Central America
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78 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Isthmus of Panama | connects North and South America |
| Mountains | feature running down the center of CA |
| arable | CA has very little _______ land |
| volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes | three natural hazards in CA |
| 100 | CA has more than ____ active volcanoes |
| volcanoes | Create fertile land along with destruction in CA |
| San Salvador | city in El Salvador that since 16th century has been destroyed 10 times by earthquakes |
| 1998 | year of Hurricane Mitch—hit Nicaragua and Honduras hard |
| Nicaragua, honduras | countries hit hard by hurricane mitch |
| mineral, farmland | CA has no large ______ deposits and only small parts of ________ |
| coffee, bananas, cotton | 3 Biggest exports of CA |
| El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala | countries that gained independence in 1821 |
| Belize | Used to be called British Honduras—English speaking |
| British Honduras | old name for Belize |
| 1981 | Belize Gained independence in ____ |
| belize | Fewest people of any country in CA |
| belize | country w/ 3rd largest offshore coral reef (tourism is big) |
| african | Belize has more people of _____ descent than many other CA countries |
| Guatemala | country that has the largest population in CA (12.7 million) |
| Indian | ½ of Guatemala's population is of ________ descent |
| textiles | guatemala is known for lots of ________ (Dozier says most beautiful in the world) |
| coffee | guatemala's Major export |
| tikal | most famous mayan ruins |
| guatemala | country with mayan ruins |
| guatemala | country that contains the Largest pyramids in the Western hemisphere |
| Bananas, coffee | 50% of exports in honduras, 2 things |
| El Salvador | Most densely populated country in CE (867 people per square mile) |
| el salvador | country w/ a civil war from 1979-1992 |
| el salvador | country that has a lot of money from remittances (legal and illegal immigrants in US) |
| Daniel Ortega | 1980s, he was a communist, became president of nicaragua |
| Contras | rebel group in Nicaragua against commies |
| Sandinistas | Ortega was a member of the political group ________ (commie group) in Nicaragua |
| nicaragua | CA country involved in iran-contra affair |
| Costa Rica | Stable, highest standard of living, longest period of peace |
| costa rica | Means "rich coast" |
| costa rica | country w/ no real NA imprint (over 90% consider themselves European—Spain) |
| Costa Rica | country that became the first CA country to earn more from manufacturing than farming |
| Tourism | big industry in costa rica |
| Panama | Closest to US of all CA countries |
| Canal Zone | Strip of land 10 miles wide coast to coast |
| 1914 | year canal zone in panama was completed |
| 1979 | year Carter started talking about turning canal zone over to Panamanians |
| Noriega | president of panama who was interviewed by barbara walters |
| 1989 | year bush invaded Panama, played acid rock to get noriega turned over |
| canal zone | Remains panama's chief source of income (tax ships by weight) |
| 1999 | year US gave canal zone to panama |
| Greater Antilles | Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Hispaniola |
| greater antilles, Bahamas, Lesser Antilles | 3 parts of caribbean |
| sport, commercial | _____ fishing is good in caribbean, but _______ isn't (water isn't deep enough) |
| windward | The _______ (N and E) sides of the caribbean islands can receive up to 200 inches of rain a year |
| leeward | ______ side of caribbean islands, only gets 30 inches |
| Trinidad | caribbean island with many people from Asia (India and China) |
| cuba | One of the world's top exporters of sugar |
| 1959 | year Castro overthrew leader of cuba |
| 2007 | year castro turned over power to Raul Castro (his brother) |
| 2002 | year US began using naval base at Guantanamo Bay to detain prisoners from Afghanistan |
| Haiti | Gained independence from France in 1804 |
| haiti | Became the world's first black republic |
| haiti | Ranks as one of the poorest countries in the world (poorest in western hemisphere) |
| haiti | country w/ Roman Catholicism and Voodoo (religion based in west Africa) |
| Santo Domingo | first permanent European settlement in the New World (Spanish) |
| dominican republic | poor, but better off than haiti |
| Jamaica | english-speaking, Mountainous, less than 20% of land is arable, has bauxite |
| Bob Marley | reggae, 3rd world's first superstar |
| Puerto Rico | one of the highest GDP per capita b/c of US |
| cuba, puerto rico | Spanish colonies until 1898 (two countries) |
| Self-Governing Commonwealth | title of puerto rico (in relation to US) |
| Virgin Islands | Some belong to US, others to UK |
| US, UK | virgin islands, some belong to __ others to ____ |
| Denmark | US purchased their virgin islands in 1917 from ______ |
| Bahamas | 700 islands fringed with coral reefs |
| bahamas | Low-lying islands (no high elevations) |
| bahamas | Has to import almost all of its food—islands made of coral reef |
| Barbados | Most densely populated country in the western hemisphere |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 43% Black and 40% Asian |
| trinidad and tobago | country w/ Largest natural asphalt lake in the world |
| Pitch Lake | largest natural asphalt lake in the world |
| Netherland Antilles | Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao |
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