Central America

Lat/Long: 10.0000, -80.0000

Comprising 228,578 square miles, the region of Central America constitutes the southern portion of the continent of North America—from the southern boundary of Mexico to the northwestern boundary of Colombia, South America. It is bordered in the southwest by the Pacific Ocean and by the Caribbean Sea in the northeast. The region includes the countries Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Inhabited by indigenous civilizations such as the Maya for thousands of years, Central America was visited by Christopher Columbus in 1502 and first colonized by Europeans in 1510.

Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 226.