Portal:Latin America

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edit   Latin America was a name coined by "Emperor of Mexico" Maximilian I in an effort to gain legitimacy, since his patron, Napoleon III, spoke French, a Latinate tongue like Spanish and Portuguese. Maximilian didn't last, but the coinage of "Latin America" is one of the most successful of all time. Latin America is traditionally defined as the regions of America where Spanish, the language of Spain, and Portuguese, the language of Portugal, were spoken -- in other words, every part of the Western hemisphere that was not Anglo America. (English is a Germanic language.) Therefore, virtually all of the Western Hemisphere except the United States, Canada, and the non-Hispanophone countries of the Caribbean have tended to come under the heading of Latin America. Other areas where languages derived from Latin, such as Papiamento and Creole, predominate are sometimes included and sometimes excluded from Latin America, depending on the speaker. See also Latino, Hispanic, Ibero-America Show new selections below (purge) edit   Selected panorama The Grey Glacier and Grey Lake left of the Cordillera del Paine in Torres del Paine National Park in the Chilean Patagonia. edit   Selected article The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra) is the largest living species of tortoise, reaching weights of over 400 kg (880 lb) and lengths of over 1.8 meters (5.9 ft). With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates. A captive individual lived at least 170 years. The tortoise is native to seven of the Galápagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago about 1,000 km (620 mi) west of the Ecuadorian mainland. Spanish explorers who discovered the islands in the 16th century named them after the Spanish galápago, meaning tortoise. Shell size and shape vary between populations. On islands with humid highlands, the tortoises are larger, with domed shells and short necks. On islands with dry lowlands, the tortoises are smaller, with "saddleback" shells and long necks. These island-to-island differences played a role in the inception of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Tortoise numbers declined from over 250,000 in the 16th century to a low of around 3,000 in the 1970s. The decline was caused by hunting for tortoise meat and oil, habitat clearance for agriculture, and introduction of non-native animals such as rats, goats, and pigs. Seven subspecies of the original ten survive in the wild. An eighth subspecies (C. n. abingdoni) has only a single living individual, in captivity, nicknamed Lonesome George. Conservation efforts beginning in the 20th century have resulted in thousands of captive-bred juveniles being released onto their home islands, and it is estimated that numbers exceeded 19,000 at the start of the 21st century. Despite this rebound, the species as a whole is classified as "Vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). edit   Did you know... ... that Uruguay was the first winner of the FIFA World Cup, in 1930? ... that the cinema of Argentina is one of the most important in the Spanish-speaking world, has had six Academy Award nominations, and has won twice? ... that the Haitian Revolution is the only successful slave rebellion in history? edit   Subportals for geopolitical entities Association of Caribbean States Belize Costa Rica Cuba Dominican Republic El Salvador Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama Suriname Trinidad and Tobago Dependencies Guadeloupe French Guiana Martinique Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin UNASUR Andean Community Bolivia Colombia Ecuador Peru Mercosur Argentina Brazil Paraguay Uruguay Chile Venezuela edit   Selected picture Macchu Picchu, a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located 2,430 metres (7,970 ft) above sea level. The ruins are an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. edit   Categories ▼ Latin America ► Caribbean ► Central America ► Mesoamerica ► South America ► Latin American portals ► American Spanish ► Caribbean Spanish ► Central American Spanish ► CIA activities in the Americas ► Communications in Latin America ► Cooperatives in Latin America ► Crime in Latin America ► Latin American culture ► Latin American history ► Human rights in Latin America ► Latin American countries ► Latin American people ► Latino people ► Latin America-related lists ► Maps of the Americas ► Military history of Latin America ► Organizations based in Latin America ► Spanish varieties of South America ► Latin American studies ► Writers on Latin America edit   Associated Wikimedia What are portals? List of portals Featured portals