Below is a political map of Central America and the Caribbean. Central America is made up of 7 different countries: Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. The nemonic my students came up with last year to help them remember the names of the countries is Because Grandpa Eats Hotdogs Nana Cooks Pancakes.
The Caribbean is made up of over 7000 different islands. They are mostly grouped into five different groups of islands. The Greater Antilles includes the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola which is home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles includes a group of islands know as the Leeward Islands that include the US Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands, the Windward Islands, which are closer to South America, and the Leeward Islands which includes the island of Aruba. The last set of islands is know as the Lucayan Archipelago which includes the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Some of these islands such as Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic are their own independent countries while others like Puerto Rico and the Bahamas belong to other counties like the US or the United Kingdom.
http://www.dlhoffman.com/publiclibrary/factbook98/ref.html
This map is a physical map of the region. You can see the mountains in yellow and orange relief. You will see that the is a large mountain chain that runs through the northern part of Central America and a smaller on in the southern section in Costa Rica and Panama. You can also see mountains on the island of Hispaniola in the countries of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
http://www.freeworldmaps.net/central-america/map.html
This map is a Seismic Hazard Map. Can you tell where the greatest risk of seismic activity might be?
http://geology.about.com/od/seishazardmaps/ss/World-Seismic-Hazard-Maps_6.htm
