Central America, southernmost region of North America, lying between Mexico and South America and comprising Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Belize. (Geologists and physical geographers sometimes extend the northern boundary to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico.)
ENTRAL AMERICA
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WRITTEN BY
Ralph Lee Woodward See All Contributors
Professor Emeritus of Latin American History, Tulane University, New Orleans. Author of A Short History of Guatemala.
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Central America, southernmost region of North America, lying between Mexico and South America and comprising Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Belize. (Geologists and physical geographers sometimes extend the northern boundary to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico.)
Central America
Central America
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Temple of Inscriptions, Mexico
Temple of Inscriptions, Mexico
The Temple of Inscriptions, Palenque, Mexico. The mountain element was represented by the Mayan culture in pyramidal stone temples.
C. Reyes/Shostal Associates
Encyclopaedia Britannica thistle graphic to be used with a Mendel/Consumer quiz in place of a photograph.
BRITANNICA QUIZ
Quick Quiz: Central American Geography
Central America consists of seven countries (and sometimes part of an eighth), but this quiz includes only two questions. How quickly can you answer them?
Central America makes up most of the tapering isthmus that separates the Pacific Ocean, to the west, from the Caribbean Sea. It extends in an arc roughly 1,140 miles (1,835 km) long from the northwest to the southeast. At its narrowest point the isthmus is only about 30 miles (50 km) wide, and there is no location in Central America that is more distant than 125 miles (200 km) from the sea.
Humid swamps and lowlands extend along both the west and east coasts, but four-fifths of Central America is either hilly or mountainous. The western band of Pacific coastal lowland is narrow and overshadowed by mountain ranges, and, except in Nicaragua and Honduras, the eastern plains along the Caribbean are also narrow. Elevation steadily increases west of the Caribbean lowlands, until, toward the Pacific Coast, plateau highlands culminate in mountain ridges and some 40 volcanic cones, some of which attain elevations of more than 12,000 feet (3,700 metres). Some of Central America’s volcanoes erupt violently from time to time, and earthquakes frequently occur in the region. The weathered volcanic lavas produce a fertile soil, however, and the highlands of the volcanic zones have consequently become highly productive agricultural zones and areas of dense population.
