The Editor

The Caribbean, or West Indies, is a region of the Americas that consists of several groups of islands within or bordering the Caribbean Sea, plus The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands, which are in the Atlantic Ocean. The region includes more than 700 islands, islets, reefs, and cays.

Nicaragua is situated in Central America between Honduras in the north and Costa Rica in the south. Its physical geography divides the country into three major zones: the Pacific lowlands, the north-central highlands, and the Caribbean lowlands or Mosquito Coast.

Honduras, located in northern Central America, is mostly mountainous. Lowlands are located along its Pacific and Caribbean coasts as well as the river valleys of the interior. The majority of the population resides in the central highlands which is an economically important agricultural region.

Costa Rica is located in southern Central America, bordered by Nicaragua in the north and Panama in the southeast. The Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean form its eastern and southwestern coastlines. Its geography features coastal plains and rainforests separated by rugged mountains and major volcanoes.

Panama is the southernmost country of Central America, located on the elongated S-shape Isthmus of Panama, the narrow land bridge that connects North and South America. Its landscape consists of three major physical regions: mountains, coastal lowlands, and archipelagos.

Guatemala is the third-largest country in Central America. Situated in a geologically active region, its geography is characterized by three major geographic regions or zones: the Petén lowlands, the Guatemalan highlands, and the Pacific coast flatlands.

Mexico is located in the southern portion of North America and is the third largest country in Latin America. A biodiverse country, it encompasses arid deserts and scrublands, tropical rainforests, temperate forests and grasslands, mangrove swamps, alpine ecosystems, and coral reefs.

French Guiana, an overseas territorial collectivity of France, is located on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. Almost the entire country is covered by rainforest, and its many large rivers and streams constitute the only natural means of penetration into the interior.

Uruguay is located in the Southern Cone of South America on the continent's southeastern Atlantic coast. Much of the country is a gently rolling plain that represents a transition from the almost featureless Argentine pampas in the west, to the hilly uplands of southern Brazil in the east.

Paraguay is a land-locked country located in the south-central region of South America. The Paraguay River divides the country into two distinct eastern and western geographic regions: Paraneña, where 95% of the population resides, and Chaco Boreal.

Guyana is located in northeastern South America with an Atlantic Ocean coastline, much of which is below sea level at high tide. Sometimes classified as part of the Caribbean region, Guyana can be divided into geographic zones that include a coastal plain, a white sand belt, and interior highlands.

Venezuela is located on the northern coast of South America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the north and northeast. The country has four distinct geographical regions: the Venezuelan Highlands, the Maracaibo Lowlands, the Orinoco Plains, and the Guiana Highlands.

Stretching in a broad arc across western Bolivia, the Andes define the country's three geographic zones: the Western zone features the Andes and the Altiplano; the Central zone features the Semitropical Yungas, the Highland Valleys, and the Gran Chaco; and the Eastern Zone features the Tropical Lowlands.

Colombia is considered a land of extremes. Located in northwestern South America, its geographic landscape varies from the snow-covered Andes mountains to the tropical beaches of the Caribbean Sea. Due to its variety of ecosystems, Colombia is among the top countries in terms of biodiversity.

Spanning about 2,700 miles north to south, Chile’s natural landscape includes desert, grasslands, and shrublands as well as both temperate and tropical forests. Chile is generally divided by geographers into five regions or zones each having its own characteristic vegetation, fauna, climate, and topography.

Two chains of mountain ranges run from northwest to southeast, almost the entire length of Costa Rica. Running from the northwest to the central part of the country is the Cordillera Volcánica Central, which is noted for its volcanic activity. From the south-central to the southeast is the Cordillera de Talamanca.

Located on the western coast of South America, Peru is known as one of the world's most megadiverse countries and its biodiversity can be organized into four main biomes. Geographically, Peru is traditionally described in terms of three broad longitudinal regions: the Costa, the Sierra, and the Amazonia.

Brazil is the largest country in South America and occupies half of its landmass. It is the fifth largest country in the world and is regarded as the most biodiverse country on Earth. It is conventionally divided into five geographic regions that correspond generally to the country's major landforms and biomes.

El Salvador has five archaeological parks plus a Mesoamerican site. The Yucatán Peninsula and the Petén Basin/Maya Forest region of Belize, Guatemala and Mexico have become synonymous with Maya ruins; however, there are several sites in El Salvador of importance.

A number of well-known and historically important pre-Columbian Maya archaeological sites are found in Belize, considered part of the southern Maya lowlands of the Mesoamerican culture area. The sites found here were occupied until the arrival of the Spanish.