SJJA: Social Studies 8: Chap. 3: Central America and the Carribbean

Terms	Definitions
Isthmus	Narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas Ex. Isthmus of Panama
Caribbean Sea	A sea of the Atlantic Ocean East of Central America and west of the Antilles Islands
Archipelago	A large group of islands A chain or cluster of islands
Greater Antilles	One of the island groups in the Caribbean Cuba, Hispaniola (containing the countries Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico and Jamaica
Lesser Antilles	A long, partly volcanic island arc in the Caribbean Sea
Cloud forest	Moist, high tropical forest where low clouds are common
Ecotourism	Practice of using a natural environment to attract tourists
Civil war	Conflict between two or more groups within a country
Dialect	A regional variety of language
Commonwealth	Self-governing territory associated with another country
Refugee	Someone who flees to another country usually for political or economic reasons
Cooperative	Organization owned by its members and operated for their mutual benefit
Panama Canal	A shipping a canal in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean
Havana	Capital of Cuba
Traditional	Customary Time-honored
Seven countries that make up Central America	Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama
Central America
Central America is on what type of land formation?	Isthmus
Reason travel in Central America is difficult	Ruggedness of land Lack of good water routes
Three main island groups in the Caribbean	Greater Antilles Lesser Antilles Bahamas
The tropical savanna on Central America's Pacific coast has been replaced by these	Plantations and ranches
Type of vegetation found along Central America's Caribbean coast	Tropical rain forest
This marks the change in seasons in Central America	Change in rainfall Winters are dry In the summer it rains nearly every day
Central America's best resources	Land Climate
Central America's main agricultural products	Coffee Bananas Sugarcane Cotton Timber
Central America's important industry	Tourism
Resources which are limited in Central America	Minerals Energy
Land forms common to Central America and the Caribbean Islands	Volcanoes
Reason for numerous volcanoes in Central America and the Caribbean	Collision of tectonic plates
Central America and the Caribbean are on which tectonic plate	The Caribbean tectonic plate
Caribbean tectonic plate
Climate of Central America and the Caribbean	Warm Tropical Sunny
Reason for numerous earthquakes in Central America and the Caribbean	Volcanic activity
Volcanoes and earthquakes in Central America and the Caribbean
The Native American people of Central America	The Maya
European country which claimed most of Central America in the 1500's	Spain
Main crops grown by the Spanish plantations and colonies in Central America	Tobacco Sugarcane Bananas Coffee
Year in which the Spanish colonies of Central America declared independence from Spain	1822
Year in which Belize gained independence from Britain	1821
U.S.-based country which controlled most of Central America's banana production in the mid-1990's	United Fruit Company
Improvements made to Central America's infrastructure made by the United Fruit Company	Railroads Port facilities
Mestizos	People of mixed European and Indian ancestry
Cultural influences in Central America	Native American Spanish British (English) African
Reason many Central Americans are Roman Catholic	When Spain colonized Central America, the Spanish taught the Indians about Catholicism
Traditional foods of Central America	Corn Tomatoes Hot peppers Cacao
Central American Free Trade Agreement CAFTA	An agreement to help increase trade between the United States and some Central American countries
Countries which signed CAFTA	Cost Rica Dominican Republic El Salvador Honduras Nicaragua U.S.
Most populous country in Central America	Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala's most important crop	Coffee
Popular spice produced in Guatemala	Cardamom
Least populous country in Central America	Belize
Belize
Primary language of Belize	English
Important industry of Belize	Ecotourism
Natural environment attractions in Belize	Coral reefs Maya ruins Coastal resorts
Primary agricultural products of Costa Rica	Coffee Bananas
Costa Rica
Natural environment attractions in Costa Rica	Tropical rain forests
Factors which have helped Costa Rica reduce poverty	Stable democratic government Long periods of peace
Narrowest and southernmost country of Central America	Panama
Panama
Major source of income for Panama	Fees and local industries associated with the Panama Canal
Link between the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean	Panama Canal
Direction the Panama Canal runs	Northwest to Southeast
Country which built the Panama Canal in 1914	United States
Country which controlled the Panama Canal until 1999	United States
Distance ships would have to travel around South America if there were no canal in Panama	8,000 miles
Shipping route from New York City to San Francisco, before and after the Panama Canal was built
Reason ships must be raised and lower in order to get through the Panama Canal	The Panama Canal takes ship from sea level, across a mountain, and back to sea level
Country for which Christopher Columbus made his exploratory voyages	Spain
Year Christopher Columbus discovered America	1492
Country Christopher Columbus thought he'd reached when he landed in the Caribbean in 1492	India
Countries which established colonies in the Caribbean in the 1600's and 1700's	England France Denmark Netherlands (Dutch)
Reason the Europeans brought African slaves to the Caribbean	Many Caribbean Indians had died of disease
Major agricultural product of the Caribbean islands	Sugarcane
Led a slave revolt against the French in Haiti in 1804	Toussaint-L'Overture
Historical cultural influences in the Caribbean Islands	Colonialism Slavery
Language spoken by Haitians	French Creole
English speaking countries of the Caribbean	Antigua Barbuda Barbados Trinidad Tobago
Creole English speaking countries of the Caribbean	St. Kitts Nevis Granada Jamaica Bahamas
Creole French speaking countries of the Caribbean	Haiti Dominica Saint Lucia
Spanish speaking countries of the Caribbean	Cuba Puerto Rico Dominican Republic
Regional variety of a language	Dialect
Major festival celebrated in the Caribbean prior to Lent	Carnival
A self-governing territory associated with another country	Commonwealth
Caribbean island which is a U.S. commonwealth	Puerto Rico
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but they lack what political feature?	Puerto Ricans have no voting representation in the U.S. Congress
Reason many Puerto Ricans move to the U.S.	Better paying jobs
Poorest country in the Americas	Haiti
Haiti shares the same island with this country	Dominican Republic
Haiti and Dominican Republic
The country of Haiti is on this island	Hispaniola
Haiti's main agricultural exports	Coffee Sugarcane
Reason Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas	Corrupt governments over the past 200 years
Someone who flees to another country for political or economic reasons	Refugee
Reasons many Haitian refugees flee to the U.S.	Violence Political unrest Poverty
Country which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti	Dominican Republic
Capital of Dominican Republic	Santo Domingo
First permanent European settlement in the Western Hemisphere	Santo Domingo
Primary economic features of the Dominican Republic	Agriculture Tourism
Largest and most populous country in the Caribbean	Cuba
Cuba
Distance from Cuba to Florida	92 miles
Capital of Cuba	Havana
Cuba's form of government	Communist
Cuba's leader since 1959	Fidel Castro
Reason U.S. banned trade with Cuba	Fidel Castro's government took over banks, sugarcane plantations and other businesses Many of the businesses were owned by U.S. citizens
Cuba's type of economy	Command economy The government controls the economy
Organization owned by its members, and operated for their mutual benefit	Cooperative
Cuba's farms are organized into what type of operations?	Cooperatives Government-owned plantations
Reasons many Cubans leave Cuba for the U.S.	Cuba's command economy Government control of media, tv and radio
Smallest country in the Caribbean	Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis
Economic basis of most of the smallest islands in the Caribbean	Tourism
Negative effects of tourism on Caribbean islands	Construction harms the natural environment
Country that is an example of an isthmus	Panama
European country that established the most colonies in the Greater Antilles	Spain
Caribbean country with a communist government	Cuba
Country which has remained at peace since gaining independence	Costa Rica