Chapter 11Central America and the

Caribbean

Central America

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Central America

• Central America is the land mass between North America and South America– It is an isthmus (a narrow strip of land with

water on both sides that connects two larger bodies of land)

• Until 1914, Central America hindered the movement of people and goods – The Panama Canal was opened and now

ships can cross between the isthmus

Central America

• There are seven countries in this area – Guatemala– Belize – Honduras– El Salvador– Nicaragua– Costa Rica– Panama

Central America – The Mountainous Core

• Mountains run the length of Central America • These are difficult to cross and cause serious

problems for transportation – Some are still active volcanoes

• There are two climate zones in the high elevations of Central America– From 3000-6000 feet there is a year-round spring-like

climate, free of frosts but cool enough to grow – Above 6000 feet climate is cold. Because of frequent

frosts, few crops besides potatoes and barley can grow here

Caribbean Lowlands

• On the East side of Central America – the mountainous core ends and gives way to lowlands that edge the Caribbean Sea

• The Caribbean lowlands have a tropical wet climate – Hot and humid with year round high temperatures and

heavy rainfall• Northeast winds bring about 100 inches of rain a

year • Dense rain forest vegetation covers much of the

land • The rain forest soil is not very fertile and limits

the crops that can be grown

Pacific Coastal Plain

• The Pacific coast has a tropical wet and dry climate with savanna, or grassland vegetation

• The difference in climate on the two coasts is because of the moist winds that sweep from the northeast across the Caribbean toward Central America– The winds drop rain on the Caribbean coast and the eastern

mountain slopes • The Pacific coast can depend on rain only in the summer• Volcanoes high in the mountains above the Pacific

coastal plain affect the land • Lava flows and deposits of volcanic ash make Pacific

coast soils extremely fertile • During the rainy season the land is green

Pacific Coastal Plain - Nicaragua

• Nicaragua has several freshwater lakes • The largest is Lago de Nicaragua (Lake

Nicaragua)• It is a large oval lake with small islands

– More than 100 miles long

• Scientists believe that it was once a bay, that was cut off from the Pacific Ocean when a volcanic eruption created a ridge of mountains

• Although the lake is freshwater, ocean creatures such as sharks and swordfish live in the lake

Region’s People – Indians • The people who have lived

longest in Central America are the Indians

• Each native group has a traditional home as well as their own distinct history, culture, and language

• The largest number of Central American Indians live in Guatemala and make up more than half of the population

Region’s People – Europeans and Mestizos

• Because the Spanish conquered and colonized the region, Spanish is the official language in almost all of Central America – Belize – primary language is English (was a British

colony

• The largest European settlement is Costa Rica – 90% of the people are European (mostly Spanish)

• There is a large population of people with a mixture of European and indigenous – called Mestizos– There is a large group of this population in El

Salvador and Nicaragua

Region’s People - African Descent

• People of African decent are mostly located on Central America’s Caribbean coast

• Some are descendants of slaves that were brought to Central America during the 1500’s

• Most are descendants from people who migrated to the region from the Caribbean islands in the early 1900’s

• They came to work on banana plantations or help build the Panama Canal

Wealth and Poverty

• Most of the people in Central America are very poor• The wealthy constitute only a tiny percentage of the total

population – Most are plantation owners and European or mestizo – The rich dominate government and politics in the region

• 2/3 of Central Americans are poor– Farmers with little or no land– Laborers who earn low wages on plantations or in factories – Most are people of Indigenous or African descent

• A very small percentage are middle class – Farmers owning small, non-commercial farmland– Some employees of urban industries

Farming Economy

• Most of Central America’s people earn their living by some kind of farming

• Farming employees more than 50% of the people in Guatemala and Honduras

• Most rural population lives by subsistence farming

• The large plantations have many workers and ship most of their crops to the United States or Europe

Political Unrest

• There has been conflict in Central America for much of its history

• Each country has specific problems• One important problem is the shortage of

farmland to meet the needs of the growing population – Made worse by the unequal distribution of useable

land • Many governments in Central America have

served the interests of the wealthy – Opponents of the governments have organized

guerrilla movements (armed forces outside the regular army who often fight in small bands

Nicaragua • 1979

– Group called the Sandinistas led a movement that overthrew Nicaragua’s government

– For 40 years the country had been controlled by the wealthy Somoza family

– The Sandinistas governed the country under a socialist system• Taking property from wealthy land owners and giving it to their supporters • The government control caused lower production and drop in exports

– Nicaraguans were dissatisfied with this and tried to overthrow the Sandinistas

– Fighting broke out again between the contras and the Sandinistas • Cease fire in 1990

– Democratically elected government but problems with poverty and unemployment grew worse during the 90’s

• Currently their president is a Sandinista

El Salvador

• Wealthy landowners feared a popular revolution • They hired “death squads” to eliminate political

opponents who wanted reform• Between 1979-1992 El Salvador was in a bloody civil

war • More than 70,000 people died• 1992 a peace agreement meditated by the UN ended the

war • Today: Mauricio Funes, a former journalist and member

of the FMLN party was elected President in 2009 – Ended two decades year conservative rule

Guatemala • Most populous country in Central America • Gained independence from Spain in 1821• Rules by a series of Caudillos (military dictators)• After WWII a liberal government was elected • Civil war erupted in the 1960’s

– During the civil war “death squads” routinely tortured and murdered critics of the military regime

– More than 100,000 people were killed and another 40,000 disappeared • Returned to civilian rule in the 1980’s • The military ousted the president in 1993 and elected Ramiro de

Leon Carpio who is internationally seen as a champion of human rights

• The 30 year civil war ended and the UN blamed state authorities for the human rights violations

• For the first time police and military personnel were arrested for their “death squad” activities

The Caribbean Islands

• The Caribbean is a beautiful region of forest-covered mountains, warm temperatures, and clear, blue waters

• Many Caribbean nations are struggling to develop their economies

• Many people have left the islands to find opportunities that the islands cannot offer

Caribbean Islands

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A Tropical Location

• The Caribbean islands consist of three island groups– Greater Antilles

• This includes the four largest islands in the region: Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico.

– Lesser Antilles• Most of the islands form another archipelago, a curving arc

that separates the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean• Includes Aruba and Trinidad and Tobago

– The Bahamas• The Bahamas archipelago (group of islands) includes nearly

700 islands northeast of Cuba

Island Formations• There are varying landforms in the Caribbean islands

– This is a result of differing physical forces that shaped the islands– The Greater Antilles and some of the Lesser Antilles are the tops of

volcanic mountains that have pushed up from the ocean floor• These rugged islands general slope from a central mountain to

coastal plains– The western arc of islands in the Lesser Antilles were formed by more

recent volcanoes • Some are still active • Violent eruptions have taken place within the last 100 years • The Volcanic islands have rich soil but their slopes are quickly

drained of nutrients – The islands with flatter terrain are coral islands

• They were created by the remains of colonies of tiny, soft-bodied sea animals called coral polyps

– These coral polyps take in water and nutrients and release limestone, to form a hard outer skeleton. As the corals die, the limestone skeletons form a coal reef. Sand and sediment begin to pile on top of it. Eventually soil forms , plants root, and an island is formed . The sandy soil cannot support much agriculture

• All of the Bahamas are coral islands

Marine Climate

• The climate of the Caribbean islands is affected more by sea and wind than by elevation– When the winds blow onshore, they moderate the land

temperature

• Even though most of the Caribbean islands lie in the tropics where the sun’s rays are most direct year-round temperatures reach only about 80 degrees

• Humidity can be high• Winds affect the amount of rainfall

– Windward (facing the wind) northern and eastern sides of the islands rain can fall in torrents, reaching as much as 200 inches

– On the leeward sides (facing away from the wind) rainfall may be only 30 inches a year

Ethnic Roots• Natives

– Today there is little evidence of the original inhabitants of the Caribbean islands – nearly a century after Columbus arrived in 1492, all of the natives had died

• Africans– European colonists needed laborers after all of the natives were

gone. – They brought millions of Africans to work as slaves – Most of the regions present population is descended from the

enslaved Africans– Most of the Caribbean culture has been influenced by African

roots• Calypso music – folk music that spread from Trinidad throughout the

Caribbean

• Asian– There is a sizable Asian population in the Caribbean islands– Many people immigrated from East and South Asia to work on

Caribbean islands after slavery was abolished in the nineteenth century

Caribbean Nations Today

• 90% of the Caribbean’s population live in independent countries– Like Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Barbados, Jamaica, The

Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago • Many other Caribbean islands are still politically linked to

European countries or the United States – British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat are all

colonies of England – Jamaica and the Bahamas are independent but members of the

British Commonwealth – U.S. Virgin Island is a territory of the U.S.– Puerto Rico is a United States commonwealth – residents of

Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin islands are American Citizens – Guadeloupe and Martinique are departments of France

Living from the Land

• The economies of the Caribbean islands depend on agriculture

• The soil is very fertile – Much of the worlds sugar, bananas, coconuts, cocoa, rice, and

cotton are produced in the region

• Many work in industries related to agriculture • Because of the natural beauty and the climate of the

islands draw tourists from all over the world – Tourism thrives, but the people living on the island reap few

benefits– Most of the tourist areas are owned by foreign corporations– Some people are hired to work in service jobs, but face layoffs

during the off-season

Migration

• People migrate in search of jobs • Sugar plantations are a major employer, but the

busy season lasts only four months– The other eight months are called the tiempo muerto

(the dead season)

• During the dead season workers head to other islands, Central America, or the United States in search of work - then they send the money home

• Many worked on the Panama Canal

Political Unrest – Cuba

• In 1959 – Fidel Castro led a successful revolution and ousted the dictatorial government

• Castro set up a Communist government

• Since then about one million Cubans have moved to Florida

Political Unrest - Haiti

• Between 1957-1986 Haiti was ruled by military dictatorship

• Thousands of people fled to the U.S. • In 1986 Haitians ousted their dictator but the military

regained control • In 1994 with backing from the U.S., they restored to

office the democratically elected president • In 1995 there was another election• In the 2000’s there was still political unrest – parliament

ousted 3 Prime Ministers• The current Prime Minister has been in office since 2009

Economic Benefits of Migration

• The Caribbean islands have benefited from the loss of people

• The hundreds of millions of dollars that emigrants have sent home have reduced the burden of poverty throughout the Caribbean