International Travel and Culture Dr Angel Gonzalez HFT 2716 Exam 2 Central America 7 Countries and Its Capitals Belize Belmopan Costa Rica San Jose El Salvador San Salvador Guatemala Guatemala City Honduras Tegucigalpa Nicaragua Managua Panama Panama City Belize It s History Once known as the British Honduras English is the official language ONLY ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRY IN CENTRAL AMERICA Little was known about this country until 1500s The Spanish continuously ignored this country Shipwrecked British soldiers established the first European settlement in It colonized as British Honduras until 1973 1638 Became an independent country in 1981 Guatemala claims this land still It s Barrier reef and the Cayes Barrier reef is the principal tourist attraction Ranks as worlds 2nd largest Reef runs parallel to the coast The ridges in the reef are called Cayes It is more than 200 isles The two largest cayes are Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye San Pedro is the most important access point for these dives sites Northern Belize here Western Belize La Ruta Maya begins at the north of Belize city Altun Ha is excavated Dug Out The head of the sun god carved in jade the national symbol was found Crooked tree wildlife sanctuary is found in northern Belize Mostly a savanna San Ignacio the districts center and base for exploration of the area Maya site of Caracol which rivals Tikal Central Americas largest cave system are the Chiquibul Caves Best time to explore the area is from March to May Southern Belize Considered by many as the place to visit Dangriga is the areas largest town The inhabitants are descendants black caribs who fled Honduras after a failed revolt November 19th is Garifuna Settlement day Costa Rica An overview of its culture Costa Rica means the Rich Coast Costa Rica s Nickname is TICO You can address someone as Tico as well Costa Rica is highly linked with ecotourism One of the worlds best systems of national parks 25 of its territory is protected They have no military Best health care and education because they have no military Lies between Panama and Nicaragua Coasts on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Most of the population lives in the central part of the country this is where San Jose is located here Contains 5 of the world s biodiversity extremely diverse Slightly bigger than Vermont and New Hampshire Puntarenas principal pacific port Puerto Caldera to the south is a port for cruises San Jose the capital was founded in 1737 and is located in the agricultural center of the country Coffee trees surround the city Home to Butterfly farms coffee plantations and oxcart factory carretas Most natives are of European descent Costa Rica s Parks and Biological Reserves Volcan Poas The most visited park in the country This includes steam belching crater fumaroles bubbling vents in the earths crust Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Western Costa Rica Tortuaguero National Park in the northeastern part of the country This is an important nesting site for the turtles and other species like monkeys jaguars and also inhabit the park The Pacific Coast resorts are popular for sport fishing and surfing Nicoya peninsula is the site for many new hotels Liberia is the area s principal town Airport has daily flights to San Jose Approximately 145 miles north of San Jose and Pan American highway Panama Its Location The official crossroads of the world Caribbean Sea is to the North Pacific ocean to the South Approximately the size of South Carolina 1 3 of the country is a tropical rain forest Much of its protected by the government Soberania National Park borders the Panama Canal Originally owned by Columbia Built an intense sewage canal The country has more than 1600 islands More than 940 recorded bird species Panama attracts many eco tourist as well Country s History and Demographics FSU S OLDEST INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM BEGAN IN PANAMA CITY A ship in the Atlantic to the Pacific sails from northwest to south east MUST KNOW Colon is the entry city in the Caribbean Panama City is the capital The Darien Gap links Central and South America It is the only break in the Pan American highway In the 19th century Panama was apart of Gran Panama San Blas islands is Panama s largest archipelago group of islands The Cuna Indians live on the islands Cuna Indians are self governing and live according to ancient ways They have their own language but speak Spanish The Big Ditch During colonial times the Spaniards build a road across Panama to carry gold from Peru In 1878 Colombian government awarded a contract to build a canal to a French diplomat Ferdinand Lesseps builder of the Suez canal Tropical diseases malaria yellow fever prevented the French from building the canal so Teddy Roosevelt the United States President wanted to take over the project Colombia would not agree with Teddy s terms Panama became an independent country and allowed the United States to In 1903 the United States pushed Panama to revolt against Columbia build the canal This canal is known as the Big Ditch Built across the narrowest point between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean This canal extends 51 miles Took 10 years to build of 352 million and took 5609 lives The United State s control of the canal ended in 1999 The average ship takes 8 to 10 hours to cross this canal It began operating for business in 1914 Guatemala It is one of the most beautiful countries in Central America Guatemala City is the capital and largest city in Guatemala Shares border with Honduras El Salvador Mexico and Belize Antigua a colonial city is the center for weaving industry Lake Atutlan is a mile long lake A deep blue Caldera is surrounded by three volcanoes and twelve Indian Tikal of the greatest Mayan cities near the border of Belize Must Know More than 2000 structures are hidden in the tropical rain forest villages Honduras Honduras lies between Nicaragua Guatemala and el Salvador Honduras is the poorest country in Central America Great export from this country is Bananas Major hurricane in the 1990s wiped out 90 of the country known as Hurricane Mitch Most of the territory is covered by mountains The mosquito coast is located in the northeast mostly inhabited The name comes from the Miskito Indians El Copan are Mayan ruins near the border of Guatemala El Salvador 1980 s 1990 s there was political turmoil and reached an agreement with government to settle the residing issues Once an agreement was made all the soldiers were relocated to the city and gangs
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