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Latin America
*** Shopping-Tip: Latin America
{{cleanup-priority}}
'''Latin America'''
Image:Map-Latin America2.png 200px
| Area |
21,069,501 sq km |
| Population |
560, 287,688 |
| Countries |
20 |
| Dependencies |
4 |
| GDP |
$2.26 Trillion (exchange rate) |
| Languages |
Spanish language Spanish, Portuguese language Portuguese, French language French, Quechua, Aymara, Nahuatl, Mayan languages, Guaranà language GuaranÃ, Italian language Italian, German language German, Welsh language Welsh |
| Time Zones |
|
| Largest Cities |
Mexico City,
São Paulo,
Buenos Aires,
Rio de Janeiro,
Lima,
Bogotá
Santiago, Chile,
Havana.
|
'''Latin America''' (''See also
Ibero-America and
Use of the word American'') is the
region of the
Americas where
Romance languages (i.e. languages derived from
Latin language Latin) are officially or primarily spoken. Alternatively, Latin America is typically contrasted with
Anglo-America where
English language English, a
Germanic language, predominates.
Definitions for what comprises Latin America may vary. From a sociopolitical perspective, including only independent countries, Latin America corresponds roughly to all nations south of the
United States including
Mexico, most of
Central America Central and
South America, and the countries of the
Caribbean where
Spanish language Spanish,
Portuguese language Portuguese,
French language French, or related
Creole languages are spoken. Other territories where some languages derived from Latin – such as
French language French,
Papiamento, or
Kreyol predominate (e.g.,
Quebec in
Canada) – are frequently not reckoned as parts of Latin America. Sometimes, particularly in the United States, the term "Latin America" is used to refer to ''all'' of the Americas south of the U.S., including countries such as
Belize,
Guyana,
Jamaica, and
Suriname where languages other than Spanish or Portuguese prevail.
Geopolitically, Latin America is divided into 20 independent countries and several dependent territories.
Brazil is by far the largest country in Latin America, both in area and in population. Its official language, Portuguese, puts it apart from other Latin American countries which predominately use Spanish as their official language.
Etymology
Napoleon III of France Napoleon III brought the term ''Latin-America'' to the Spanish, French and Portuguese speaking parts of the Americas, making it an expression equivalent to
Latin Europe.
Most of the population in Latin America speaks a 'Romance' (i.e.
Latin-derived) language such as Portuguese or Spanish. Latin-derived languages were brought to the Americas originally by settlers from
Iberia and
France. On the other hand, many people in Latin America do not speak the official Latin-derived languages, but native languages or languages brought by immigration.
There is also the blend of Latin-derived cultures with indigenous and African ones resulting in a differentiation in relation to the Latin cultures of Europe.
Québec,
Acadia and other French-speaking areas in
Canada,
Louisiana,
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and other places north of Mexico are traditionally excluded from the social-political definition of Latin America, despite significant populations speaking a Latin-derived language. This is because these regions do not exist as independent states, and they are geographically isolated from the rest of Latin America.
French Guiana, however, is usually included, despite being a dependency of France and not an independent country.
The related term ''
Iberoamerica'' is sometimes used to refer to the nations that were formerly colonies of
Spain and
Portugal, as these two countries are located on the
Iberian peninsula. The
Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) takes this definition a step further, by including
Spain and
Portugal (often termed the ''Mother Countries'' of Latin America) among its member states, in addition to their Spanish and Portuguese-speaking former colonies in America.
Political divisions
Latin America is often seen as encompassing the following countries:
{|
|valign=top|
*
Argentina
*
Bolivia
*
Brazil
*
Chile
*
Colombia
*
Costa Rica
*
Cuba
|valign=top|
*
Dominican Republic
*
Ecuador
*
El Salvador
*
Guatemala
*
Haiti
*
Honduras
*
Mexico
|valign=top|
*
Nicaragua
*
Panama
*
Paraguay
*
Peru
*
Uruguay
*
Venezuela
|}
And the following dependencies:
{|
|valign="top"|
To
France
*
French Guiana
*
Guadeloupe
*
Martinique
|valign="top"|
To the
United States
*
Puerto Rico
|}
In addition, some would add
Belize, the
Falkland Islands,
Guyana, and
Suriname to this list, even though they are not culturally or linguistically Latin American. They maintain
Economic geography economic ties with nearby countries, and are grouped by the
United Nations in predominantly Latin American
subregion regions (
South America South and
Central America). However, all except Suriname are also the objects of
irredentism long-standing territorial claims by their Latin American neighbors.
History
{{Main|History of Latin America}}
This region was home to many indigenous peoples and advanced civilizations, including the
Aztecs,
Inca and
Maya, before the arrival of Europeans in the late 15th century. After that time, most of Latin America was colonized by
Spain,
Portugal and
the Netherlands, and to a lesser extent,
France. In the early 19th century most of the countries in the region attained independence, although a few small colonies remain.
Population
Demographics
The majority of Latin Americans are descended of the mixture, in various degrees, of European (mainly Spanish or Portuguese), Amerindian and/or African ancestry. There are also other smaller foreign elements (
South Asias,
East Asian,
Middle Eastern) in given segements of the population.
This genetic ''
mestizaje'' (mixture) has profoundly influenced
religion,
music, and
politics, and given rise to a vague identity of those belonging to these mixed cultures; this imprecise cultural heritage is (arguably improperly) called
Latinos in American English. Outside of the U.S., and in many languages (especially romance ones) "
Latino" just means "
Latin", referring to cultures and peoples that can trace their heritage back to the ancient
Roman Empire.
Language
The predominant language is
Spanish language Spanish in the majority of the countries.
Portuguese language Portuguese is spoken primarily in Brazil.
French language French is also spoken in smaller countries, in the
Caribbean, and
French Guiana.
Many nations, especially in the
Caribbean, have their own
creole languages, derived from European languages and various African tongues.
Native American languages are spoken in many Latin American nations, mainly
Peru,
Ecuador,
Guatemala,
Bolivia,
Paraguay, and
Mexico.
Nahuatl is only one of the 62 native languages spoken by indigenous people in Mexico, which are officially recognized by the government as "national languages", along with Spanish.
Guaranà language Guarani is, together with Spanish, the official language of Paraguay, and is spoken by the majority of the population.
Other European languages are also spoken, such as
Italian language Italian in Brazil and
Argentina,
German language German in southern
Brazil and
Argentina, and
Welsh language Welsh in southern Argentina.
Religion
The primary religion throughout Latin America is
Catholicism Roman Catholicism, but one can also find practitioners of
Protestant,
Pentecostal,
Evangelicalism Evangelical,
Mormon,
Buddhism Buddhist,
Jewish,
Islam Islamic,
Hinduism Hindu,
Bahá'à Faith Bahá'Ã, indigenous, and various
Afro-Latin American traditions, such as
SanterÃa, and
Macumba which is a tribal- voodoo religion that is derived from Roman Catholicism.
Evangelicalism in particular has been sharply increasing in popularity.
Economy
Below is a table showing the
Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at
purchasing power parity (PPP) prices and the GDP (PPP) of each Latin American country. This can be used to roughly gauge to the relative
standards of living in the region. Data are from the year 2005. The Latin American G7 is composed of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
Image:LA-GNI-pc-PPP.png Gross_National Income thumb|right|[[Gross National Income|GNI per capita (PPP).html" title="Meaning of GNI.html" title="Meaning of thumb|right|[[Gross National Income|GNI">thumb|right|[[Gross National Income|GNI per capita (PPP)">GNI.html" title="Meaning of thumb|right|[[Gross National Income|GNI">thumb|right|[[Gross National Income|GNI per capita (PPP)
Image:LA-GDP-PPP.png gross_domestic product thumb|right|[[gross domestic product|GDP (PPP).html" title="Meaning of GDP.html" title="Meaning of thumb|right|[[gross domestic product|GDP">thumb|right|[[gross domestic product|GDP (PPP)">GDP.html" title="Meaning of thumb|right|[[gross domestic product|GDP">thumb|right|[[gross domestic product|GDP (PPP)
{| border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 class=toccolours style="border-collapse:collapse; border:1px #aaa solid;"
|- bgcolor=#ececec
! rowspan=2 | Country || GDP (PPP) per capita || GDP (PPP)
|- bgcolor=#ececec align=center
|
''international dollars'' ||
''millions of international dollars''
|-
| {{ARG}} || 14,087 || 550,000
|-
| {{CHI}} || 11,537 || 186,733
|-
| {{CRC}} || 10,316 || 44,579
|-
| {{MEX}} || 10,090 || 1,064,889
|-
| {{URU}} || 9,619 || 32,885
|-
| {{BRA}} || 8,745 || 1,552,542
|-
| {{PAN}} || 7,327 || 22,706
|-
| {{COL}} || 7,303 || 336,808
|-
| {{DOM}} || 7,055 || 63,594
|-
| {{PER}} || 6,723 || 164,110
|-
| {{VEN}} || 5,801 || 153,331
|-
| {{PAR}} || 4,663 || 29,014
|-
| {{SLV}} || 4,525 || 31,171
|-
| {{GUA}} || 4,136 || 56,736
|-
| {{ECU}} || 4,010 || 56,779
|-
| {{BOL}} || 3,049 || 25,892
|-
| {{CUB}} || 3,000 || 33,920
|-
| {{HON}} || 2,793 || 20,549
|-
| {{NIC}} || 2,779 || 16,052
|-
| {{HAI}} || 1,614 || 14,118
|-
| '''Latin America''' || '''8,105''' || '''4,421,569'''
|}
Sources: Data from table are from an April 2005 report by the IMF and graphics data are from data by the World Bank from 2003 [http://www.worldbank.org/data/quickreference/quickref.html]. Data for Cuba is a 2004 estimate from the CIA World Factbook. GDP (PPP) per capita for Latin America was calculated using population data from List of countries by population
Culture
Painting
Painters from Latin America include:
*
Félix Arauz (1935-present) - Ecuador
*
Antonio Berni (1905-1981) - Argentina
*
Fernando Botero (1932-present) - Colombia
*
Carlos Catasse (19??-present) - Chile
*
Theo Constanté (1934-present) - Ecuador
*
Camilo Egas (1889-1962) - Ecuador
*
Miguel de la Espriella ("Noble") (1947-present) - Colombia
*
Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) - Argentina
*
Gunther Gerzso (1915-2000) - Mexico
*
Enrique Grau (1920-2004) - Colombia
*
Oswaldo Guayasamin (1919-1999) - Ecuador
*
Judith Gutierrez (1927-2003) - Ecuador/Mexico
*
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) - Mexico
*
Eduardo Kingman (1913-1998) - Ecuador
*
Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) - Cuba
*
Estuardo Maldonado (1930-present) - Ecuador
*
Roberto Matta (1911-2002) - Chile
*
Carlos Merida (1891-1994) - Guatemala
*
Luis Miranda - Ecuador
*
Florencio Molina Campos (1891-1959) - Argentina
*
Luis Molinari (1929-present) - Ecuador
*
Humberto Moré - Ecuador
*
Camilo Mori (1896-1973) - Chile
*
Alejandro Obregon (1920-1992) - Colombia
*
Gabriel Orozco (1962-present) - Mexico
*
Benito Quinquela MartÃn (1890-1977) - Argentina
*
Manuel Rendón (1894-1992) - Ecuador
*
Diego Rivera (1886-1957) - Mexico
*
David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) - Mexico
*
Xul Solar (1887-1963) - Argentina
*
Raúl Soldi (1905 - 1994) - Argentina
*
Enrique Tábara (1930-present) - Ecuador
*
Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) - Mexico
*
Francisco Toledo (1941-present) - Mexico
*
Joaquin Torres Garcia (1874-1949) - Uruguay
*
AnÃbal VillacÃs (1927-present) - Ecuador
*
Juan Villafuerte (1945-1977) - Ecuador
*
Oswaldo Viteri (1931-present) - Ecuador
Literature
{{main|Latin American Writers}}
Music
One of the main characteristics of Latin American music is its diversity; contrary to widespread misperception, there is no ''one'' specific Latin American style of music. So-called "
Latin music" generally covers only Hispano-Caribbean music (salsa, merengue, bachata, etc.), i.e. the styles of music that have been strongly influenced by African rhythms and melodies.
Other musical genres of Latin American include the Argentine
tango music tango, Colombian
cumbia and
vallenato, Mexican
ranchera and the various styles of music from Pre-Columbian traditions that are widespread in the
Andean region. In Brazil,
samba, American
jazz,
European classical music and
choro are combined into the so-called ''
bossanova'' music.
Notable classical composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos worked on the recording of native musical traditions. These traditions have heavily influenced his classical works.
Latin pop, including many forms of
rock en español, is very popular in Latin America today.
Film
{{Expandsect}}
Latin American film is both rich and diverse. The 1950s and 1960s saw a movement towards
Third Cinema, led by filmmakers
Fernando Solanas and
Octavio Getino.
Cinema in Argentina was a big industry at the first half of the 20th century. After a series of military governments that conditionated culture in general, the industry re-emerged after the
Proceso de Reorganización Nacional 1975-1983 military dictatorship to produce
Academy Awards Academy Award The Official Story in 1985.
Argentine economic crisis affected the production of films in the late 1990s, early 2000s, but many Argentine movies produced during those years were internationally aclaimed, including
Nueve reinas,
El abrazo partido and
Roma (2004 film) Roma.
Cinema of Brazil In Brazil, the ''Cinema Novo'' movement created a very particular way of making movies with critic and intellectual screenplays, a clearer photography related to the light of the outdoors in a tropical landscape, and a political message.
Modern Brazilian film industry has become more profitable inside the country, and some of its productions have received prizes and recognition in
Europe and in the
United States. Movies like
Central do Brasil (film) Central Station (1999) and
City of God (film) City of God (2003) have fans around the world, and its directors have also taken part in American and European film projects.
Cinema of Mexico Mexican movies such as
Amores Perros and
Y tu mamá también have also been successful in creating universal stories about contemporary subjects, and were internationally recognised.
See also:
Cinema of Cuba
See also
*
Americas (terminology)
*
South America
**
Andean Community
**
Mercosur
**
South American Community of Nations
*
Central America
**
Central American Common Market
*
Caribbean
**
Caribbean Community
*
Latin Europe
*
Latino
*
America (disambiguation)
*
List of Latin American artists
*
Latin American Writers
External links
-
Andean Community official webpage
-
BBC - South America Creates Single Market
-
Council on Hemispheric Affairs
-
Latin American Network Information Center
-
Latin American Studies
-
Latin American Spanish
-
Latin America Working Group
-
Washington Office on Latin America
-
Latin American Design
-
Latin American News
{{region}}
Category:Latin America *
an:America Latina
bg:ЛатинÑ?ка Ð?мерика
zh-min-nan:LiaÌ?p-teng BÃ-chiu
ca:Amèrica Llatina
cs:Latinská Amerika
da:Latinamerika
de:Lateinamerika
el:Λατινική ΑμεÏ?ική
es:América Latina
eo:Latin-Ameriko
eu:Amerika Latinar
fr:Amérique latine
gl:América Latina
ko:�틴아메리카
hr:Latinska Amerika
it:America Latina
he:×?מריקה ×”×œ×˜×™× ×™×ª
lt:Lotynų Amerika
ms:Amerika Latin
nl:Latijns-Amerika
ja:ラテンアメリカ
no:Latin-Amerika
nn:Latin-Amerika
os:Латинаг Ð?мерикæ
pl:Ameryka Å?aciÅ„ska
pt:América Latina
ru:ЛатинÑ?каÑ? Ð?мерика
sh:Latinska Amerika
simple:Latin America
sr:ЛатинÑ?ка Ð?мерика
fi:Latinalainen Amerikka
sv:Latinamerika
th:ละตินà¸à¹€à¸¡à¸£à¸´à¸?า
vi:Châu Mỹ Latinh
zh:拉�美洲
see
Latin America
{{commonscat|Latin America}}
{{catmore}}
Category:Americas
an:Category:America Latina
bg:КатегориÑ?:ЛатинÑ?ка Ð?мерика
de:Kategorie:Lateinamerika
es:CategorÃa:América Latina
fr:Catégorie:Amérique latine
ja:Category:ラテンアメリカ
pt:Categoria:América Latina
ru:КатегориÑ?:ЛатинÑ?каÑ? Ð?мерика
sl:Category:Latinska Amerika
zh:Category:拉�美洲
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