Soconusco, located at the very bottom of Mexico in Chiapas' southwest corner along the Guatemala border, has a history dating back to at least 5500 BC. It was home to Mesoamerica's oldest known culture as well as the earliest signs of cocoa cultivation, dating back 4,000 years ago. The region influenced the rise of the Olmec and Aztec civilization, in addition to the many that preceded them. Its modern political status was unsettled in the 19th century, and its isolation has preserved a persisting distinct cultural identity separate from the rest of Chiapas, let alone Mexico. Geographically, Soconusco is a narrow strip between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and the Pacific Ocean, with diverse climates and ecologies that vary by elevation. Its long coast has 200 km of uninterrupted beaches and mangroves, while lowlands contain dry forests with scrub and woodlands, and at higher elevations, where the mountains intercept winds from the Pacific, it is cool and humid with a tropical evergreen montane forests. The region has fertile volcanic soil and lots of humidity, making it ideal for agriculture. Cacao and rubber were the primary crops for millennia, but coffee became the first modern export in the 1890s, introduced by German immigrants. Since then, a multitude of crops like tropical fruits and flowers have been cultivated.