The Little League Series has reminded me of a question I've had for a very long time, and never had properly answered.In the Tournament, there is a team from Latin America, the Carribean, and Mexico.
Oddly, this reminded me of a question that has bothered for me years--what continent does Central America belong to?
I used to think that I was an idiot for not knowing this. I was embarrassed to ask my teachers. Yet, I clearly remember once asking a Spanish teacher, and she too had no idea.
I just took a look at my Risk game board, and that did very little to clear anything up. In Risk, Central America is a large swath which stretches all the way from Mexico to Panama.
Now, I know that Mexico is considered part of North America, but below that things get very confusing. Is the Carribean part of Central America? Is Central America part of South America, or is it simply a region without a Continent?
I've always assumed that a country has to be part of a Continent, but this assumption may be wrong.
Many at Amherst have supported the Latin American Studies major. Before I can consider supporting this effort, it'd be nice to know what Latin America encompasses.
So I guess this has morphed into a two part question:
What continent is Central America a part of, and what countries make up Latin America?
2 comments:
Central America is part of North America, by my understanding. Mexico is not part of Central America. By the way, Russia is on two continents.
Wikipedia says:
"Central America (Spanish: Centroamérica or América 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 a region of the Americas in its own right."
The questions aren't as interesting when they are just matters of fact.
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