used Costa Rica to get across the isthmus of Central America as well to reach the Californian coast in the late-19th and early-20th centuries prior to the opening of the Panama Canal. Other European ethnic groups known to live in Costa Rica include Russians, Danes, Belgians, Portuguese, Croats, and Hungarians. Nicaragua: Also, in Nicaragua during the mid-19th century and early-20th century immigration was encouraged by the government giving land in areas of Esteli, Jinotega, Matagalpa, Managua-El Crucero, Carazo, Nueva Segovia and Madriz, mainly to German, French and Eastern European immigrants who were willing to work the land. El Salvador 12% of Salvadorans are mostly descendants of the Spaniard colonizers, with others descending from French, Italians, Portuguese, British, Germans and some other Central European ethnic groups. Panama: Less than 7% of the Panamanian population identifies as white. European immigration to Panama in the 19th and 20th centuries included British people, Irish people, Dutch people, French people, Germans, Italians, Portuguese people, Poles, and Russians. Guatemala: Five percent of Guatemalans are whites of European descent in their majority Spanish and German. Belize: In 2010 there were 13,964 White people living in Belize, forming 4,6% of the total population. 10,865 or 3,6% of the population were Mennonites of German/Dutch descend. Honduras: 1% of the Honduran population is identified as white, in other statistics it appears that whites in honduras made up the 3% of the total population. These are people of mainly Spanish, British, Italian, French, and jewish ancestry. However, the term white in Honduras can be a somewhat ambiguous definition, similar to what happens in other Latin American countries. This is because any white-skinned person is called a chele, a word in Honduras used for white skinned pople, whether they are of Euro descent or of another ethnic origin, as in the case of Arabs, who in general in the case of Honduras are mostly of Palestinian descent. Amerindians The only plurality of Amerindian, or indigenous, people in Central America is in Guatemala. Amerindians comprise minorities in the other Central American countries. Before the arrival of the Spanish Europeans in Central America, there were 2 million indigenous people in Guatemala, 1 million in Honduras, 1 million in Nicaragua, 750 thousand in Panama, less than 500 thousand in El Salvador and less than 400 thousand in Costa Rica. However, the numbers are highly variable, according to Bernardo Augusto Thiel, the indigenous population in Costa