The Central America Portal
Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Central America is usually defined as consisting of seven countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Within Central America is the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from northern Guatemala to central Panama. Due to the presence of several active geologic faults and the Central America Volcanic Arc, there is a high amount of seismic activity in the region, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, which has resulted in death, injury, and property damage.
In the pre-Columbian era, Central America was inhabited by the Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica to the north and west and the Isthmo-Colombian peoples to the south and east. Following the Spanish expedition of Christopher Columbus' voyages to the Americas, Spain began to colonize the Americas. From 1609 to 1821, the majority of Central American territories (except for what would become Belize and Panama, and including the modern Mexican state of Chiapas) were governed by the viceroyalty of New Spain from Mexico City as the Captaincy General of Guatemala. On 24 August 1821, Spanish Viceroy Juan de O'Donojú signed the Treaty of Córdoba, which established New Spain's independence from Spain. On 15 September 1821, the Act of Independence of Central America was enacted to announce Central America's separation from the Spanish Empire and provide for the establishment of a new Central American state. Some of New Spain's provinces in the Central American region (i.e. what would become Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica) were annexed to the First Mexican Empire; however in 1823 they seceded from Mexico to form the Federal Republic of Central America until 1838. (Full article...)
Selected article
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea. Its capital and largest city is Tegucigalpa.
Honduras was home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, before the Spanish colonization in the sixteenth century. The Spanish introduced Catholicism and the now predominant Spanish language, along with numerous customs that have blended with the indigenous culture. Honduras became independent in 1821 and has since been a republic, although it has consistently endured much social strife and political instability, and remains one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. In 1960, the northern part of what was the Mosquito Coast was transferred from Nicaragua to Honduras by the International Court of Justice. (Full article...)Did you know...
- ... that Marcos G. McGrath, the Catholic archbishop of Panama, was allowed to enter Manuel Noriega's "witch house" and other residences, and found evidence of torture, devil worship, and voodoo?
- ... that the Corozal was the most powerful dredger ever built when she was launched in 1911 to work on the Panama Canal?
- ... that Panama cross-banded tree frog males synchronize their mating calls to confuse predators that locate them by sound?
- ... that Mariano Fiallos Oyanguren refused to participate in an attempt to rig the 1990 Nicaraguan presidential election?
- ... that to animate conquistadors in Jungle Cruise, frogs were recorded in a Costa Rican forest?
- ... that Swedish naval officer Axel Lagerbielke was imprisoned in Lima for over a year, held in Callao and eventually escaped from Panama on an English packet boat to Jamaica?
- ... that Nicaraguan cartoonist Pedro X. Molina has had to flee his home country twice in his lifetime?
- ... that while Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios was exiled from Nicaragua and living in Costa Rica in the 1980s, his sister Claudia was there as Nicaragua’s ambassador?
Related portals
Get involved
For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Central America-related articles, see WikiProject Central America.
Need help?
Do you have a question about Central America that you can't find the answer to?
Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.
General images
In the news
- 6 April 2024 – 2024 raid on the Mexican embassy in Ecuador
- Nicaragua suspends diplomatic relations with Ecuador following the raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito, Ecuador. (Al Arabiya)
- 24 March 2024 – Salvadoran gang crackdown
- Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announces the beginning of a blockade of four municipalities in northern El Salvador, mobilizing 5,000 soldiers and 1,000 police officers to arrest suspected gang members. (El Mundo)
- 23 March 2024 – Red Sea crisis
- A Houthi missile hits Panamanian-flagged, Chinese-owned and operated oil tanker Huang Pu. It suffers minimal damage and a fire on board is quickly extinguished. No casualties are reported, and the vessel resumes its course. (X) (Newsweek) (Marine Log)
- 8 March 2024 –
- Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández is found guilty of drug trafficking charges in a federal court in New York, United States. (AP)
- 3 March 2024 – 2024 Salvadoran general election
- Salvadorans elect all 44 mayors and municipal councils and all 20 deputies to the Central American Parliament. (El Mundo)
Subcategories
- Select [►] to view subcategories
Topics
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
-
Random portal
Purge server cache