped it too: archaeological finds record early crop domestication here, and canals, wells and dams form the continent's oldest water-management system. The valley entered the UNESCO World Heritage List as a Mixed site in 2018.