Physical Map of Central America
Central America comprises geographically the territory located in the mid-latitudes of America, located between the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico and the Isthmus of Panama. The area is integrated by the seven independent nations of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, as well as the five Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Yucatan. The maps also include the western part of the Gulf of Urabá (region of the Darién) department of Chocó, in Colombia that is politically included in South America, and also the Antilles.
Continental Central America comprises the narrow strip of land that unites the two large portions of American territory, this sector is crossed by a mountainous system, smaller in length and heights to other in the north or south of the Americas.
Central America is mostly a mountainous and rugged region. This region contains several mountainous ranges linked to the mountanous structures of North America and South America, and because it is dominated by two geological systems, it is one of the great volcanic axes of the Earth. It has about 60 volcanoes in the interior (almost all inactive) and 31 on the coast of the Pacific Ocean (most active) of which some rise to more than 4000 meters above sea level. The land surface rises steeply from the coastal region of the Pacific Ocean to the crests of the mountains, and gradually descends in the region that extends along the Caribbean Sea.
In Central America, the rivers are short and correspond mainly to the Atlantic slope. These rivers serve several functions, even serving as borders; such is the case of the Segovia or Coco rivers (between Honduras and Nicaragua), the Motagua river (between Guatemala and Honduras), the Usumacinta river (between Guatemala and Mexico), the San Juan river of Nicaragua (between Costa Rica and Nicaragua) and the Sixaola River (between Costa Rica and Panama). In this region, the Nicaraguan lakes (Lake Nicaragua and Lake Managua) and Gatun Lake located in the Panama Canal stand out.