Central America is the landmass that connects North and South America. It includes seven countries and many small islands. The land is fertile, rugged, and has volcanic mountain ranges some of which are active. Central America has about 41.1 million people. It extends from the southern border of Mexico to northwestern Colombia, South America.
Central America, an unstable portion of the earth’s crust, is on the western edge of the Caribbean plate. Subduction of oceanic crust beneath this edge, about 25 million years ago formed a peninsula and archipelago. Later, about three million years ago, the scattered islands joined to form a land bridge linking North and South America.
Central America has at least 14 active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, had an earthquake in 1972, which left 10,000 dead. In 1976 some 25,000 people were killed in an earthquake registering 7.5 on the Richter scale in the Motagua depression in Guatemala leaving 25 percent of the country’s population homeless.
The area between Mexico and Colombia had a large Mayan population. The Maya civilization originated in the highlands of Guatemala reached its peak between fourth and tenth centuries in what are now northern Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Maya civilization’s influence was widespread in artistic and scientific achievements which were superior to contemporary Europeans. The influence of the Maya culture on the lifestyles of many Central Americans is visible in the northern and western areas, while the Spanish culture is prevalent in the rest of the region. Native American cultures like the Maya and Cuna Indians exist as do some Blacks along the Caribbean coast.
Most of the inhabitants of Central America live on the Pacific side. The rainy, forested Caribbean slope and coast are sparsely settled. The countries of Central America have relatively undeveloped economies in which agriculture is the major sector. Manufacturing largely involved processing raw materials. The annual per capita income is low.
