A Brief History of Central America

Central America is a small region, broken into seven even smaller nations. Yet, more than 5 million North Americans visit these countries annually, exploring Mayan ruins in Guatemala and Belize, discovering the rain forests of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, snorkeling in Honduras, and cruising through the Panama Canal. A Brief History of Central America explores the history of the Central American isthmus from early pre-Columbian cultures to the contemporary nations that make up the region today: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

Written for a general audience, the history focuses on seminal events and broad cultural patterns that have shaped the region. Special themes, such as the causes of unity and disunity on the isthmus and the economic pressures on the rain forest from farming and tourism, are developed throughout the book.

Coverage also includes: The Land and Its First Peoples, The Spanish Conquest, Life in the Colony, The Federation of Central America, The Making of the Coffee Republics, Challenge to the Old Order, Civil Wars, The Challenge of Peace and Democracy. Basic facts, a chronology, a bibliography, and a list of suggested reading make up the appendixes.

About the Author:
Lynn V. Foster is a writer and former research scholar and an adjunct faculty member in the Hispanic Studies Department of the University of Massachusetts in Boston