Latin America is a collective region of the
Americas where
Romance languages—languages derived from
Latin—are predominantly spoken. The term was coined in France in the mid-19th century to refer to regions in the Americas that were ruled by the
Spanish,
Portuguese, and
French empires.
The term does not have a precise definition, but it is "commonly used to describe
South America,
Central America,
Mexico, and the islands of the
Caribbean". In a narrow sense, it refers to
Spanish America and
Brazil (
Portuguese America). The term "Latin America" is broader than Hispanic America, which specifically refers to Spanish-speaking countries, and categories such as Ibero-America, a term that refers to both Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries from the Americas, and sometimes from Europe.
The term Latin America was first used in
Paris at a conference in 1856 called "Initiative of America: Idea for a Federal Congress of the Republics" (Iniciativa de la América. Idea de un Congreso Federal de las Repúblicas), by the Chilean politician
Francisco Bilbao. The term was further popularized by French emperor
Napoleon III's government of
political strongman that in the 1860s as Amérique latine to justify France's military involvement in the
Second Mexican Empire and to include
French-speaking territories in the Americas, such as
French Canada,
Haiti,
French Louisiana,
French Guiana,
Martinique,
Guadeloupe and the French
Antillean Creole Caribbean islands
Saint Lucia, and
Dominica, in the larger group of countries where Spanish and Portuguese languages prevailed.
The region covers an area that stretches from
Mexico to
Tierra del Fuego and includes much of the
Caribbean. It has an area of approximately 19,197,000 km2 (7,412,000 sq mi), almost 13% of the Earth's land surface area. In 2019, Latin America had a combined
nominal GDP of US$5,188,250 trillion and a
GDP PPP of US$10,284,588 trillion. (Full article...)
Entries here consist of
Good and
Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
Map showing: * The extreme border claimed by Britain * The current boundary (roughly) and * The extreme border claimed by Venezuela
The Venezuelan crisis of 1895 occurred over
Venezuela's longstanding
dispute with
Great Britain about the territory of
Essequibo, which Britain believed was part of
British Guiana and Venezuela recognized as its own Guayana Esequiba. As the dispute became a crisis, the key issue became Britain's refusal to include in the proposed international arbitration the territory east of the "
Schomburgk Line", which a surveyor had drawn half-a-century earlier as a boundary between Venezuela and the former Dutch territory ceded by the Dutch in the
Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, later part of
British Guiana. The crisis ultimately saw Britain accept the United States' intervention in the dispute to force arbitration of the entire disputed territory, and tacitly accept the US right to intervene under the
Monroe Doctrine. A tribunal convened in Paris in 1898 to decide the matter, and in 1899 awarded the bulk of the disputed territory to British Guiana.
The dispute had become a diplomatic crisis in 1895 when a lobbyist for Venezuela
William Lindsay Scruggs sought to argue that British behaviour over the issue violated the 1823 Monroe Doctrine and used his influence in
Washington, DC, to pursue the matter. US President
Grover Cleveland adopted a broad interpretation of the Doctrine that forbade new European colonies but also declared an American interest in any matter in the hemisphere. British Prime Minister
Lord Salisbury and the British ambassador to Washington,
Julian Pauncefote, misjudged the importance the American government placed on the dispute, prolonging the crisis before ultimately accepting the American demand for arbitration of the entire territory. (Full article...)
Havana (/həˈvænə/;
Spanish: La Habana[laaˈβana]ⓘ;
Lucumi: Ilú Pupu Ilé) is the capital and largest city of
Cuba. The heart of the
La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. It is the most populous city, the largest by area, and the
second largest metropolitan area in the
Caribbean region. The population in 2002 was 2,137,847 inhabitants, and its area is 728.26 km2 (281.18 sq mi) for the capital city side and 8,475.57 km2 for the metropolitan zone.
Havana was founded by the
Spanish in the 16th century. It served as a springboard for the
Spanish conquest of the Americas, becoming a stopping point for Spanish
galleons returning to Spain.
Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of capital in 1607. Walls and forts were built to protect the city. (Full article...)
... that Brazilian computer science researcher and internet pioneer Tadao Takahashi negotiated with
drug lords to install internet equipment in his country?
... that despite an attempted "extermination" of homosexuals in the 1960s and 1970s, the LGBT community in Argentina is now the most accepted in Latin America?
... that the Latin American travesti gender identity has been considered to be a
third gender, akin to the hijras of India and the muxe of Mexico?
General images
The following are images from various Latin America-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1In blue countries under right-wing governments and in red countries under left-wing and centre-left governments as of 2023 (from History of Latin America)
Image 10Intermediate level international-style Latin dancing at the 2006 MIT ballroom dance competition. A judge stands in the foreground. (from Culture of Latin America)
Panorama of La Paz, the capital and second largest city in population (after
Santa Cruz de la Sierra) of
Bolivia. The city hosts numerous local festivities, and is an important cultural center of
Bolivia.
The mola or molas, forms part of the traditional outfit of a
Kuna woman, two mola panels being incorporated as front and back panels in a blouse. The full costume traditionally includes a patterned wrapped skirt (saburet), a red and yellow headscarf (musue), arm and leg beads (wini), a gold nose ring (olasu) and earrings in addition to the mola blouse (dulemor).
In
Dulegaya, the Kuna's native language, "mola" means "shirt" or "clothing". The mola originated with the tradition of Kuna women painting their bodies with geometrical designs, using available natural colors; in later years these same designs were woven in cotton, and later still, sewn using cloth bought from the European settlers of
Panama.
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Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Aruba
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Curaçao
Dominica
Dominican Republic
French Guiana
Ecuador
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Honduras
Guyana
Haiti
Jamaica
Mexico
Montserrat
Nicaragua
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Puerto Rico
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
Uruguay
Venezuela
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