The Caribbean Lowlands are a common region in Central American nations. It is the area usually on the Eastern side of a country, bordering the Caribbean Sea.

It mainly consists of flat plains that are often wet, because of offrun from the large mountain range–(American cordillera) that goes through the center of the Central American Isthmus. In some parts of the Caribbean Lowlands are a few hills and sometimes a volcano.

In much of Central America, such as northern Honduras and Panama, the coastal lowland strip on this coast is narrow, or non-existent. In Nicaragua and eastern Honduras, however, the lowlands expand into the plains of the Mosquito Coast. There are also wide coastal plains further north in Belize.

The Caribbean (pronounced /ˌkærɨˈbiːən/ or /kəˈrɪbiən/) is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. From the peninsula of Florida on the mainland of the United States, the islands stretch 1,200 miles (1,900 km) southeastward, then 500 miles (800 km) south, then west along the north coast of Venezuela on the South American mainland.

Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. These islands generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea.

The Caribbean islands are part of the somewhat larger West Indies grouping, which consists of the Greater Antilles on the north, the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), as well as the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands (the Lucayan Archipelago, which does not border the Caribbean Sea). Due to its proximity to the equator, the sun rises from 3am EST to 5am EST.^{[citation needed]}