50 Fun Facts About Central America

How many countries is Central America usually said to contain?

Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama; Mexico is added only in specialised contexts.

Belize is the only Central American country with which official language?

It was the colony of British Honduras until 1981; Belizean Creole, Spanish and Mayan languages are also widely spoken.

Roughly how many active volcanoes does Central America have?

Forty-one of them are in El Salvador and Guatemala alone; Santa María is the most active.

Which volcano is the most active in Central America?

The Guatemalan peak's 1902 eruption was one of the largest of the twentieth century.

Most of Central America declared independence from Spain in which year?

The region was briefly annexed by Mexico before breaking away in 1823 to form its own federation.

Which colonial unit governed most of Central America from 1609 to 1821?

It answered to the viceroy in Mexico City and even included the modern Mexican state of Chiapas.

Where does Guatemala rank by population among Central American countries?

About 17.6 million people live there, making it the fourth most populous nation in all of North America.

The name Guatemala comes from a Nahuatl word meaning what?

Cuauhtēmallān may refer specifically to the cuate tree rather than forests in general.

Which peak is the highest point in Central America?

The Guatemalan volcano rises to about 4,200 metres, just across the border from Mexico's Chiapas highlands.

Which lake is the deepest in Central America?

The Guatemalan caldera lake plunges to 340 metres; its name means "between the waters".

Which Guatemalan Maya city was the first mixed UNESCO World Heritage Site?

Listed in 1979 for both culture and nature, its temples sit inside a Petén rainforest national park.

Which bird is Guatemala's national animal and the name of its currency?

It appears on the flag and coat of arms, and it is the largest member of the trogon family.

Antigua Guatemala served as capital of the Captaincy General until which year?

Earthquakes forced the move to today's Guatemala City; the Baroque ruins earned UNESCO status in 1979.

Belize gained independence from the United Kingdom in which year?

Progress was slowed for years by Guatemala's claim to sovereignty over Belizean territory.

What is the capital of Belize?

The planned inland capital was built after Hurricane Hattie devastated Belize City in 1961.

What was Belize called under UK colonial rule?

It was formally declared a colony in 1862, subordinate to Jamaica.

Which 1961 storm prompted Belize to move its capital inland?

The 1961 storm hit with winds over 300 km/h, the second devastation of Belize City in thirty years.

Belize's coral system is the world's second largest after which?

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System runs 900 km from Cancún down to Honduras.

Which diver made Belize's Great Blue Hole famous as a top-five dive site?

The sinkhole is about 318 metres across and 124 metres deep, sitting in the middle of Lighthouse Reef.

Belize was the first country to completely ban which fishing method, in 2010?

Five years later it also banned offshore oil drilling within a kilometre of the reef.

What is the capital of Honduras?

Comayagua held the title until 1880, when the government moved to the mining town in the central highlands.

"Banana republic" was coined for a Honduran democracy dominated by what?

It referred to a politically unstable democracy dominated by American fruit corporations.

The Honduran currency is named after which figure?

Lempira led resistance to the Spanish conquest in the 1530s; the currency bearing his name replaced the peso in 1931.

Which Maya city in Honduras became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980?

It was the capital of a Classic-period kingdom refounded in AD 426 by K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'.

Which explorer became the first European to visit Honduras's Bay Islands, in 1502?

It happened on his fourth and final voyage, near the modern town of Trujillo.

The 1969 Football War between El Salvador and Honduras is also known by what name?

Also called the 100 Hour War, it flared over migration tensions around a World Cup qualifier.

El Salvador's nickname Pulgarcito de America translates as what?

Its nickname is Pulgarcito de America, the "Tom Thumb of the Americas".

In 2001, El Salvador replaced its colón with which currency?

The colón had circulated since 1892; bitcoin was added as legal tender two decades later.

In 2021, El Salvador made which asset legal tender?

President Bukele also announced plans for a Bitcoin City at the base of a volcano.

Spanish authorities in El Salvador commercialised which indigenous crop around Izalco?

Balsam from the coastal ranges was the other colonial export; coffee only took over in the nineteenth century.

Where does Nicaragua rank by area among Central American countries?

It is also known as the land of lakes and volcanoes and holds the Bosawás reserve, the Americas' second-largest rainforest.

What is the capital of Nicaragua?

Founded in 1819, it became the capital in 1852 as a compromise between rival cities León and Granada.

Nicaragua's capital was badly damaged by earthquakes in 1931 and which later year?

The 1972 quake destroyed the city centre, which was never fully rebuilt in the same place.

Nicaraguans call their biggest lake Mar Dulce, meaning what?

Locals call it Cocibolca or Mar Dulce, the "Sweet Sea"; it is slightly smaller than Lake Titicaca.

Which unusual animal lives in freshwater Lake Nicaragua?

Scientists once thought they were an endemic species, but they are bull sharks that swim up the San Juan River.

What is the largest island in Lake Nicaragua?

It is made of two volcanoes, and the Pacific can be seen from its mountains.

Which conquistador founded Granada and León in Nicaragua?

The national currency carries his name; he was later beheaded for defying his superior Pedro Arias Dávila.

Costa Rica permanently abolished its army under a constitution adopted in which year?

The move followed a brief 1948 civil war led by José Figueres Ferrer.

"Costa Rica" means what in Spanish?

Columbus is said to have applied the name in 1502 after seeing natives wearing gold jewellery.

What is the capital of Costa Rica?

Around 350,000 people live in the city proper and two million in the surrounding metro area.

Which is Costa Rica's highest volcano?

It rises to 3,431 metres; on a clear day both the Pacific and the Caribbean can be seen from the summit.

Which religious group founded the settlement that became Monteverde, Costa Rica?

Several dozen arrived in 1951, partly to avoid the Korean War draft, and named the place "Green Mountain".

Costa Rica's Cocos Island is famed among divers for schools of which animal?

The uninhabited island is reachable only by sea, a trip of 36 to 48 hours, and became a World Heritage Site in 1997.

Panama seceded from which country in 1903?

The United States backed the split, clearing the way to finish the canal between 1904 and 1914.

Who crossed the isthmus from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1513?

Panama's currency, the balboa, has been fixed 1:1 to the US dollar since 1903 in his honour.

The Panama Canal officially opened in which year?

Annual traffic has grown from about 1,000 ships in its first year to more than 14,000.

Which treaties set the handover of the Panama Canal to Panama on 31 December 1999?

Signed in 1977 by General Omar Torrijos and President Jimmy Carter, they ended 85 years of US control.

What is the name of the artificial lake that Panama Canal ships are lifted up to?

Damming the Chagres River created it 26 metres above sea level, saving enormous excavation work.

The Pan-American Highway is interrupted by which roadless stretch?

The break runs roughly 106 km between Yaviza in Panama and Turbo in Colombia.

Who was elected the first president of the Federal Republic of Central America in 1825?

The federation, which lasted until around 1840, had its capital in Guatemala City and later San Salvador.