Central America is a thin strip of land between Mexico and Colombia. It holds seven small countries: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. The Pacific Ocean lies on one side, the Caribbean Sea on the other. Here you can find rainforests, hot volcanoes, coral reefs, and the busy Panama Canal—all within less than one percent of Earth’s land. Spanish is spoken in most places; Belize uses English, and many people also speak Indigenous or Creole languages. Coffee, bananas, tourism, and shipping earn much of the region’s money, and visitors come to see Maya ruins, cloud forests, and long tropical beaches.
Central America
Central America map
01000 km (621 mi)2000 km (1243 mi)3000 km (1864 mi)4000 km (2485 mi)
Height
0 m (0 ft), 150 m (492 ft), 300 m (984 ft), 600 m (1970 ft), 1000 m (3280 ft), 1500 m (4920 ft), 2000 m (6560 ft), 2500 m (8200 ft), above 3000 m (9840 ft)Sea depth
0 m (0 ft), 150 m (492 ft), 600 m (1970 ft), 1800 m (5910 ft), 3200 m (10500 ft), deeper than 5200 m (17060 ft)Permanent snow and iceWinter snow (approximate)