why are countries in southern north america called central america?

Question

why do people when talking about panama, el salvdor belize honduras etc. call it central america when its actually in north america and why isnt greenland considered part of north america
when you look up info on north america they only list 3 countries canada usa and mexico

people say that the plates in the earth seperate the continents the plates are not seperate between the central america countries so why do people speak of them like there not apart of north america columbia starts south america anything above it would be north america

Answer 1

Perhaps because the equator which is the "center of the earth" insofar as a sphere goes. So its "central" america

Answer 2

North America is Canda, USA and Mexico. South America goes from Colombia to the southern tip of Chile. And those nations in between are Central America. The Equatorial line does not separate North and South America. Also the band of land that separates southern Mexico and Guatemala is a mere 171 miles, while the band of land between northern Colombia and southern Panama is about 125 miles, hardly a large land mass connects the continents, almost like a twisted candy wrapper. The Panama Canal a man made canal that allows cargo ships through between two oceans could be an alternative to call separating the continents by land mass, but this would split the country of Panama in two. Oddly enough the canal actually would not split the continent from east to west but as the nation curves the canal goes from Northeast to Southwest.

Answer 3

Geologically speaking, North America and South America were formed millions of years BEFORE Central America. In the beginning there was no connection between those two: just water and a few islands. Later on, in millions of years, Central America emerged and a new climate change took place. Central America, geologically speaking, does not belong to neither one of them; it has a history of its own. The same goes for India, often called "sub-continent", because it came along and "crashed" against Asia, given birth, and rise, to the Himalayas.

Answer 4

The way I learned it, the countries of central america are actually part of South America, not North America.

Answer 5

Greenland is not a country in it's own right, it's owned by Denmark, therefore it's technically part of Europe.

The central American countries, are often listed with the Caribbean countries though if you look in an atlas they should be listed with North America.

Answer 6

1)both continents are called the Americas
2) the north part is called North America
3)the southern part is called South America
4)that leaves the center conection
this is called central America

Answer 7

Central America is an artificial construct for Americans to pretend that Mexico is not on the same continent with them.

Answer 8

they're in the central part of the americas