Portal:Central America

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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...)

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The El Salvador national football team (Spanish: Selección de fútbol de El Salvador), known as La Selecta ("the National Team"), represents El Salvador in international football, and is governed by the Salvadoran Football Federation (FESFUT).

The national team's first match was played in September 1921, when they were invited to participate in a tournament to celebrate 100 years of Central American Independence. (Full article...)

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Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama Mesoamerica Potbelly sculpture 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 February 28 Popular Leagues would seize foreign embassies in protest against the military junta in El Salvador?
... that El Salvador was the first country to recognize Manchukuo, apart from Japan?
... that the 7th Macho de Monte Infantry Company of the Panama Defense Forces was named after a tapir?
... that Nicaraguan cartoonist Pedro X. Molina has had to flee his home country twice in his lifetime?
... that the government of El Salvador, the Catholic Church, and street gangs negotiated a truce to reduce homicides from 2012 to 2014?
... 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 Central American government voted for annexation to the First Mexican Empire after a request from Regent Agustín de Iturbide?
... that to animate conquistadors in Jungle Cruise, frogs were recorded in a Costa Rican forest?

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General images

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

Image 120th century political map of Central America (from History of Central America)
Image 2Xochicalco, Temple of the Feathered Serpent, 650–900 CE (from Mesoamerica)
Image 3Young Costa Ricans in San José. (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 4Mesoamerica and Central America in the 16th century before Spanish arrival ^{[according to whom?]} (from Mesoamerica)
Image 5Ballgame marker from the classic Lowland Maya site of Chinkultic, Mexico depicting a ballplayer in full gear (from Mesoamerica)
Image 6Flag of Central America (from History of Central America)
Image 7Zapotec mask of the Bat God. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 8José 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 9El Mirador flourished from 600 BCE to 100 CE, and may have had a population of over 100,000. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 10Pyramid of the Moon viewed from atop of the Pyramid of the Sun. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 11Berta Caceres, Lencan environmental activist. -Honduran (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 12José 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 13Art with ideological and political meaning: depiction of an Aztec tzompantli (skull-rack) from the Ramirez Codex (from Mesoamerica)
Image 14The Avenue of the Dead in Teotihuacan, an example of a Mesoamerican settlement planned according to concepts of directionality (from Mesoamerica)
Image 15Cihuatán (from Mesoamerica)
Image 16San Andres (from Mesoamerica)
Image 17Joya de Cerén (from Mesoamerica)
Image 18Landscape of the Mesoamerican highlands (from Mesoamerica)
Image 19Detail of the Nunnery Quadrangle at Uxmal, 10th century (from Mesoamerica)
Image 20Casa Blanca (from Mesoamerica)
Image 21Countries and capitals of Central America (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 22Holy Spirit Grotto (from Mesoamerica)
Image 23Tazumal (from Mesoamerica)
Image 24Yojoa Lake in Honduras. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 25Rigoberta Menchú, Human rights activist. K'iche'-Guatemalan (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 26Harry Shum, Jr Asian-Costa Rican – Glee Actor/Dancer (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 27Anthropomorphic figure from the Proto-Lencan culture found at Los Naranjos, Honduras. An example of Mesomerican art during the preclassic Period. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 28A small ceremonial ballcourt at Tikal. (from Mesoamerica)
Image 29K'inich Kan B'alam II, the Classic period ruler of Palenque, as depicted on a stele (from Mesoamerica)
Image 30The Aztec Empire in 1512 (from Mesoamerica)
Image 31The emblem glyph of Tikal (Mutal) (from Mesoamerica)
Image 32Nery Brenes Costa Rican Athlete (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 33"Head Variant" or "Patron Gods" glyphs for Maya days (from Mesoamerica)
Image 34One 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 35Salvadoran School Children from Metapan (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 36Celebration of the Chinese year in Costa Rica (from Ethnic groups in Central America)
Image 37Olmec Colossal Head No. 3 1200–900 BCE (from Mesoamerica)
Image 38Mesoamerica and its cultural areas (from Mesoamerica)
Image 39Examples of the diversity of maize (from Mesoamerica)
Image 40Indigenous 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 41Tikal 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 42The 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)
Image 43Illustration 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 44Central America until 1860, showing the Kingdom of Mosquitia. (from History of Central America)
Image 45Ritual human sacrifice portrayed in Codex Laud (from Mesoamerica)

In the news

2 July 2024 – 2024 Atlantic hurricane season: One person is killed in a landslide caused by Tropical Storm Chris in San Salvador, El Salvador. (Expreso Mexico)
2 July 2024 – Panama–United States relations: Panama and the United States sign a deal to reduce the flow of illegal immigration to the southern United States border through the Darién Gap, with the United States covering the costs of repatriating migrants who enter Panama illegally. (DW)
1 July 2024 – Mexican drug war: Mexican authorities discover the bodies of nineteen men who were shot dead in and near a dump truck abandoned in La Concordia, Chiapas, near the Guatemalan border. (AP)
26 June 2024 –: Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $8 million for drug trafficking and firearms offences in a U.S. federal court. (CNN) (Reuters)
22 June 2024 –: The death toll from the storms and heavy rains in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras increases to 30 people, including at least six children. (Reuters)
21 June 2024 –: The death toll from torrential rains in El Salvador increases to 19 people, including at least two children. (AP)

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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.