Location
Central America is a region of the continent of South America. It is situated between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia. Most often Central America is understood to include the nations between Mexico and Colombia, including Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. There is some disagreement, however, as some geographers classify Central America as a large isthmus, in which case the boundaries include the portion of Mexico that lies east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, including: the Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo.
Geography
The region covers 524,000 km2. Its population was estimated at 41,739,000 as of 2009, with a population density of 77 people/km2. The land mass is recognized as the isthmus of southern North America, with boundaries that can be traced from southern Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec, running southeastward to the Isthmus of Panama, where it connects to...
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Suggested Readings
Menjivar, C. (2000). Fragmented ties: Salvadoran immigrant networks in America. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Orozco, M. (2005). Transnationalism and development: Trends and opportunities in Latin America. In S. M. Munzele & D. Ratha (Eds.), Remittances: Development impact and future prospects (pp. 307–329). Washington: The World Bank.
United Nations Development Program (2005). Human development report for El Salvador, Migration Sections.
Suggested Resources
Migration Information Source. For information on Central America from the Migration Information Source. http://www.migrationinformation.org/USFocus/display.cfm?ID=386
OECD. For information on Central America from the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation. http://www.oecd.org
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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Sharpton, A.N. (2012). Central America. In: Loue, S., Sajatovic, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5659-0_122
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