WWhen studying the history of Central America one must first clarify just what Central America is. Today (2019) it is commonly taken to include Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. This definition matches modern political borders. However, in some senses and at some times Central America begins in Mexico, at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and the former country of Yucatán was part of Central America. At the other end, before its independence in 1903 Panama was politically and culturally part of the South American country of Colombia, or its predecessors. At times English-speaking Belize, with a quite different history, has been considered as apart from Central America.
WOperation Bolívar was the codename for the German espionage in Latin America during World War II. It was under the operational control of Department VID 4 of Germany's Security Service, and was primarily concerned with the collection and transmission of clandestine information from Latin America to Europe. Overall, the Germans were successful in establishing a secret radio communications network from their control station in Argentina, as well as a courier system involving the use of Spanish merchant vessels for the shipment of paper-form intelligence.
WThe Caribbean Legion is the name of a group of progressive Latin American leaders, exiles, and revolutionaries with the aim of overthrowing dictatorships across Central America and replacing them with democratic governments.
WCastilla de Oro or del Oro was the name given by the Spanish settlers at the beginning of the 16th century to the Central American territories from the Gulf of Urabá, near today's Colombian-Panamanian border, to the Belén River. Beyond that river, the region was known as Veragua, and was disputed by the Spanish crown along with the Columbus family. The name "Castilla de Oro" was made official in May 1513 by King Ferdinand II of Aragon, then regent of the Crown of Castile.
WThe Greater Republic of Central America, later the United States of Central America, originally planned to be known as the Republic of Central America, was a short-lived political union between El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, lasting from 1896 to 1898. It was an attempt to revive the failed Federal Republic of Central America that existed earlier in the century.
WThe Central American crisis began in the late 1970s, when major civil wars and communist revolutions erupted in various countries in Central America, causing it to become the world's most volatile region in terms of socioeconomic change. In particular, the United States feared that victories by communist forces would cause South America to become isolated from the United States if the governments of the Central American countries were overthrown and pro-Soviet communist governments were installed in their place. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, the United States often pursued its interests through puppet governments and the elite classes, whose members tended to ignore the demands of the peasant and working class.
WThe Clayton–Bulwer Treaty was a treaty signed in 1850 between the United States and the United Kingdom. The treaty was negotiated by John M. Clayton and Sir Henry Bulwer, amidst growing tensions between the two nations over Central America, a region where the British had traditionally held strong influence but also saw increasing American expansion into the area. The treaty proved instrumental in preventing the outbreak of war between the two nations-resolving tensions over American plans to construct a Nicaraguan Canal that would connect the Pacific and the Atlantic. There were three main provisions in the treaty: neither nation would build such a canal without the consent and cooperation of the other; neither would fortify or found new colonies in the region; when a canal was built, both powers would guarantee that it would be available on a neutral basis for all shipping. Construction on the proposed canal never came to fruition, although the treaty remained in effect until 1901.
WThe European colonization of the Americas describes the Age of Exploration and the resulting conquest and establishment of Western European control in what is now considered North and South America. Europe had been preoccupied with internal wars and was slowly recovering from the loss of population caused by the Black Death; thus the rapid rate at which it grew in wealth and power was unforeseeable in the early 15th century. European colonization impacted the political systems, geographic boundaries, and languages that predominate in the hemisphere's largely independent states today.
WFalangism in Latin America has been a feature of political life since the 1930s as movements looked to the national syndicalist clerical fascism of the Spanish state and sought to apply it to other Spanish-speaking countries. From the mid 1930s, the Falange Exterior, effectively an overseas version of the Spanish Falange, was active throughout Latin America in order to drum up support among Hispanic communities. However, the ideas would soon permeate into indigenous political groups. The term "Falangism" should not be applied to the military dictatorships of such figures as Alfredo Stroessner, Augusto Pinochet and Rafael Trujillo because while these individuals often enjoyed close relations to Francisco Franco's Spain, their military nature and frequent lack of commitment to national syndicalism and the corporate state mean that they should not be classed as Falangist. The phenomenon can be seen in a number of movements both past and present.
WThe Federal Republic of Central America, also called the United Provinces of Central America in its first year of creation, was a defunct sovereign state in Central America that consisted of the territories of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala of New Spain. It existed from July 1823 to February 1841, as a republican democracy.
WThe First Central American Civil War was a civil political and military conflict within the Federal Republic of Central America which lasted from 1826 until 1829. The civil war was fought between Liberal and Conservative lines with Francisco Morazán leading the Liberals and Manuel José Arce, a former Liberal, leading the Conservatives.
WThe flag of Los Altos was a modification of the Central American Union, with a central seal showing a volcano in the background with a quetzal in front. Los Altos was a state in the Federal Republic of Central America in the 1830s. Its capital was Quetzaltenango and it occupied the west of present-day Guatemala and parts of the Mexican state of Chiapas. This was the first Central American flag to use the quetzal as a symbol; since 1871, it has been on the present flag of Guatemala.
WThe Football War was a brief war fought between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. Existing tensions between the two countries coincided with rioting during a 1970 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The war began on 14 July 1969, when the Salvadoran military launched an attack against Honduras. The Organization of American States (OAS) negotiated a cease-fire on the night of 18 July, which took full effect on 20 July. Salvadoran troops were withdrawn in early August.
WGabino or Gavino Gaínza y Fernández de Medrano was a Spanish military officer and politician in Spain's American colonies. During the Latin American wars of independence, he initially fought on the royalist side, in Chile. Later, in Guatemala, he supported independence and became the first president of a united Central America extending from Soconusco through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
WFr. Marion M. Ganey, S.J., (1904–1984) was a Catholic priest, member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), and missionary to British Honduras, Central America, from 1937 to 1953, where he was instigator of the credit union and cooperatives movement. He became increasingly prominent in this movement, being invited to the Fiji Islands in 1953 and laboring to establish the movement there and throughout the South Pacific until his death in Fiji in 1984.
WThe Hay–Herrán Treaty was a treaty signed on January 22, 1903, between United States Secretary of State John M. Hay of the United States and Tomás Herrán of Colombia. Had it been ratified, it would have allowed the United States a renewable lease of 100 years on a six-mile-wide strip across the isthmus of Panama for $10 million and an annual payment of $250,000, both payments being in gold coin. It was ratified by the United States Senate on March 14, but it was not ratified by the Senate of Colombia, so it had no effect.
WThis history of the Catholic church in Belize has three parts: the historical periods of the Catholic presence in Belize, religious congregations laboring in Belize, and apostolic works undertaken.
WThe Isthmo-Colombian Area is defined as a cultural area encompassing those territories occupied predominantly by speakers of the Chibchan languages at the time of European contact. It includes portions of the Central American isthmus like eastern El Salvador, eastern Honduras, Caribbean Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and northern Colombia.
WScarlett Martínez International Airport, also known as Río Hato Airport, is an international airport serving Río Hato, a town in the Coclé Province of Panama. The airport is 3 kilometres (2 mi) east of Río Hato.
WThis is a timeline of the territorial evolution of the Caribbean and nearby areas of North, Central, and South America, listing each change to the internal and external borders of the various countries that make up the region.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 530, adopted unanimously on 19 May 1983, having heard statements from Nicaragua and other Member States on the issue, the Council expressed its deep concern at the situation on the Honduras-Nicaragua border, and a possible military confrontation.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 562, adopted on 10 May 1985, after recalling Resolution 530 (1983) and various General Assembly resolutions which affirm the right of Nicaragua and other countries to live in peace without outside interference.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 637, adopted unanimously on 27 July 1989, after recalling Resolution 530 (1983) and Resolution 562 (1985) and numerous General Assembly resolutions, the Council commended the desire for peace in Central America noting the Joint Declaration made by the Presidents of Central American nations in 1988 and 1989.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 644, adopted unanimously on 7 November 1989, after recalling Resolution 637 (1989), the Council endorsed the report by the Secretary-General and decided to establish the United Nations Observer Group in Central America (ONUCA) in accordance with the report.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 650, adopted unanimously on 27 March 1990, after recalling resolutions 637 (1989) and 644 (1989), the Council endorsed the report by the Secretary-General and decided to authorise an enlargement of the United Nations Observer Group in Central America (ONUCA) in order to demobilise the Contras in Nicaragua.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 653, adopted unanimously on 20 April 1990, after recalling resolutions 644 (1989) and 650 (1990), the Council endorsed a report by the Secretary-General and authorised new additions to the mandate of the United Nations Observer Group in Central America.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 654, adopted unanimously on 4 May 1990, after recalling resolutions 637 (1989), 644 (1989), 650 (1990) and 653 (1990), the Council endorsed a report by the Secretary-General and decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Observer Group in Central America for a further six months until 7 November 1990.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 656, adopted unanimously on 8 June 1990, after recalling Resolution 654 (1990) and reviewing a report by the Secretary-General, the Council decided to extend the tasks of monitoring the ceasefire, demobilising and separating the Contras and other forces of the resistance in Nicaragua until 29 June 1990.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 675, adopted unanimously on 5 November 1990, after recalling resolutions 637 (1989) and 644 (1989), the Council endorsed a report by the Secretary-General and decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Observer Group in Central America for a further six months until 7 May 1991.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 691, adopted unanimously on 6 May 1991, after recalling resolutions 637 (1989), 644 (1989) and 675 (1990), the Council endorsed a report by the Secretary-General and decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Observer Group in Central America for a further six months until 7 November 1991.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 719, adopted unanimously on 6 November 1991, after recalling resolutions 637 (1989), 644 (1989), 675 (1990) and 691 (1991), the Council endorsed a report by the Secretary-General and decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Observer Group in Central America for a further five months and twenty-three days until 30 April 1992.
WUnited Nations Security Council resolution 730, adopted unanimously on 16 January 1992, after recalling resolutions 719 (1991) and 729 (1992) the Council approved a report by the Secretary-General from 14 January, and decided to terminate the mandate of the United Nations Observer Group in Central America (ONUCA) with effect from 17 January 1992.
WThe Viceroyalty of New Granada was the name given on 27 May 1717, to the jurisdiction of the Spanish Empire in northern South America, corresponding to modern Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Created in 1717 by king Felipe V, inside of a new territorial control policy, it was suspended in 1723 due to financial problems and was restored in 1739 until the independence movement suspended it again in 1810. The territory corresponding to Panama was incorporated later in 1739, and the provinces of Venezuela were separated from the Viceroyalty and assigned to the Captaincy General of Venezuela in 1777. In addition to these core areas, the territory of the Viceroyalty of New Granada included Guyana, southwestern Suriname, parts of northwestern Brazil, and northern Peru.