Copyrighted by Eastman Teaching Films, Inc. of Rochester, NY in the 1930s, this silent educational film titled “Central America” highlights rural and cosmopolitan areas of Central America as well as the region’s prosperous agricultural industries of mahogany logging, bananas, cacao, and coffee. Property of the Board of Education of the City of New York, this particular Eastman Teaching Film educates the viewer on all aspects of these industries from planting to harvest to distribution through a compilation of black and white footage. This film offers important insights into industries that still hold economic importance to Central America and the world today as well as a decade in Central American history that was characterized by development. In fact, during the 1930s Central America witnessed a closing toward international trade and finance as well as the continuation of urbanization and economic development that began in the late 1920s.

Opening credits (0:12). Title page (0:12). Palm tree lined alcove (0:19). Men work at cutting down trees in a jungle (0:27). Traffic officer stands in the intersection of road lined with restaurants and shops (0:38). Man operating a horse-drawn carriage passes two motor vehicles on a quiet town road (0:52). Map of Central America featuring the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean and highlighting Guatemala City (0:59). Shot from a rooftop of a quiet street in Guatemala City (1:09). Two young women walk along sidewalk while balancing baskets on their heads (1:17). A farmer guides an ox cart in a rural area (1:29). Women vendors sit on busy street corner selling vegetables (1:34). Exterior of International Railways of Central America (IRCA) train station with carts and cars transporting goods in the foreground (1:44). Passengers board a Ferrocarril de Los Altos passenger car (1:48). Steam locomotive train pulls out of the station (1:54). Views of mountains and arid plateaus as seen from the train (1:59). Views of the fertile lowlands (2:15). Farmer uses ox to plow a field (2:36). Women walk with baskets on their heads alongside horses transporting crops (2:46). Loggers enter forest to log mahogany in southern Nicaragua (2:58). Map highlights the mahogany forest which spans modern day Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua (3:19). Timber scout scales tree to locate mature mahogany trees and advises fellow loggers (3:30). Loggers chop down a mahogany tree and transport it out of the forest using oxen (4:48-6:28). Loggers roll timber into flooded streams to transport them to shipping port (6:36-7:14). Map highlights where bananas are grown and harvested, which spans the coasts of modern day Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama (7:26). Men clear away the tropical jungle with machetes to make room for banana crops (7:40). Close-up of banana buds (8:09). Buds appear on the fruit stalk (8:51). Bananas are harvested and prepared for shipment (9:19). Worker loads harvested bananas onto a horse to be carried out of banana grove (9:54). Workers load bananas onto freight trains (10:34). Map highlights the cacao industry, which spans the western coasts of modern day Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua as well as parts of Costa Rica and Panama (11:08). Cacao beans are harvested from cacao trees (11:26). Close-up of a woman harvesting the cacao pulp (11:56). Map highlights the coffee industry spanning modern day Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama (12:10). Women, some with children on their back, harvest coffee beans (12:19). Map highlights the port city of Limón in Costa Rica (12:55). Busy day at the Port of Limón as goods are brought in and out (13:08). Steam boat pulls out of the port (13:32).