A large expanse of territory connecting North and
South America, and comprising in 1901 the republics of
Guatemala,
Honduras,
Salvador,
Nicaragua, and
Costa Rica.
The region was discovered by
Columbus, in his fourth voyage, in 1502.
He found the bay of
Honduras, where he landed; then proceeded along the main shore to Cape Gracias a Dios; and thence to the Isthmus of
Darien, hoping, but in vain, to obtain a passage to the
Pacific Ocean.
At the
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isthmus he found a harbor, and, on account of its beauty and security, he called it Porto Bello.
At another place in that country, on the Dureka River, he began a settlement with sixty-eight men; but they were driven off by a warlike tribe of
Indians—the first repulse the Spaniards had ever met with.
But for this occurrence, caused by the rapacity and cruelty of the Spaniards,
Columbus might have had the honor of planting the first
European colony on the continent of
America.
In 1509
Alonzo de Ojeda, with 300 soldiers, began a settlement on the east side of the Gulf of Darien.
At the same time
Diego Nicuessa, with six vessels and 780 men, began another settlement on the west side.
Both were broken up by the fierce natives; and thus the Spaniards, for the first time, were taught to dread the dusky people of the New World.
This was the first attempt of Europeans to make a permanent lodgment on the
continent of
America.
Many attempts have been made in recent years to bring about a federation of the five republics, the latest in 1895, when the
Greater Republic of
Central America was formed, and in 1898, when, by treaty,
Honduras.
Salvador, and
Nicaragua formed the
United States of
Central America,
Guatemala and
Costa Rica declining to enter the compact.
Local revolutions and mutual jealousies have so far prevented a permanent union.
