Is "Central America" a continent?

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sky_kats

Interesting question. Had to search a bit to find the answer. Costa Rica is on the North American continent. I'm more of a visual person so this may help you too. The green shows the extents of the North American continent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LocationNorthAmerica.png
Here's a few more links:
http://www.worldatlas.com/cntycont.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_continent

Daniel G

In most Spanish speaking countries, people are thought that "America Central" is a sub-continent that goes from Panama to Guatemala. On their view, is neither North nor South America.

This is somewhat different from the more politically-focused term Centroamerica which usually excludes Panama. (This is due to the fact that Panama was under a different government during the Spanish colonial rule).

In the English speaking countries in the Americas, there seems to be more debate: "Central America (Spanish: CentroamÃ©rica or AmÃ©rica Central) is a central geographic region of the Americas. It is variably defined either as the southern portion of North America, which connects with South America on the southeast, or as a region of the Americas in its own right." (Wikipedia)

Latinoamerica is not the same: Latinoamerica usually reffers to the countries in the Americas whose main Language is latin based (Spanish, French and Portuguesse) and has nothing to do with geography.

Oscar1

It really depends how you were taught.

In the US we divide this side of the Ocean into North America and South America.

South of us, people just call the whole thing America. That is way they consider it arrogant when people from the US consider themselves exclusively Americans, when everybody in the american continent is american. People from the US are "estadounidense".

Andreabella

America is the Continent, as well Europa, Asia, Africa...
america is not a Country.
Our continent es divided by North, Central and South America.
North America: Canana, The United States, and Mexico.
Central America: Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and PanamÃ .
South America:
Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, bolivia, Argentina...

So, Costa Rica is a Country from Central America
I hope that my explanation was good enough for you.

CR - Tiquicia (only)

Costa Rica is in American Continent, sout, north, central, and insular are sub divisions or sub regions, but is a one continent.

Charlie

I read several articles on this and the consensus seems to be that Central America is considered to be part of Nprth America. Some geographers consider North and South America to be geographically one continent tecnically.... and just consder Central America to be the "middle" of this land mass. I found none who said Central America is part of South America. It may be the commonly geographically accepted opinion that Central America is part of North America, but language and culture makes the nations there more closely related to South America...so that contributes to the contiued confusion.

lingua06437

I had no idea there was such a controversy!

Costa Rica is located on a peninsula of the North American continent. This region is called Central America.

Just as Europe is on a peninsula on the Eurasian continent, so is it also with Costa Rica and North America.

ciza29

There are seven recognized continents in the world. They are
1)Australia
2)Antarctica
3)Asia
4)Europe
5)Africa
6)North America
7)South America

Some may debate what constitutes a continent. However, in no definition would Central America be a continent.

â……on Google (â„¦)

In America, Central America is in the middle of America... Between North America and South America... Tiquicia is right, North America, South America, Central America are subdivisions of America... Central America subdivide too in Insular and Itsmic Central America... iÂ´m Costa Rican too :P

? ALeXo ? ( ?GT/CL?)

America is a continent

Central America (Guatemala, Belice, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) are a subcontinent.

IÂ´m central american

March77

In Costa Rica we are teach that our country belongs to Central America

Belindita

No, Central America is not a continent.

But what continent does it belong to? It depends on where you live! Strange, right?

Well, the thing is that what they teach about how many (and which) continents there are depends on where you live. If you live in Costa Rica, you will learn that there are five continents, one of them being "America", which includes North, Central and South America.

I will refer you to a similar question of mine:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ai44Zuormw3QFPXJ5a_PWofty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20060719175401AAkv5T7

But, again, to answer your question, no matter to what continent Central America belongs to, it is not a continent in itself.

Enzo

America have 3 parts, North, South and Central (include the Caribbean). Some people says it have 4, North, South, Central and Caribbean.

Costa Rica is part of America, and also part of Central America, like is Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and lately PanamÃ¡.

If you wanna take the idea of America have 2 sides, then we can say just North and South, and then Costa Rica will be part of North America, 'couse South America stars in Colombia, and include Trinidad and Tobago. While North America stars in Panama to Canada, and the Caribbean its part of it.

kapn

That is a really good question. Costa Rica is right in the middle of the North America South American Continent. Its really called Central America or Latin America. Since it is north of the Panama Canal I would say......just a guess.........it belongs to the North American Contentment.......when you find out for sure...let me know......

America is a continent divided in three sections:
North America
Central America
South America
.......continent?....America.....

Satan se los va a llevar, je je.

There we go tico, you must know much better than me, in case you didn't go to the school we are located in one continent called AMERICA, that mean that all the countries in this big island belong to America,
Did you go to the school?

Sorry!

Jennifer C

Central America (including Costa Rica) is a region, but it part of the continent of North America.

The Don

no!!!!!!!! central america consists on these countries: Honduras, El salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica and belize. they do not belong to north america although they are really close!

crrrreinsoyy

Is "Central America" a Continent?
NO, it's not.
Central America is part the North America.
North America is often divided into subregions but no universally accepted divisions exist. Central America comprises the southern region of the continent, but its northern terminus varies between sources. Geophysically, the region starts at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico (namely the Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, and YucatÃ¡n). The United Nations geoscheme includes Mexico in Central America; conversely, the European Union excludes both Mexico and Belize from the area. Geopolitically, Mexico is frequently not reckoned in Central America.
Northern America is used to refer to the northern countries and territories of North America: Canada, the United States, Greenland, Bermuda, and St. Pierre and Miquelon. They are often considered distinct from the southern portion of the Americas, which largely comprise Latin America. The term Middle America is sometimes used to collectively refer to Mexico, the nations of Central America, the Caribbean and may include the South American nations of Colombia and Venezuela.

Central America is not a continent.
North America and South America are continents.
Central America is a region and can not be a continent.
Costa Rica is a country in "Central America" and I would say that "Central America" is part of South America, if you want to peg it to a continent.
The countries south of Mexico would "belong" to South America.

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geevs80

No, Central America (to include Costa Rica) is a part of North America.

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