Central America – difficult neighborhood on the isthmus between Mexico and South America

Abstract

The article discusses the origins and the course of contemporary boundaries in Central America. It focuses on the historical process of shaping the borders after the fall of the Spanish Empire as well as border disputes and conflicts arising from territorial claims against neighbors. The boundaries of countries in Central America developed since gaining their independence in 1821, and the emergence of the United States of Central America until the twentieth century when, in 1903, as a result of detachment from Colombia, Panama emerged as an independent state. The history of the seven countries in the region is turbulent and filled with numerous border conflicts and wars. Their causes must be sought, among others, in the social and political situation in the region mainly in the lack of land and expanding the problems of the ownership structure in the country. Special attention is paid to bilateral relationships and the border contemporary conflicts between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.