Chortis Highlands
The Chortis Highlands is a highland region in northern Central America, which covers portions of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Geography and geology
The Chortis Highlands is a large dissected plateau which extends across most of Honduras and El Salvador, along with a portion of western Guatemala and north-central Nicaragua. It is named for the Chʼortiʼ people, who inhabit the western portion of the Highlands. Geologically the Highlands is part of the Chortis Block, a continental fragment that extends eastwards under the Atlantic coastal plain and continental shelf of Honduras and Nicaragua, and westwards under the Pacific coastal lowlands and Central American Volcanic Arc of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. The Chortis Block forms the northwestern portion of the Caribbean Plate. The Chortis Block is bounded on the north by the Motagua-Polochic Fault Zone in Guatemala. The valley of the Motagua River, which follows the fault, forms the northwestern boundary of the Highlands. The Highlands is composed of several mountain ranges, or cordilleras, separated by intermontane valleys and plains. These ranges include:
 Sierra Nombre de Dios
 Sierra de Omoa
 Sierra de Espíritu Santo
 Sierra de Joconal
 Montaña de Santa Bárbara
 Montañas de Meámbar
 Sierra de Montecillos
 Sierra de Comayagua
 Sierra de Sulaco
 Cordillera de La Flor-La Muralla
 Sierra de Agalta
 Sierra de Botaderos
 Sierra Punta Piedra
 Montañas de Patuca
 Montecristo Massif or Sierra de Montecristo
 Sierra del Merendón
 Sierra de Celaque
 Sierra de Erandique
 Sierra de Puca-Opalaca
 Montaña de la Sierra
 Sierra de Lepaterique
 Sierra de Dipilto
 Montaña de Colón
 Cordillera Dariense
 Cordillera Chontaleña

The northern, central, and eastern, and southern highlands are drained by rivers that empty into the Caribbean. These include the Motagua in Guatemala, the Ulúa, Aguán, and Patuca rivers in Honduras, the Coco which forms the Honduras-Nicaragua border, and the Wawa, Kukalaya, Prinzapolka, Río Grande de Matagalpa, and San Juan in Nicaragua. The western portion of the highlands is drained by rivers that empty into the Pacific, including the Lempa in El Salvador, the Choluteca in Honduras, and the Negro in Nicaragua. Climate
The climate of the highlands is tropical. Prevailing winds are generally from the east, and the eastern Caribbean-facing slopes and high mountains generally receive more rainfall than the western slopes and Pacific lowlands, which are in the rain shadow of the highlands. Flora and fauna
The cooler and wetter climate of the mountains and plateaus supports pine–oak forests, and humid cloud forests at higher elevations. The warmer intermontane valleys are covered in seasonally-dry forests. References

Geography of El Salvador
Geography of Guatemala
Geography of Honduras
Geography of Nicaragua