Central America
Central America (Spanish: Centroamérica or América Central) is a central geographic region of the Americas. It is variably defined either as southern North America, which connects with South America on the southeast, or a region of the Americas in its own right.
Physiographically, Central America is a narrow isthmus of southern North America extending from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico southeastward to the Isthmus of Panama where it connects to the Colombian Pacific Lowlands in northwestern South America. Alternatively, the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt delimits the region on the north. Central America has an area of some 592,000 square kilometres. The Pacific Ocean lies to the southwest, the Caribbean Sea lies to the northeast, and the Gulf of Mexico lies to the north.
Many modern definitions of Central America include Belize and Panama, neither of which existed upon the formation of the Federal Republic of Central America, a short-lived union created after most of the region gained independence from Spain in the 19th century. The territory now occupied by Belize was originally contested by the United Kingdom and the Spanish Empire and, later, Guatemala (which has considered it, wholly or partially, an eastern department); it became a British colony (British Honduras) in 1871 and gained independence in 1981.
Panama, situated on the Isthmus of Panama, is a transcontinental territory: the Panama Canal (a bypass connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans) transects the isthmus, which east of the Panama Canal is often considered a part of North America alone. Historically, however, Panama was a possession of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, a Spanish jurisdiction largely situated in northwestern South America from 1717 to 1819. When Panama declared independence from Spain on 28 November 1821, it immediately declared a union with la Gran Colombia (Greater Colombia) and later became a department or state of Colombia until its independence on 3 November 1903.
