This chapter provides the regional culture history for the Gulf Coast and Soconusco as well as expectations for the inter-regional relationship between the elites in the two regions. I begin by defining four epochs (i.e., temporal periods that can contain more than one ceramic phase) that make up Mesoamerica's Early and Middle Formative periods: an Initial Ceramic Period and three subsequent style horizons. Sketches of Soconusco and the Gulf Coast culture history are provided for each of these periods. I then review the “Olmec Problem” in Formative Mesoamerican studies (Pool 2007: 15–17, 197). That is, how do we understand the occupants of Mexico's Gulf Coast, particularly those inhabiting San Lorenzo during the second part of the Early Formative period? Furthermore, what is their relationship with the inhabitants of other regions? In the context of this book, I limit discussion as much as possible to the impact of changes occurring on the Gulf Coast to developments of the inhabitants across the Soconusco. My focus on these two regions is admittedly a bit myopic but necessary to provide a sufficiently detailed treatment of the data used to evaluate the competing hypotheses I present in this book. I then outline three competing models that describe Soconusco–Gulf Coast interaction.