Middle America (Americas)

Not to be confused with Central America, Middle America (United States), or Mesoamerica.

For other uses, see Middle America (disambiguation).

Middle America

Area	2,728,827 km2 (1,053,606 sq mi)
Population (2022)	224,017,764
Countries	20   Antigua and Barbuda   Bahamas   Barbados   Belize   Costa Rica   Cuba   Dominica   Dominican Republic   El Salvador   Grenada   Guatemala   Haiti   Honduras   Jamaica   Mexico   Nicaragua   Panama   Saint Kitts and Nevis   Saint Lucia   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines   Trinidad and Tobago
Dependencies	18   Anguilla (UK)   Aruba (NL)   Bonaire (NL)   British Virgin Islands (UK)   Cayman Islands (UK)   Curaçao (NL)   Guadeloupe (FR)   Martinique (FR)   Montserrat (UK)   Navassa Island [note 1] (US)   Puerto Rico (US)   Saba (NL)   Saint Barthélemy (FR) Saint Martin (FR)   Sint Eustatius (NL)   Sint Maarten (NL)   Turks and Caicos Islands (UK)   U.S. Virgin Islands (US)
GDP	$1.416 229 trillion (PPP, 2005 est.)
Major languages	Spanish, English, French, Mayan, Nahuatl, Antillean Creole, Haitian Creole, and others
Time zones	UTC−04:00 (Barbados) to UTC−08:00 (Baja California)
Largest cities	10 largest cities in Middle America (2015) Mexico City Havana Ecatepec de Morelos Guadalajara Puebla Juárez León Tijuana Tegucigalpa Zapopan

Middle America is a subregion in the Northern Hemisphere tropics of the Americas. It usually includes Mexico, the seven countries of Central America, and the 13 island countries and 18 territories of the Caribbean. Together with Northern America, they form the continent of North America.

Colombia and Venezuela of Caribbean South America are sometimes included in this subregion. The Caribbean is occasionally excluded from this subregion while Bermuda and The Guianas are infrequently included. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Geography

Political map of Middle America

Physiographically, Middle America marks the territorial transition between Northern America and South America, connecting yet separating the two. ^[4] On the west, the Middle American mainland comprises the tapering, isthmian tract of the American landmass between the southern Rocky Mountains in the southern United States and the northern tip of the Andes in Colombia, ^[5] separating the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Atlantic Ocean (viz. the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea) on the east, while the Greater and Lesser Antilles form an island arc in the east. ^[4] The region developed subaerially southward from North America as a complex volcanic arc-trench system during the Early Cretaceous period, eventually forming the land bridge during the Pliocene epoch when its southern end (at Panama) collided with South America through tectonic action. ^[6]

Countries and territories

Small island nations are excluded. Puerto Rico is in italics due to not being independent.

Country / Territory	Population	Area (km2)	Density (people per km2)	Capital
Mexico	127,575,529	1,943,945	65.6	Mexico City
Guatemala	17,581,472	107,158	164.1	Guatemala City
Cuba	11,333,483	109,883	103.1	Havana
Haiti	11,263,770	27,557	408.7	Port-au-Prince
Dominican Republic	10,738,958	48,329	222.2	Santo Domingo
Honduras	9,746,117	111,888	87.1	Tegucigalpa
Nicaragua	6,545,502	119,994	54.5	Managua
El Salvador	6,453,553	20,720	311.5	San Salvador
Costa Rica	5,047,561	51,049	98.9	San José
Panama	4,246,439	74,333	57.1	Panama City
Jamaica	2,948,279	10,831	272.2	Kingston
Puerto Rico	3,205,691	9,100	352.2	San Juan
Belize	390,353	22,805	17.1	Belmopan
Bahamas	389,482	9,997	39.0	Nassau
Total	217,193,906	2,667,589	81.4

Use of the term Middle America as synonym

Occasionally, the term Middle America is used synonymously with Central America ^[3] (compare with Middle Africa and Central Africa). In English, the term is uncommonly used as a synonym of the term Mesoamerica (or Meso- America), ^{[5] [7]} which generally refers to an ancient culture region situated in Middle America extending roughly from central Mexico to northern Costa Rica. ^[8] In addition, some residents of the region (e.g., Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans) may be referred to as Meso-Americans or Central Americans, but not, however, as Middle Americans, which refers to a particular constituency in the United States. ^[9]

See also

• Geography portal
• Central America portal
• North America portal
• South America portal

• Americas (terminology)
• Aridoamerica
• Latin America and the Caribbean
• Middle America Trench
• Oasisamerica
• Southern Cone
• West Indies

Notes

1. Administered by the United States, claimed by Haiti.

References

Citations

1. CIA political map of Middle America. 1994. Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection; University of Texas Library Online
2. "Middle America." Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary , 11th ed. 2003. ( ISBN   0-87779-809-5) New York: Merriam-Webster, Inc.
3. Augelli, John P. (June 1962). "The Rimland-Mainland Concept of Culture Areas in Middle America". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 52 (2): 52 (2): 119–129. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1962.tb00400.x. JSTOR   2561309. Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies, to which the term is normally applicable, share a general [geographic] focus .... For some ... "Middle America" refers only to Mexico and Central America; others add the West Indies and, infrequently, even Colombia, Venezuela, and The Guianas. Occasionally, the term "Central America" is used synonymously with "Middle America". Also, German geographers often refer to just the isthmian territories from Panama to Guatemala as Mittelamerika .
4. Gonzalez, Joseph. 2004. "Middle America: Bridging Two Continents" (ch. 17). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geography. ( ISBN   1-59257-188-3) New York: Alpha Books; pp. 213–7
5. "Middle America." Encyclopædia Britannica 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
6. Coney, Peter J. 1982. "Plate tectonic constraints on the biogeography of Middle America and the Caribbean region." Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden: v. 69, pp. 432–443
7. 'Glossary' Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine Images of the Past, 4th ed. 2005. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
8. Dow, James W. 1999. The Cultural Anthropology of Middle America Archived 2007-07-04 at the Wayback Machine .
9. "American." The Oxford Companion to the English Language ( ISBN   0-19-214183-X). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 35.

Sources

• "Middle America", Dictionary.com .
• "North America". The Columbia Encyclopedia , 6th ed. 2001–6. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Oxford English Reference Dictionary, 2nd ed. (rev.) 2002. ( ISBN   0-19-860652-4) Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

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