Megan Louise P. Tabique North AmericaGrade 9 – Rho

1.) Antigua and Barbuda Capital: St. John’s Location: Caribbean

Antigua and Barbuda is a country encompassing its 2 namesake islands and several smaller islands. Positioned where the Atlantic and Caribbean meet, it's known for reef-lined beaches, rainforests and resorts. Antigua's English Harbor is a yachting hub and the site of historic Nelson's Dockyard, now part of a national park. In the capital, St. John's, the national museum displays indigenous and colonial artifacts.

2.) Bahamas Capital: Nassau Location: Caribbean

The Bahamas is a coral-based archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, comprising 700 islands and cays that range from uninhabited to resort-packed. The northernmost, Grand Bahama, and Paradise Island, home to the sprawling Atlantis resort, are among the best known. Scuba diving and snorkeling sites include the massive Andros Barrier Reef, Thunderball Grotto (of James Bond fame) and the black-coral gardens off Bimini.

3.) Barbados Capital: Bridgetown Location: Caribbean

Barbados, in the eastern Caribbean, is an independent island nation within the British Commonwealth. Bridgetown, the capital, is a cruise-ship stop with shopping, colonial buildings and one of the Western Hemisphere’s oldest synagogues. Barbadian traditions range from afternoon tea and cricket (the national sport) to pursuits such as scuba diving at Dottins Reef and golfing on designer oceanside courses.

4.) Belize Capital: Belmopan Location: Caribbean

Belize is a nation on the eastern coast of Central America, with Caribbean Sea shorelines to the east and dense jungle to the west. It's known for its beaches, eco-lodges, scuba diving and sportfishing. Offshore, the massive Belize Barrier Reef, dotted with hundreds of cayes, hosts rich marine life. Belize’s jungle areas are rich with Mayan ruins.

5.) Canada Capital: Ottawa (recognizes Queen Elizabeth II as monarch)

Canada, stretching from the U.S. in the south to the Arctic Circle in the north, is filled with vibrant cities including massive, multicultural Toronto; predominantly French-speaking Montréal and Québec City; Vancouver and Halifax on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, respectively; and Ottawa, the capital. It’s also crossed by the Rocky Mountains and home to vast swaths of protected wilderness.

6.) Costa Rica Capital: San Jose Location: Central America Language: Spanish

Costa Rica is a rugged, rainforested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Though its capital, San Jose, is home to cultural institutions like the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes and immense biodiversity. Roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, rich with wildlife including spider monkeys and quetzal birds.

7.) Cuba Capital: Havana Location: Caribbean Language: Spanish

Cuba, a large Caribbean island nation under communist rule, is known for its white-sand beaches, rolling mountains, cigars and rum. Its colorful capital, Havana, features well-preserved Spanish colonial architecture within its 16th-century core, Old Havana, loomed over by the pre-revolutionary Capitolio. Salsa emanates from the city's dance clubs and cabaret shows are performed at the famed Tropicana.

8.) Dominica Capital: Roseau Location: Caribbean

Dominica is a mountainous Caribbean island nation distinguished by geothermal hot springs. Its most famous spring may be the volcanically heated, steam-covered Boiling Lake, which falls within Morne Trois Pitons National Park. This preserve also encompasses rainforest, sulfur vents, the twin waterfalls of Trafalgar Falls and narrow Titou Gorge. To the west is Dominica’s capital, Roseau, with colorful timber houses and botanic gardens.

9.) Dominican Republic Capital: Santo Domingo Location: Caribbean Language: Spanish

The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean nation that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti to the west. Though known for its pristine beaches, all-inclusive resorts and golfing, it has a varied terrain comprising rainforest, savannah and highlands, including Pico Duarte, the Caribbean’s tallest mountain. It has Spanish colonial history going back 500 years, and passionate merengue is its official music and dance.

10.) El Salvador Capital: San Salvador Location: Central America Language: Spanish

El Salvador is a tiny Central American nation known for its Pacific Ocean beaches, surfing and mountainous landscape. Its Ruta de Las Flores is a winding journey past flowering coffee farms, rainforest zip-line sites and towns like Juayúa, with its weekend food festival, and Ataco, home to vivid murals. The capital, San Salvador, with a dramatic backdrop of volcanoes, has vibrant nightlife and arts scenes.

11.) Grenada Capital: St. George’s Location: Caribbean

Grenada is a Caribbean country comprising a main island, also called Grenada, and 6 smaller surrounding islands. Dubbed the “Spice Isle,” the hilly main island is home to numerous nutmeg plantations. It’s also site of the capital, St. George’s, whose colorful homes, Georgian buildings and early-18th-century Fort George overlook narrow Carenage Harbour. To the south is Grand Anse Beach, with resorts and bars.

12.) Guatemala Capital: Guatemala City Location: Central America Language: Spanish

Guatemala, a Central American country south of Mexico, is distinguished by its steep volcanoes, vast rainforests and ancient Mayan sites. The capital, Guatemala City, is home to the stately National Palace of Culture, institutions such as the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and the lively Zona Viva nightlife area. Antigua, west of the capital, contains cobblestone streets and preserved Spanish colonial buildings.

13.) Haiti Capital: Port-au-Prince Location: Caribbean Language: French

Haiti is a Caribbean country that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic to its east. Though it’s still recovering from a 2010 earthquake, many of Haiti's landmarks dating to the early 19th century remain intact. These include Citadelle la Ferrière, a mountaintop fortress, and the nearby ruins of Sans-Souci Palace, the baroque former royal home of King Henry I.

14.) Honduras Capital: Tegucigalpa Location: Central America Language: Spanish

Honduras is a Central American country with Caribbean Sea coastlines to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south (via the Gulf of Fonseca). In the jungle near Guatemala, the ancient Mayan ceremonial site Copán has stone-carved hieroglyphics and stelae, tall stone monuments. Offshore lie the Bay Islands, part of a massive barrier reef, which are popular for scuba diving.

15.) Jamaica Capital: Kingston Location: Caribbean

Jamaica, a Caribbean island nation, has a lush topography of mountains, rainforests and reef-lined beaches. Many of its all-inclusive resorts are clustered in vibrant Montego Bay, with its British colonial architecture, and Negril, renowned for diving and snorkeling. Jamaica is famed as the birthplace of reggae, and its capital Kingston is home to the Bob Marley Museum, dedicated to the city’s most famous son.

16.) Mexico Capital: Mexico City Language: Spanish

Mexico is a country between the U.S. and Central America beaches on its Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and a diverse landscape of mountains, deserts and jungles. Ancient ruins such as Teotihuacan (Aztec) and Chichen Itza (Mayan) are scattered throughout the country, as are Spanish colonial-era towns. In capital Mexico City, upscale shops, renowned museums and gourmet restaurants cater to modern life.

17.) Nicaragua Capital: Managua Language: Spanish

Nicaragua, set between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, is a Central American nation known for its dramatic terrain of lakes, volcanoes and beaches. Vast Lake Managua and the iconic stratovolcano Momotombo sit north of the capital Managua. To its south is Granada, noted for its Spanish colonial architecture and archipelago of islets, popular for sailing and bird-watching.

18.) Panama Capital: Panama City Location: Central America Language: Spanish

Panama is a country on the isthmus linking Central and South America. The man-made Panama Canal cuts through its center, linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to create an essential shipping route. In the capital, Panama City, modern skyscrapers, casinos and nightclubs contrast with colonial buildings in the Casco Viejo district and the rainforest of Natural Metropolitan Park.

19.) Saint Kitts & Nevis Capital: Basseterre Location: Caribbean (recognizes Queen Elizabeth as their monarch)

The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, also known as the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is a two-island country in the West Indies. Located in the Leeward Islands chain of the Lesser Antilles, it is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population. The country is a Commonwealth realm, with the British Monarch (currently, Elizabeth II) as its head of state.

20.) Saint Lucia Capital: Castries Location: Caribbean

Saint Lucia is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean with 2 distinctive mountains, the Pitons, on its west coast. It's known for its beaches and reef-diving sites, as well as its rainforested interior with waterfalls such as at Toraille. It's home to quiet volcanic beaches and fishing villages as well as luxurious resorts, and the capital, Castries, is a regular cruise ship stop.

21.) Saint Vincent & the Grenadines Capital: Kingstown Location: Caribbean

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a southern Caribbean nation comprising a main island, St. Vincent, and a chain of smaller ones. With yacht-filled harbors, chic private isles and volcanic landscapes, it’s known for its major sailing destinations such as reef-lined Bequia island off Admiralty Bay, bordered by white-sand beaches like Princess Margaret. The main island is home to the capital, Kingstown.

22.) Trinidad and Tobago Capital: Port of Spain Location: Caribbean

Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is a twin island country off the northern edge of South America, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles.

23.) United States of America Capital: Washington DC

The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the extreme Northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major cities include New York, a global finance and culture center, and Washington, DC, the capital, both on the Atlantic Coast; Los Angeles, famed for filmmaking, on the Pacific Coast; and the Midwestern metropolis Chicago.