Central America

Central America

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 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.

The climates of Central America are essentially tropical, tempered by proximity to the sea, by elevation, by latitude, and by local topography; in consequence, they may vary substantially over short distances. Elevation mitigates the climatic effects of Central America’s tropical latitude so that average temperatures in the highlands are much lower than those in the coastal lowlands. Rainfall occurs primarily during the summer and is heaviest between May and November. January through March are the driest months. In general, the Caribbean side receives about twice as much rain as the Pacific region.

Central America’s natural vegetation is varied. Tropical rainforests occupy the eastern lowlands, while evergreen forests clothe the lower slopes along the Pacific coast, and pine and oak forests grow at somewhat higher elevations. Much of Central America’s timberland, however, has been cleared by slash-and-burn cultivators, who move on when the soil is exhausted. This extensive form of cultivation has become less sustainable as fallow periods are shortened in response to rising demographic pressures and as the forest soils lose their ability to recuperate. The Central American forests are relatively sparsely populated with mammals, generously populated with reptiles, and extremely rich in birds and insects. Monkeys, tree frogs, iguanas, and snakes are abundant.

Central America is not a continent. Continents are large landmasses embedded in major tectonic plates, which are sections of Earth’s rigid outer layer that overlie a partially molten layer and move relative to one another. Central America is embedded in a tectonic plate, but both the landmass and the plate are much smaller than those of the continents it bridges, North America and South America, so it is not considered to be a continent.