Humans in the Rain Forests
Almost since the time that humans evolved, we have lived in rain forests. Although we typically think of primitive lifestyles (such as lives based on hunting and gathering for food) for rain forest dwellers, many large sophisticated civilizations have grown up in the rain forests. The Mayans of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize formed large cities in the rain forests before their civilization collapsed around 1000 AD.
One of the most important relationships between humans and the rain forests is the source rain forests have provided us for crop plants. Many of our modern foods were domesticated from rain forest ancestors. Plants like the cocoa tree, black pepper vines, tomato plants, and many more have come from the rain forests.