Foundation Project
The role of the United States in Central America has evolved over centuries, from military intervention to economic expansion. American filibusters used expansionist policy to push for regime change throughout the Americas, often working for American companies. Perhaps the most famous of these is William Walker, who briefly became the President of Nicaragua, stationing himself in San Juan Del Norte (Greytown). At the turn of the twentieth century, banana and lumber companies built a series of "company towns" across the Caribbean lowlands of Central America, including Tela and La Ceiba in Honduras, and Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas) and Bluefields in Nicaragua. These companies took advantage of an already established functional region that depended on resource exports for centuries. The Caribbean lowlands also operates as a vernacular region , recognized by its inhabitants as facing the Caribbean and encouraging regional migration patterns that solidified its identity as a mix of A...