| A | B |
| hurricane | fierce tropical storm |
| plantation | large farm that grows produce for sale |
| chicle | sap of the sapodilla tree used to make chewing gum |
| nutrient | minerals that supply food for plants |
| bauxite | mineral used to make aluminum |
| ladino | Guatemalan that speaks Spanish and practices European ways |
| literacy rate | percentage of people who can read and write |
| isthmus | narrow strip of land connecting two larger areas |
| archipelago | group of islands |
| colony | overseas settlement |
| communism | strong government control of the society and the economy |
| cooperative | farm owned and operated by the government |
| light industry | produce food products and household goods |
| dialect | local form of a language |
| commonwealth | a partly self-governing territory |
| Greater Antilles | the largest islands of the West Indies |
| Lesser Antilles | the smallest islands of the West Indies |
| Hispaniola | island which contains Haiti and the Dominican Republic |
| Puerto Rico | island which is part of the United States |
| Cuba | communist island in the West Indies |