Portal:Central America

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

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 southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. 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 southern Mexico to southeastern 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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article

Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It 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 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...)

List of selected articles
Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Nicaragua Panama Mesoamerica Potbelly sculpture El Salvador national football team Mayan languages Maya stelae Hurricane Gert Maya civilization Maya peoples Central American squirrel monkey Final Offensive of 1981 (El Salvador) Mantled howler Convict cichlid Spanish American wars of independence Honduran white bat

Did you know...

... that the government of El Salvador, the Catholic Church, and street gangs negotiated a truce to reduce homicides from 2012 to 2014?
... that the Electriquette was an electric wicker vehicle that could be rented at the 1915 Panama–California Exposition?
... 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 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 in August 2021 Sheika Scott became the youngest player to score in the Costa Rican Women's Premier Division, at just 14 years old?
... that the Corozal was the most powerful dredger ever built when she was launched in 1911 to work on the Panama Canal?
... that Panamanian earth scientist Erika Podest uses remote sensing to see how climate change has affected global soil moisture?
... that footballer Alexandra Pinell scored the Costa Rica U20 team's only goal at the FIFA tournament hosted by their country?

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

The following are images from various Central America-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Zapotec mask of the Bat God. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 2Ballgame marker from the classic Lowland Maya site of Chinkultic, Mexico depicting a ballplayer in full gear (from Mesoamerica)
Image 3Examples of the diversity of maize (from Mesoamerica)
Image 4The Avenue of the Dead in Teotihuacan, an example of a Mesoamerican settlement planned according to concepts of directionality (from Mesoamerica)
Image 5José Matías Delgado y de León listed as the intellectual leader of the independence movement; Delgado was defined as influential, skillful, and intelligent, he started the revolutionary movements against the Spanish crown. (from History of Central America)
Image 6A small ceremonial ballcourt at Tikal. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 7Indigenous Salvadoran women dancing in the traditional "Procession of Palms" a custom celebrated in the town of Panchimalco in El Salvador. (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 8Casa Blanca (from Mesoamerica)
Image 9"Head Variant" or "Patron Gods" glyphs for Maya days (from Mesoamerica)
Image 10Joya de Cerén (from Mesoamerica)
Image 11Nery Brenes Costa Rican Athlete (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 12Berta Caceres, Lencan environmental activist. -Honduran (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 13Xochicalco, Temple of the Feathered Serpent, 650–900 CE (from Mesoamerica)
Image 14San Andres (from Mesoamerica)
Image 15Pyramid of the Moon viewed from atop of the Pyramid of the Sun. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 16Holy Spirit Grotto (from Mesoamerica)
Image 17Olmec Colossal Head No. 3 1200–900 BCE (from Mesoamerica)
Image 18Rigoberta Menchú, Human rights activist. K'iche'-Guatemalan (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 19Central America until 1860, showing the Kingdom of Mosquitia. (from History of Central America)
Image 20José Matías Delgado At the time of signing the Central American act of independence, in a representation of the meeting of September 15, 1821 of the Chilean painter Luis Vergara Ahumada. (from History of Central America)
Image 21El Mirador flourished from 600 BCE to 100 CE, and may have had a population of over 100,000. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 22Harry Shum, Jr Asian-Costa Rican – Glee Actor/Dancer (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 23Celebration of the Chinese year in Costa Rica (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 24Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites, urban centers, and tourist attractions of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 2520th century political map of Central America (from History of Central America)
Image 26Kʼinich Kan Bahlam II, the Classic period ruler of Palenque, as depicted on a stele (from Mesoamerica)
Image 27Mesoamerica and Central America in the 16th century before Spanish arrival ^{[according to whom?]} (from Mesoamerica)
Image 28Illustration that recreates the structures of the archaeological site of Yarumela or El Chircal in Honduras, this place reflects the Olmec influence that existed in Central America in the pre-classic period. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 29The emblem glyph of Tikal (Mutal) (from Mesoamerica)
Image 30Flag of Central America (from History of Central America)
Image 31Salvadoran School Children from Metapan (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 32Heroes of Central American Independence (from History of Central America)
Image 33The Aztec Empire in 1512 (from Mesoamerica)
Image 34Young Costa Ricans in San José. (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 35Tazumal (from Mesoamerica)
Image 36One of the earliest examples of the Mesoamerican writing systems, the Epi-Olmec script on the La Mojarra Stela 1 dated to around 150 CE. Mesoamerica is one of the five places in the world where writing has developed independently. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 37Cihuatán (from Mesoamerica)
Image 38Art with ideological and political meaning: depiction of an Aztec tzompantli (skull-rack) from the Ramirez Codex (from Mesoamerica)
Image 39Mesoamerica and its cultural areas (from Mesoamerica)
Image 40Anthropomorphic figure from the Proto-Lencan culture found at Los Naranjos, Honduras. An example of Mesomerican art during the preclassic Period. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 41Landscape of the Mesoamerican highlands (from Mesoamerica)
Image 42Nicarao community in Rivas, Nicaragua. (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 43Ritual human sacrifice portrayed in Codex Laud (from Mesoamerica)
Image 44Yojoa Lake in Honduras. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 45Countries and capitals of Central America (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 46Detail of the Nunnery Quadrangle at Uxmal, 10th century (from Mesoamerica)
Image 47The xoloitzcuintle is one of the naguales of the god Quetzalcoatl. In this form, it helps the dead cross the Chicnahuapan, a river that separates the world of the living from the dead. (from Mesoamerica)

In the news

26 November 2024 –: Five people are killed and another is in critical condition when a Cessna 206 Stationair aircraft crashes into the Pico Blanco mountain near San José, Costa Rica. (DW) (The Tico Times)
22 November 2024 –: Nicaraguan lawmakers vote unanimously to approve a constitutional amendment that strengthens the political power of President Daniel Ortega and makes his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo "co-president". (Confidencial) (Al Jazeera)
17 November 2024 – 2024 Atlantic hurricane season: Tropical Storm Sara makes landfall in Belize after causing flooding in Honduras. (AP)

Subcategories

Category puzzle

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

Discover Wikipedia using portals

Purge server cache

v t e Central American volcanoes
Guatemala	Acatenango Agua Almolonga Atitlán Chicabal Cuilapa-Barbarena Fuego Jumay Moyuta Pacaya Santa María/Santiaguito San Pedro Santo Tomás Siete Orejas Tacaná Tajumulco Tecuamburro Tolimán
El Salvador	Chinameca Chingo Conchagua Izalco Santa Ana San Miguel San Salvador San Vicente Usulután
Nicaragua	Apoyeque Cerro Negro Concepción Cosigüina Maderas Masaya Mombacho Momotombo San Cristóbal Telica
Costa Rica	Arenal Irazú Miravalles Platanar Poás Rincón de la Vieja Tenorio Turrialba
Panama	Barú La Yeguada El Valle
Note: volcanoes are ordered from north-west to south-east.

v t e Central American and Caribbean Games
Central American and Caribbean Games	1926 Mexico City 1930 Havana 1935 San Salvador 1938 Panama City 1946 Barranquilla 1950 Guatemala City 1954 Mexico City 1959 Caracas 1962 Kingston 1966 San Juan 1970 Panama City 1974 Santo Domingo 1978 Medellín 1982 Havana 1986 Santiago 1990 Mexico City 1993 Ponce 1998 Maracaibo 2002 San Salvador 2006 Cartagena 2010 Mayagüez 2014 Veracruz 2018 Baranquilla 2023 San Salvador 2026 Santo Domingo 2030 TBD
Central American and Caribbean Beach Games	2022 Santa Marta 2025 Puntarenas
Central American and Caribbean Junior Games	2024

v t e Cuisine of Latin America and the Caribbean
Caribbean	Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Bahamas Barbados Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic Grenada Haiti Jamaica Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sint Maarten Trinidad and Tobago
Central America	Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama
Middle America	Mexico
South America	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador French Guiana Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela
Dependencies not included. Semi-autonomous territories are in italics.

v t e Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean
Caribbean	Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Bahamas Barbados Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic Grenada Haiti Jamaica Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sint Maarten Trinidad and Tobago
Central America	Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama
Middle America	Mexico
South America	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador French Guiana Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela
Dependencies not included. Semi-autonomous territories are in italics.