How to learn the countries of North America

Central America, top to bottom

After Canada, the United States and Mexico, seven countries run down the narrowing land to Colombia:

• Guatemala and Belize first, side by side under Mexico. Belize is the small one on the Caribbean.
• El Salvador and Honduras next. El Salvador is the smallest of the seven and the only one with no Caribbean coast; Honduras lies over it.
• Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, in that order, down to South America.

The large islands

• Cuba is the long one, with the Bahamas scattered to its north and Jamaica to its south.
• The next island east is shared by two countries: Haiti on the west side, the Dominican Republic on the east.

The arc of small islands

East of those, a curve of small islands runs down to Venezuela. From north to south:

• Saint Kitts and Nevis, with Antigua and Barbuda just east of it.
• Dominica.
• Saint Lucia.
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
• Grenada.

Barbados stands alone, out in the Atlantic east of Saint Vincent. Trinidad and Tobago closes the arc, almost touching Venezuela.

Dominica and the Dominican Republic. Dominica is the small island in the arc. The Dominican Republic is the large country that shares an island with Haiti.

Practise it

Take one group at a time. Play it on Name it until the names come without thinking, then switch to Find it, which asks the harder question: given only the name, where is it? What you miss comes back sooner in Review, and what you know comes back less often, so a few minutes a day is enough.

• Countries of North America: all 23.
• Capitals of North America and Flags of the Americas.
• For the United States alone: how to learn the 50 states.