ABSTRACT
Introduction: Central America in transnational perspective Geopolitically, Central America is a small region uniting the continental masses of North and South America and an isthmus that separates the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean Sea (see Figure 13.1). In spite of its small dimensions when compared to other regions of the globe, it is a highly differentiated area, host to multiple societies and cultures, as well as the seat of seven sovereign countries that have maintained close yet often tension-ridden relationships since the attainment of political independence in the early nineteenth century. Drawing attention to how the process of nation-state building has been long embedded there in undercurrents connecting these societies to one another, this chapter embraces the analytical perspective of connected histories and transnationalism. It suggests that, following independence, the societies of this region were un able to completely disengage from transnational forces that pulled them together time and again.
