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Central America
Is the region of the western hemisphere, made up of a long, tapering isthmus that forms a
bridge between North and South America. Central America, which is defined by geographers
as part of North America, has an area of about 523,000 sq km (about 201,930 sq mi) and
includes the countries of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica,
and Panama. The region has a population of approximately 31.3 million (1993 estimate).
The Natural Environment
In strictly geological terms, Central America begins at the narrow Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in
southern Mexico. That narrow section divides the volcanic rocks to the northwest from the folded
and faulted structures of Central America. The southernmost geological limit of Central America is
the Atrato River valley, in Colombia, South America, just east of the Panama border.
Geologic History
Central America, a particularly unstable region of the earth’s crust, is on the western edge of
the Caribbean plate (see Plate Tectonics). Subduction of oceanic crust beneath this edge,
beginning in the Miocene Epoch, about 25 million years ago, has lifted the land from the sea. In
the earliest stage, a peninsula and archipelago formed. Later, about 3 million years ago, the
scattered islands coalesced to form a true land bridge, or isthmus, linking North and South
America.
Keeping pace with subduction and uplift have been volcanic eruptions—Central America has at
least 14 active volcanoes—and frequent earthquakes. In this century alone, Managua, the
capital of Nicaragua, has twice been destroyed by earthquakes. The most recent, in 1972, took
10,000 lives. In 1976 some 25,000 people were killed in an earthquake registering 7.5 on the
Richter scale and centered in the Motagua depression in Guatemala. This quake left 25 percent
of the country’s population homeless. Volcanic activity has produced a landscape dotted with
majestic cones built from eruptions of ash and lava, and beautiful lakes formed in collapsed
volcanic craters called calderas.
Physiographic Regions
For the most part Central America is a rugged, mountainous area, with 109 large volcanoes,
some more than 4000 m (13,120 ft) high; Volcán Tajumulco, in Guatemala, is the highest at
4220 m (13,845 ft). Central America is one of the most active volcanic zones in the western
hemisphere. The land surface slopes up rather abruptly from a narrow coastal plain along the
Pacific Ocean to the mountain crests and then descends more gradually to a broader plain
along the Caribbean Sea. Two major interoceanic passes cut through the highlands of Central
America, one in Nicaragua (from the mouth of the San Juan River to Lake Nicaragua) and the
other in Panama (along the route of the Panama Canal). The Pacific coastline is about 2830 km
(about 1760 mi) long, and the Caribbean coastline is approximately 2740 km (approximately
1700 mi) long. Several groups of small islands lie off the Caribbean coast, and some of them,
such as the Bay Islands (Islas de la Bahía) in the Gulf of Honduras, are inhabited.
Rivers and Lakes
The longest rivers of Central America flow to the Caribbean, and many small streams drain into
the Pacific. Longer rivers include the Motagua of Guatemala; the Ulúa, Aguán, and Patuca of
Honduras; the Coco, which forms part of the Honduras-Nicaragua boundary; the Río Grande
and Escondido of Nicaragua; and the San Juan, which forms a section of the Nicaragua-Costa
Rica border. Some of the rivers flowing to the Caribbean are navigable by small craft, but the
streams flowing to the Pacific are too steep or too shallow for navigation.
Central America has three large lakes—Lake Nicaragua and Lake Managua in Nicaragua and
Gatún Lake in Panama. Part of the Panama Canal, a great commercial waterway between the
Atlantic and the Pacific, is in Gatún Lake.
Climate
Temperatures in Central America, which is situated between the tropic of Cancer and the
equator, vary principally according to altitude rather than latitude. Three main temperature
zones are discernible. The tierra caliente (“hot country”), which extends from sea level to an
altitude of about 915 m (about 3000 ft), has average yearly temperatures of 24° C (75° F) or
more; the tierra templada (“temperate country”), from about 915 to 1830 m (about 3000 to 6000
ft), has a mean annual temperature of 18° to 24° C (65° to 75° F); and the tierra fría (“cold
country”), from about 1830 to 3050 m (about 6000 to 10,000 ft), has average yearly
temperatures of 13° to 18° C (55° to 65° F).
The Caribbean coast and eastern mountain slopes generally receive twice as much annual
precipitation as the Pacific coast and western mountain slopes. The relative dryness of the
Pacific slope is due to the presence of cold stable air caused by the cold California Current.
This current, much like the Peru, or Humboldt, Current along the Peruvian coast, chills the air,
thus preventing it from absorbing much water vapor and reducing the possibilities for
precipitation. In contrast, the effects of the warm water of the Caribbean Sea allow the air to
absorb abundant moisture, which is then carried by the prevailing easterly winds. Much
condensation and rainfall occur as the winds flow up and over the high slopes of Central
America. Rainfall is greatest along the Mosquito Coast of easternmost Nicaragua—San Juan
del Norte receives about 6350 mm (about 250 in) of rain per year.
Vegetation
Central America is essentially a land bridge uniting two previously isolated ecosystems. As a result, a mixture
of both North and South American plant and animal species are found here. The lowland rain forest of the
Caribbean and Pacific coasts resembles the selva, or tropical rain forest, of South America. This is especially
true below an elevation of about 1000 m (about 3280 ft), with large numbers of palms, tree ferns, lianas, and
epiphytes (air plants) reflecting the high rainfall and humidity of the region. Vegetation at altitudes of about
1000 to 1600 m (about 3280 to 5250 ft) shows ties with North America. The pine and oak forests of these
highlands are like those of the Mexican highlands. High-altitude regions of Guatemala contain grasses like those
of Mexico and the United States, and at about 3100 m (about 10,170 ft) in Costa Rica are tall grasses similar to
those growing above the tree line in the Andes Mountains of South America.
Animal Life
Most of the animal life of Central America is similar to that of South America, but some animals
have ties with North America. The marley and opossum have links with South America, as do
the jaguar, ocelot, jaguarundi, and margay, which are members of the cat family. In contrast,
the puma, gray fox, and coyote are of North American origin. The armadillo, anteater, and sloth
have ties to the south, deer to the north. The large manatee, an aquatic plant eater, survives in
the isolated lagoons of eastern Central America. Other food sources are the large green turtle
and the iguana. Central America provides a habitat for numerous snakes such as the boa
constrictor and the bushmaster. Parrots, the quetzal, toucans, and fish are common; notable
are the landlocked sharks of Lake Nicaragua.
Mineral Resources
The minerals of Central America were an early lure for European settlers, especially
the gold and silver found in Honduras and the highlands of Nicaragua. In addition,
Honduras has significant deposits of lead, zinc, copper, and low-grade iron ore, and
Nicaragua has large deposits of natural gas offshore in the Pacific. Large nickel
deposits are in the vicinity of Izabal in Guatemala, and the country also has
substantial reserves of petroleum, including those near Chinajá. Panama has
considerable deposits of copper at Cerro Colorado.
The People
Most of the inhabitants of Central America live on the Pacific side of the isthmus, where they
occupy both lowland and highland environments. The rainy, forested Caribbean slope and
coast are sparsely settled.
Ethnography
A substantial majority of the people of Central America are Native Americans or mestizos
(people of mixed heritage, chiefly of Spanish and Native American descent). Along the narrow
Caribbean coast blacks and mulattoes (people of mixed white and black-African backgrounds)
predominate. About half of the people of Belize are of black-African or partly black-African
ancestry. The great majority of Costa Ricans are of unmixed Spanish background, and
approximately 90 percent of the inhabitants of El Salvador and Honduras are of mixed Spanish
and Native American descent. About 45 percent of Guatemalans are Native Americans, and
mestizos make up most of the rest of the country’s population. About 70 percent of Nicaragua’s
and Panama’s inhabitants are mestizos. Panama has a sizable black minority. In general, the
Native American element is less apparent in the southern countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica,
and Panama.
Demography
The population of Central America is concentrated in districts of dense settlement,
separated by areas of sparse habitation. Population densities reach more than 385
persons per sq km (more than 1000 per sq mi) in parts of the Meseta Central of
Costa Rica, but vast areas of eastern Honduras and Nicaragua have fewer than 4
persons per sq km (fewer than 10 per sq mi). The rate of population increase in much
of Central America is high; during 1980-1987 Nicaragua had an annual growth rate
of 3.4 percent; Guatemala, 2.9 percent; Costa Rica, 2.3 percent; and Panama, 2.2
percent. The population increase is principally the result of continuing high birth
rates and falling death rates. By the year 2000 it is estimated that Central America
will have 40 million inhabitants. Increasing political unrest, economic hardship,
guerrilla warfare, and military repression have forced many rural residents into
urban centers; thousands also decided to begin the long trek to the United States via
Mexico.
The people of Central America are becoming increasingly urbanized. In the mid1990s about 45 percent of the inhabitants of El Salvador and Honduras and about
40 percent of Guatemalans were considered urban, while more than half the people of
Panama and nearly two-thirds of Nicaragua’s people lived in urban areas. In each
country except Belize the national capital is the largest city; the biggest urban center
of Belize is Belize City.
Language and Religion
Spanish is the official language of all Central American countries except Belize, where English
is the language of government. Many highland Native Americans use traditional languages,
such as Quiché, Mam, and Kekchí in Guatemala, and Chortí in Honduras. Some Native
Americans also speak Spanish as well. Roman Catholicism is by far the dominant religion of
Central America although Evangelicalism, Methodism, and Mormonism are making increasingly
significant inroads in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama.
Cultural Activity
Cultural patterns in Central America are based largely on the heritage of the Maya and other
Native Americans and of the Spanish colonial period. Considerable change has occurred in the
region’s cities, however, where the mass media and modern cultural institutions have much
influence. The countries of Central America have established many educational facilities, but a
comparatively large proportion of the children do not attend school. Although the great majority
of people aged 15 and over in Costa Rica and Panama are literate, this figure drops to three-
quarters in El Salvador and Honduras, about two-thirds in Nicaragua, and just over one-half in
Guatemala.
Patterns of Economic Development
In the early 1990s the countries of Central America had relatively undeveloped economies in
which agriculture was the most important sector. Manufacturing largely involved processing
raw materials. The annual per capita income was low.
Agriculture
Farming is by far the leading economic activity in Central America. The principal cash crops,
such as coffee, bananas, sugarcane, and cotton are typically produced on large landholdings,
and a substantial proportion is exported, mainly to the United States and Europe. Food for local
consumption is raised mainly on small farms; most of it is consumed by the farm families, and
relatively little is marketed. The chief subsistence food commodities are corn, beans, bananas,
manioc, rice, and poultry. Cattle are raised on big ranches located mainly in the drier regions of
western Central America. Modern farming methods are used on the large landholdings, but the
small farmers generally use relatively simple techniques that hold down productivity.
Forestry and Fishing
About 40 percent of Central America is forested. The early years of European activity in
Belize, for example, revolved around the extraction of dyewoods, and later mahogany,
chicle, and pine timber were produced. British timber companies also cut mahogany and
cedar along the greater Caribbean coast. Today, forestry is a relatively unimportant
aspect of the Central American economy. Pine is the main wood harvested, and some
hardwoods, such as cedar, mahogany, and rosewood, also are cut.
Fishing too is a comparatively minor economic activity in Central America. Shrimp and
spiny lobster, caught off the coasts of Belize, El Salvador, and Panama, are mostly
exported to the United States. Since the mid-1960s Panama has developed a fish-meal
and fish-oil industry. Central America has a low rate of per capita fish consumption.
Mining
The mineral output of Central America is small. El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua produce
limited quantities of silver, gold, lead, copper, and antimony. In the early 1980s Guatemala
began to export small quantities of crude oil.
Manufacturing
Most of the manufacturing plants of Central America process raw materials of the region such
as sugarcane, coffee, cotton, timber, and fish. In addition, since the 1950s a concerted attempt
has been made to reduce the need to import basic fabricated articles. Thus, factories making
paint, detergents, tires, paper and cardboard articles, fertilizer, and insecticide have been
established in the major urban areas.
Many manufacturing establishments in Central America involve only a handful of workers, and
few employ more than 10 people. Large-scale manufacturing is hindered by the region’s lack of
energy sources, its undeveloped transportation systems, and its small markets.
Energy
About half of the electricity of Central America is generated by hydroelectric installations;
important dams include those on the Lempa River in El Salvador, the Cajón River in
Honduras, and the Corobicí and Arenal rivers in Costa Rica. Most of the rest is produced in
plants using petroleum products. A small amount is generated in wood-burning facilities.
Transportation
The mountains of Central America present a major obstacle to overland transport, and the only
surface transportation artery linking all the countries of the region is a section of the PanAmerican Highway. Railroads connect the Caribbean and Pacific coasts in Guatemala, Costa
Rica, and Panama. Inland water transportation is of little economic importance, but Central
America has several important seaports, such as Santo Tomás de Castilla and San José in
Guatemala; Puerto Cortés in Honduras; Acajutla in El Salvador; Corinto in Nicaragua; Puerto
Limón in Costa Rica; and Bahía las Minas in Panama. The Panama Canal is a major shipping
link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; Panama is scheduled to take over its operation
from the United States in 1999. A crude-petroleum pipeline across western Panama was
completed in 1982. Airlines provide transportation among the big cities of Central America and
serve some remote mountain communities.
Foreign Trade
About half of Central America’s intercontinental trade is with the United States and Canada.
Almost all the rest is with Western Europe, Mexico, and countries of South America. Central
America’s principal imports are manufactured goods, such as motor vehicles, farm machines,
textiles, electrical equipment, processed food, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. The main
Central American exports are basic commodities, which include bananas, coffee, cacao, meat,
chicle, cotton, mahogany, balsa, hides and skins, and rubber.
The Central American Common Market (CACM), established in 1960, included all the Central
American countries except Panama and Belize. However, several circumstances kept it from
achieving its goals of trade liberalization and the establishment of a free-trade area. Among
these was the infamous “Soccer War” of 1969 between El Salvador and Honduras, caused in
part by CACM rules that favored El Salvador as well as Honduran policies against migrant
Salvadoran workers. As a result, CACM trade was affected for more than a decade. Other
countries’ internal conflicts also played a role in the disturbance of trade and by 1970, interCACM trade was insignificant. Today, Central American countries are facing new tariff barriers
as the result of the 1983 Caribbean Basin Initiative and the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) (1994) and these barriers are preventing them from benefiting from
increased global trading patterns.
History
The region between Mexico and Colombia supported a large pre-Columbian population, the
most important of whom were the Maya. The Maya civilization originated in the highlands of
Guatemala before the 1st millennium BC and reached its greatest flowering between AD 300
and 900 in autonomous city-states in what are now northern Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and
Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Maya unity was cultural rather than political, but the civilization’s
influence was widespread. Maya artistic and scientific achievements surpassed those of
contemporary Europeans. After 900, however, the Maya civilization declined, and its people
came under the influence of Toltec people from Mexico.
Numerous peoples inhabited the remainder of the isthmus and traded with both South and
North American tribes, making ancient Central America an archaeological bridge between the
Americas. The population of the isthmus on the eve of the Spanish conquest may have been as
large as 6 million, a figure not again achieved until the 20th century.
The Colonial Period
Christopher Columbus established Spain’s claim to Central America in 1502, when he sailed
along its coast from the Gulf of Honduras to Panama. His reports of great wealth beyond the
mountains that ran the length of the heavily populated isthmus stimulated Spanish conquest,
which was launched from Hispaniola under Columbus’s son, Diego. The charismatic Vasco
Núñez de Balboa founded Spain’s first truly productive colony in America at Darién in 1510,
and went on to reach the Pacific Ocean in 1513. His successor, Pedrarias Dávila, who ordered
Balboa’s death in 1517, extended the colony considerably, founding Panama City in 1519, from
which he initiated the subjugation of Nicaragua and Honduras. The subsequent conquest of
Central America became a bloody struggle among Spaniards representing interests in Panama,
Hispaniola, and Mexico. Eventually, Pedro de Alvarado, the loyal lieutenant of the conqueror of
Mexico, Hernán Cortés, consolidated control over most of the isthmus. The conquerors killed
vast numbers of Native Americans, but even more died from devastating epidemics of
smallpox, plague, dysentery, and influenza, introduced by the Europeans. The Spanish
enslaved or reduced to serfdom those who remained, establishing an agricultural society based
on institutions they had brought from Spain. Native American customs and traditions survived,
however, because most of the relatively few Spaniards remained in the towns and cities.
Colonial Central America was divided into two jurisdictions. The captaincy general of
Guatemala extended from Chiapas (present-day Mexico’s southernmost state) through Costa
Rica. Although nominally part of the viceroyalty of New Spain, it was relatively autonomous. Its
capital city, Antigua Guatemala, became a center for bureaucrats, clerics, and the landholding
and commercial elite of the colony. The rest of Central America (all of what is present-day
Panama), with its important transit route, became attached to New Granada (modern Colombia)
in the viceroyalty of Peru.
Spanish decline during the 17th century permitted increased autonomy for the colonial elite
that, with the cooperation of church and state, dominated the oppressed Native American and
mestizo (mixed Spanish-Native American heritage) working class. In the 18th century Spain’s
Bourbon kings, trying to regenerate the empire, inaugurated reforms that promoted new
economic activity, but also challenged the longtime accommodation between the landholding
elite and the bureaucracy.
Federation
The Creole elite in the captaincy general of Guatemala followed Mexico’s lead and severed its
allegiance to Spain in 1821. The area then became part of the Mexican Empire of Agustín de
Iturbide, but when Iturbide’s conservative government fell in 1823, liberals seized control,
declared independence from Mexico, and formed the United Provinces of Central America.
Chiapas, however, remained with Mexico, and Panama joined Gran Colombia, headed by
Simón Bolívar.
The United Provinces embarked on an ambitious but unrealistic
program of republican reform and economic development, rejecting
the Spanish heritage. Intense regionalism, political intrigue among
the elite, and civil war resulted. In 1834 the liberals moved the capital
from Guatemala to El Salvador, but their policies still faced bitter
opposition and rebellion from conservative members of the elite and
the rural masses. After the Guatemalan peasant leader Rafael Carrera
captured Guatemala City in 1838, the federation began to
disintegrate; the federal president, Francisco Morazán, finally
resigned in 1840. Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and
Costa Rica emerged as independent, conservative republics.
The Central American Republics
England, by this time, had replaced Spain as the dominant external force in the region. The
British settlement at Belize had grown from a buccaneering and logging camp in the 17th
century to become the principal port of Central America’s foreign trade. British influence
extended along the Caribbean coast as far as Panama, and in 1862, Belize officially became a
British colony (British Honduras). United States interest, however, rivaled British interest after
1849, for the isthmus offered the quickest routes to the gold mines of California. The ClaytonBulwer Treaty of 1850 resolved some areas of this Anglo-American conflict, but in 1855 William
Walker, a U.S. soldier of fortune, invaded Nicaragua with an army of followers. A united Central
American conservative army drove him out with British assistance in 1857. Meanwhile, the
completion of the Panama Railroad in 1855 caused Central American commerce to shift away
from Belize to the more accessible Pacific coast ports, and British influence receded thereafter.
After 1870 liberal dictatorships arose which, in the name of order and progress, promoted the
development of coffee as the region’s main export; at the expense of a more diversified
agriculture, banana cultivation, mostly controlled by foreign interests, also became important.
After 1900, the U.S.-based United Fruit Company was a major force in Central America’s
economy. Developing railroads, shipping, and other subsidiary interests, the company was
known as the “Octopus” among resentful Central Americans. U.S. investment and government
became the dominant force on the isthmus, beginning with the establishment of Panamanian
independence in 1903. The United States helped form the Central American Court of Justice,
but U.S. military occupation of Nicaragua from 1912 to 1933 undermined its effectiveness.
Economic growth in the 20th century produced new middle classes that began to
challenge the continued rule of traditional elites. Beginning in Costa Rica, reformist
and revolutionary parties had emerged in every country by the middle of the
century.
The second half of the 20th century has seen persistent poverty, political instability and social
injustice in many of the Central American republics still undergoing modernization. In
Nicaragua, the Sandinista guerrilla movement overthrew the Somoza dynasty in 1978 and
1979. The United States then became involved in a major effort to support the counterrevolutionary (“contra”) forces against the leftist Sandinista government, leading to many deaths
and great suffering on both sides. El Salvador’s people and economy were ravaged by civil war
through the 1980s. Guatemala witnessed 36 years of fighting between alleged left-wing groups
and a repressive military. Thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands
migrated to escape this conflict, which ended with the signing of a peace agreement in
December 1996. Political repression and corruption in Panama prompted the United States to
intervene in 1989 to remove Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, who was allegedly connected
to Colombian drug cartels.
One of the most significant problems confronting all Central American countries is the difficulty
of bringing about significant socioeconomic development without affecting the democratic rights
of their populations. Given its geostrategic significance (especially because of the Panama
Canal and U.S. military bases, which will revert to complete Panamanian control in 1999),
Central America is inevitably a key zone for U.S. foreign policy. In the past, political stability has
often been allowed to outweigh democratic and human rights. With the formation of new
hemispheric-wide trading blocks, Central America may find itself once again left behind in the
competitive Latin American struggle to achieve true development.
The Seven Nations
Guatemala
The republic in Central America with the largest population in the region, more
than 11 million people. A rugged land of mountains and volcanoes, beautiful
lakes, and lush vegetation, Guatemala is the third largest nation in Central
America. Guatemala City is the capital and largest city.
Belize
. Belize, until 1973 known as British Honduras, became independent in 1981 and
is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The total area of Belize is 22,965
sq km (8867 sq mi).
El Salvador
The smallest country in the region, El Salvador is second only to Guatemala in
population, and is the most densely populated republic on the mainland of the
Americas. The country was named El Salvador, which is Spanish for “““the
savior,””” in honor of Jesus Christ.
Honduras
Honduras is one of the largest Central American republics, with an area of
111,888 sq km (43,199 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Tegucigalpa.
Nicaragua
Largest nation in Central America. Called “the land of lakes and volcanoes,”
Nicaragua contains regions of thick rain forests, rugged highlands, and fertile
farming areas. Severe earthquakes have destroyed Managua, its capital and
largest city, twice in the 20th century.
Costa Rica
The uninhabited and densely wooded tropical Cocos Island, about 480 km
(about 300 mi) to the southwest in the Pacific Ocean, is under Costa Rican
sovereignty. The total area of Costa Rica is 51,060 sq km (19,714 sq mi). The
country’s capital is San José.
Panama
Connects North and South America. Is crossed by mountain ranges, covered
with large areas of rain forest, and bounded by two long coastlines studded with
islands and bays. Panama City, the capital and largest city, is on the Pacific
coast in this central zone.
Contributed By:
David J. Robinson