Latin America

"Latin American" redirects here. For Latin American people, see Latin Americans.

Area	21,069,501 km2 (8,134,980 sq mi)
Population	580,086,590 (countries) + 12 m aprox (dependencies)
Population density	27/km2 (70/sq mi)
Demonym	Latin American, American
Countries	20
Dependencies	10
Languages	Spanish, Portuguese, Quechua, Mayan languages, Guaraní, French, Aymara, Nahuatl, and others.
Time zones	UTC-2 to UTC-8
Largest cities	1. Mexico City 2. São Paulo 3. Buenos Aires 4. Rio de Janeiro 5. Lima 6. Bogotá 7. Santiago 8. Belo Horizonte 9. Guadalajara 10. Caracas

Latin America (Spanish: América Latina or Latinoamérica; Portuguese: América Latina; French: Amérique latine) is a region of the Americas where Romance languages (i.e., those derived from Latin) – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² (7,880,000 sq mi), almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area. As of 2010, its population was estimated at more than 590 million and its combined GDP at 5.16 trillion United States dollars (6.27 trillion at PPP). The Latin American expected economic growth rate is at about 5.7% for 2010 and 4% in 2011.

Etymology and definitions

The idea that a part of the Americas has a cultural affinity with the Romance cultures as a whole can be traced back to the 1830s, in particular in the writing of the French Saint-Simonian Michel Chevalier, who postulated that this part of the Americas were inhabited by people of a "Latin race", and that it could, therefore, ally itself with "Latin Europe" in a struggle with "Teutonic Europe", "Anglo-Saxon America" and "Slavic Europe". The idea was later taken up by Latin American intellectuals and political leaders of the mid- and late-nineteenth century, who no longer looked to Spain or Portugal as cultural models, but rather to France. The term was first used in Paris in an 1856 conference by the Chilean politician Francisco Bilbao and the same year by the Colombian writer José María Torres Caicedo in his poem "Two Americas. The term Latin America was supported by the French Empire of Napoleon III during the French invasion of Mexico, as a way to include France among countries with influence in America and to exclude Anglophone countries, and played a role in his campaign to imply cultural kinship of the region with France, transform France into a cultural and political leader of the area, and install Maximilian of Habsburg as emperor of the Second Mexican Empire.

In contemporary usage:

• In one sense, Latin America refers to territories in the Americas where the Spanish or Portuguese languages prevail: Mexico, most of Central and South America, and in the Caribbean, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico — in summary, Hispanic America and Brazil. Latin America is, therefore, defined as all those parts of the Americas that were once part of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires. By this definition, Latin America is coterminous with Iberoamerica ("Iberian America").
• Particularly in the United States, the term more broadly refers to all of the Americas south of the United States, thus including: English-speaking countries such as Belize, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Bahamas; French-speaking Haiti and Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana; and the Dutch-speaking Netherlands Antilles, Aruba and Suriname. (In the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, Papiamento – a predominantly Iberian-derived creole language – is spoken by the majority of the population.) This definition emphasizes a similar socioeconomic history of the region, which was characterized by formal or informal colonialism, rather than cultural aspects. (See, for example, dependency theory.) As such, some sources avoid this oversimplification by using the phrase "Latin America and the Caribbean" instead, as in the United Nations geoscheme for the Americas.
• In a more literal definition, which remains faithful to the original usage, Latin America designates all of those countries and territories in the Americas where a Romance language (i.e., languages derived from Latin, and hence the name of the region) is spoken: Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and the creole languages based upon these. Although French-influenced areas of the Americas would include Quebec, this region is rarely considered to be part of Latin America, since its history, distinctive culture and economy, and British-inspired political institutions are generally deemed too closely intertwined with the rest of Canada.

The distinction between Latin America and Anglo-America, which can be criticized for stressing only the European heritage of these regions (that is, for Eurocentrism), is a convention based on the predominant languages in the Americas by which Romance-language and English-speaking cultures are distinguished. Neither area is culturally or linguistically homogeneous; in substantial portions of Latin America (e.g., highland Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Paraguay), American Indian cultures and, to a lesser extent, Amerindian languages, are predominant, and in other areas, the influence of African cultures is strong (e.g., the Caribbean basin—including parts of Colombia and Venezuela)—and the coastal areas of Ecuador and Brazil.

Subdivisions

Common subregions in Latin America

Latin America can be subdivided into several subregions based on geography, politics, demographics and culture. The basic geographical subregions are North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America (the latter contains further politico-geographical subdivisions such as the Southern Cone and the Andean states). It may be divided on linguistic grounds into Hispanic America and Portuguese America.

History

Main article: History of Latin America

See also: History of North America, History of South America, History of Central America, and History of the Caribbean

Pre-columbian history

Main articles: Settlement of the Americas, Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, and Pre-Columbian era

The Americas were thought to have been first inhabited by people crossing the Bering Land Bridge, now known as the Bering strait, from northeast Asia into Alaska well over 10,000 years ago. The earliest known settlement, however, was identified at Monte Verde, near Puerto Montt in Southern Chile. Its occupation dates to some 14,000 years ago and there is some disputed evidence of even earlier occupation. Over the course of millennia, people spread to all parts of the continents. By the first millennium AD/CE, South America’s vast rainforests, mountains, plains and coasts were the home of tens of millions of people. The earliest settlements in the Americas are of the Las Vegas Culture from about 8000 BC and 4600 BC, a sedentary group from the coast of Ecuador, the forefathers of the more known Valdivia culture, of the same era. Some groups formed more permanent settlements such as the Chibchas (or "Muiscas" or "Muyscas") and the Tairona groups. These groups are in the circum Caribbean region. The Chibchas of Colombia, the Quechuas and Aymaras of Bolivia and Perú were the three indigenous groups that settled most permanently.

A view of Machu Picchu, a pre-Columbian Inca site in Peru. One of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

The region was home to many indigenous peoples and advanced civilizations, including the Aztecs, Toltecs, Caribs, Tupi, Maya, and Inca. The golden age of the Maya began about 250, with the last two great civilizations, the Aztecs and Incas, emerging into prominence later on in the early fourteenth century and mid-fifteenth centuries, respectively. The Aztec empire was ultimately the most powerful civilization known throughout the Americas, until its downfall in part by the Spanish invasion.

European colonization

Main articles: European colonization of the Americas, Spanish colonization of the Americas, and Portuguese colonization of the Americas

File:Chichen-Itza El Castillo.jpg

Archaeological site of Chichén-Itzá in Yucatán, Mexico. One of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

With the arrival of the Europeans following Christopher Columbus's voyages, the indigenous elites, such as the Incas and Aztecs, lost power to the heavy European invasion. Hernándo Cortés seized the Aztec elite's power with the help of local groups who did not favor the Aztec elite, and Francisco Pizarro eliminated the Incan rule in Western South America. The European powers of Spain and Portugal colonized the region, which along with the rest of the uncolonized world, was divided into areas of Spanish and Portuguese control by the line of demarcation in 1493, which gave Spain all areas to the west, and Portugal all areas to the east (the Portuguese lands in South America subsequently becoming Brazil). By the end of the sixteenth century Spain and Portugal had been joined by others, including France, in occupying large areas of North, Central and South America, ultimately extending from Alaska to the southern tips of the Patagonia. European culture, customs and government were introduced, with the Roman Catholic Church becoming the major economic and political power to overrule the traditional ways of the region, eventually becoming the only official religion of the Americas during this period.

Epidemics of diseases brought by the Europeans, such as smallpox and measles, wiped out a large portion of the indigenous population. Historians cannot determine the number of natives who died due to European diseases, but some put the figures as high as 85% and as low as 25%. Due to the lack of written records, specific numbers are hard to verify. Many of the survivors were forced to work in European plantations and mines. Intermixing between the indigenous peoples and the European colonists was very common, and, by the end of the colonial period, people of mixed ancestry (mestizos) formed majorities in several colonies.

Independence (1804–1825)

Main articles: Latin American wars of independence, Spanish American wars of independence, and Brazilian Declaration of Independence

Simón Bolívar, one of the main Independence movement leaders

Haiti, sometimes counted among the Latin American nations, was the first to gain independence, in 1804. This followed from a violent slave revolt led by Toussaint L'ouverture on the French colony of Saint-Domingue. The victors abolished slavery. Haitian independence helped inspire independence movements in Spanish America.

By the end of the eighteenth century, Spanish and Portuguese power waned on the global scene as other European powers took their place, notably Britain and France. Resentment grew among the majority of the population in Latin America over the restrictions imposed by the Spanish government, as well as the dominance of native Spaniards (Iberian-born Peninsulares) in the major social and political institutions. Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808 marked a turning point, compelling Criollo elites to form juntas that advocated independence. Also, the newly independent Haiti, the second oldest nation in the New World after the United States and the oldest independent nation in Latin America, further fueled the independence movement by inspiring the leaders of the movement, such as Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín, and by providing them with considerable munitions and troops.

Fighting soon broke out between juntas and the Spanish colonial authorities, with initial victories for the advocates of independence. Eventually these early movements were crushed by the royalist troops by 1812, including those of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in Mexico and Francisco de Miranda in Venezuela. Under the leadership of a new generation of leaders, such as Simón Bolívar of Venezuela, José de San Martín of Argentina, and other Libertadores in South America, the independence movement regained strength, and by 1825, all Spanish America, except for Puerto Rico and Cuba, had gained independence from Spain. Brazil achieved independence with a constitutional monarchy established in 1822. In the same year in Mexico, a military officer, Agustín de Iturbide, led a coalition of conservatives and liberals who created a constitutional monarchy, with Iturbide as emperor. This First Mexican Empire was short-lived, and was followed by the creation of a republic in 1823.

World wars (1914–1945)

See also: Pan-Americanism

Cold War (1946–1990)

File:Pinochet y Videla.jpg

Military dictators Jorge Rafael Videla of Argentina and Augusto Pinochet of Chile.

See also: Operation Condor, Organization of American States, Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, and Alliance for Progress

In the 1950s, the Cold War moved close to the United States, in Latin America. The nations of Latin America faced many critical problems, including widespread poverty and poor health care. The United States feared the politics of socialism and communism would be particularly appealing to the countries of Latin America. At the same time, many United States citizens worried about the threat to their own security and businesses in Latin America. This led the United States to take up a very aggressive military strategy of containment. Through the Cold War, the United States removed many democratically elected leaders of Latin American countries through covert C.I.A. operations and replaced them with leaders who were more friendly to the United States' interests.

Arguably, this interference with the democratic system in these countries created a blowback because many Latin Americans rejected the United States involvement. Many of the leaders who were put into power positions by the United States became dictators and oppressors as well.

By the 1970s, leftists had acquired a significant political influence which prompted the right-wing, ecclesiastical authorities and a large portion of the individual country's upper class to support coup d'etats to avoid what they perceived as a communist threat. This was further fueled by Cuban and United States intervention which led to a political polarization.

Many Latin American countries were in some part of the Cold War ruled by dictatorship, either of the left or right. Beginning in the 1980s and by the early 1990s, all countries had restored or achieved democracy except Cuba.

Many right-wing regimes were supported by the United States through the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance in the context of the Cold War. Around the 1970s, these regimes collaborated in Operation Condor killing many leftist dissidents, including some urban guerrillas.

Washington Consensus

Main article: Washington Consensus

See also: Free Trade Area of the Americas

The set of specific economic policy prescriptions that were considered the "standard" reform package were promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries by Washington, D.C.-based institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the US Treasury Department during the 80s and 90s.

In recent years, several Latin American countries led by socialist or other left wing governments—including Argentina and Venezuela—have campaigned for (and to some degree adopted) policies contrary to the Washington Consensus set of policies. (Other Latin countries with governments of the left, including Brazil, Chile and Peru, have in practice adopted the bulk of the policies). Also critical of the policies as actually promoted by the International Monetary Fund have been some U.S. economists, such as Joseph Stiglitz and Dani Rodrik, who have challenged what are sometimes described as the "fundamentalist" policies of the International Monetary Fund and the US Treasury for what Stiglitz calls a "one size fits all" treatment of individual economies.

The term has become associated with neoliberal policies in general and drawn into the broader debate over the expanding role of the free market, constraints upon the state, and US influence on other countries' national sovereignty.

This politico-economical initiative was institutionalized in North America by the 1994 NAFTA, and elsewhere in the Americas through a series of like agreements. The comprehensive Free Trade Area of the Americas project, however, was rejected by most South American countries at the 2005 4th Summit of the Americas.

Turn to the left

Left-leaning leaders of Bolivia, Brazil and Chile at the Union of South American Nations summit in 2008.

See also: Pink tide

In most countries, since the 2000s left-wing political parties have risen to power. Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Lula da Silva and Dilma Roussef in Brazil, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, Néstor Kirchner and his wife Cristina Fernández in Argentina, Tabaré Vázquez and José Mujica in Uruguay, the Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet governments in Chile, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, and Mauricio Funes of El Salvador, are all part of this wave of left-wing politicians who also often declare themselves socialists, Latin Americanists, or anti-imperialists (often implying opposition to US policies towards the region). A development of this has been the creation of the eight-member ALBA alliance, or "The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America" (Spanish: Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América).

Demographics

Main article: Latin Americans

Racial groups

Benito Juárez was an Amerindian Mexican of Zapotec ancestry.

Juniti Saito, head of the Brazilian Air Force and one of over a million Japanese Brazilians.

Enrique Maciel, an Argentine of Mulatto ancestry.

José de San Martín, an Argentine White Latin American of Spanish, ancestries.

Porfirio Díaz was a Mexican Mestizo of Mixtec and Spanish ancestry.

The inhabitants of Latin America are of a variety of ancestries, ethnic groups, and races, making the region one of the most diverse in the world. The specific composition varies from country to country: many have a predominance of European-Amerindian, or Mestizo, population; in others, Amerindians are a majority; some are dominated by inhabitants of European ancestry; and some countries' populations are primarily Mulatto. Black, Asian, and Zambo (mixed Black and Amerindian) minorities are also identified regularly. Europeans/Whites are the largest single group, and along with people of part-European ancestry, they combine to make up approximately 80% of the population, or even more.

• Amerindians. The aboriginal population of Latin America, the Amerindians (Native Americans), arrived thousands of years ago, during the Lithic stage. In post-Columbian times they experienced tremendous population decline, particularly in the early decades of colonization. They have since recovered in numbers, surpassing sixty million (by some estimates), though with the growth of the other groups meanwhile, they now compose a majority only in Bolivia and Guatemala, and at least a plurality in Peru. In Ecuador, Amerindians are a large minority that comprises two-fifths of the population. Mexico's 14% (alternatively 30%) is the next largest ratio, and actually the largest Amerindian population in the Americas, in absolute numbers. Most of the remaining countries have Amerindian minorities, in every case making up less than one-tenth of the respective country's population. In many countries, people of mixed Amerindian and European ancestry make up the majority of the population (see "Mestizo", below).
• Asians. People of Asian descent number several million in Latin America. The first Asians to settle in the region were Filipino, as a result of Spain's trade involving Asia and the Americas. The majority of Asian Latin Americans are of Japanese or Chinese ancestry and reside mainly in Brazil and Peru; there is also a growing Chinese minority in Panama. Brazil is home to perhaps two million people of Asian descent, which includes the largest ethnic Japanese community outside of Japan itself, estimated as high as 1.5 million, and circa 200,000 ethnic Chinese and 100,000 ethnic Koreans. Ethnic Koreans also number tens of thousands of individuals in Argentina and Mexico. Peru, with 1.47 million people of Asian descent, has one of the largest Chinese communities in the world, with nearly one million Peruvians being of Chinese ancestry. There is a strong ethnic-Japanese presence in Peru, where a past president and a number of politicians are of Japanese descent. The Martiniquais population includes an African-White-Indian mixed population, and an East Indian population. The Guadeloupe, an East Indian population, is estimated at 14% of the population.
• Blacks. Millions of African slaves were brought to Latin America from the sixteenth century onward, the majority of whom were sent to the Caribbean region and Brazil. Today, people identified as "Black" are most numerous in Brazil (more than 10 million) and in Haiti (more than 7 million). Among the Hispanic nations and Brazil, Puerto Rico leads this category in relative numbers, with a 15% ratio. Significant populations are also found in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela. Latin Americans of mixed Black and White ancestry, called Mulattoes, are far more numerous than Blacks.
• Mestizos. Intermixing between Europeans and Amerindians began early in the colonial period and was extensive. The resulting people, known as Mestizos, make up the majority of the population in half of the countries of Latin America. Additionally, Mestizos compose large minorities in nearly all the other mainland countries.
• Mulattoes. Mulattoes are people of mixed European and African ancestry, mostly descended from Spanish or Portuguese settlers on one side and African slaves on the other, during the colonial period. Brazil is home to Latin America's largest mulatto population. Mulattoes form a majority of population in the Dominican Republic and Cuba, and are also numerous in Venezuela, Panama, Peru, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Ecuador. Smaller populations of mulattoes are found in other Latin American countries.
• Whites. Beginning in the late fifteenth century, large numbers of Iberian colonists settled in what became Latin America (Portuguese in Brazil and Spaniards elsewhere in the region), and at present most white Latin Americans are of Spanish or Portuguese origin. Iberians brought the Spanish and Portuguese languages, the Catholic faith, and many Iberian traditions. Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico contain the largest numbers of whites in Latin America. Whites make up the majorities of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and depending on source, Cuba, also. Of the millions of immigrants to Latin America since most of the area gained independence in the 1810s–1820s, Italians formed the largest group, and next were Spaniards and Portuguese. Many others arrived, such as French, Germans, Greeks, Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, Estonians, Latvians, Jews, Irish and Welsh. Also included are Middle Easterners of Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian descent; Most of them are Christian. Whites presently compose the largest racial group in Latin America (36% in the table herein). Whether as White, Mestizo, or Mulatto, the vast majority of Latin Americans have white ancestry.
• Zambos: Intermixing between Africans and Amerindians was especially prevalent in Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil, often due to slaves running away (becoming cimarrones: maroons) and being taken in by Amerindian villagers. In Spanish speaking nations, people of this mixed ancestry are known as Zambos or Cafuzos in Brazil.

In addition to the foregoing groups, Latin America also has millions of tri-racial people of African, Amerindian, and European ancestry. Most are found in Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil, with a much smaller presence in other countries.

Ethnic distribution, in 2005 – Population estimates, as of 2010

Country	Population	Amerindians	Whites	Mestizos	Mulattos	Blacks	Creoles & Garifunas	Asians
Argentina	40,134,425	1.0%	85.0%	11.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	2.9%
Bolivia	10,907,778	55.0%	15.0%	28.0%	2.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Brazil	192,272,890	0.4%	53.8%	0.0%	39.1%	6.2%	0.0%	0.5%
Chile	17,063,000	8.0%	52.7%	39.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Colombia	45,393,050	1.3%	28.6%	49.2%	19.0%	1.9%	0.0%	0.0%
Costa Rica	4,253,897	0.8%	82.0%	15.0%	0.0%	0.0%	2.0%	0.2%
Cuba	11,236,444	0.0%	37.0%	0.0%	51.0%	11.0%	0.0%	1.0%
Dominican Republic	8,562,541	0.0%	14.6%	0.0%	75.0%	7.7%	2.3%	0.4%
Ecuador	13,625,000	39.0%	9.9%	41.0%	5.0%	5.0%	0.0%	0.1%
El Salvador	6,134,000	8.0%	1.0%	91.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Guatemala	13,276,517	53.0%	4.0%	42.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.8%
Honduras	7,810,848	7.7%	1.0%	85.6%	1.7%	0.0%	3.3%	0.7%
Mexico	111,211,789	14.0%	15.0%	70.0%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
Nicaragua	5,891,199	6.9%	14.0%	78.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.6%	0.2%
Panama	3,322,576	8.0%	10.0%	32.0%	27.0%	5.0%	14.0%	4.0%
Paraguay	6,349,000	1.5%	20.0%	74.5%	3.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
Peru	29,461,933	45.5%	12.0%	32.0%	9.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.8%
Puerto Rico	3,967,179	0.0%	74.8%	0.0%	10.0%	15.0%	0.0%	0.2%
Uruguay	3,494,382	0.0%	88.0%	8.0%	4.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Venezuela	26,814,843	2.7%	16.9%	37.7%	37.7%	2.8%	0.0%	2.2%
Total	561,183,291	9.2%	36.1%	30.3%	20.3%	3.2%	0.2%	0.7%

Note: Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States.

File:Peruolympicdelegationbyplopez.jpg

Peruvian Olympic delegation depicting the nation's multicultural society with traditional coastal garment.

In terms of culture, society, and national identity, Mario Sambarino classified Latin American states, based on Elman Service's classification, into "Mestiza America" (Paraguay, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia), "Indigenous America" (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, Mexico) and "European America" (Argentina and Uruguay). In Darcy Ribeiro's classification system, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, and the Caribbean are classified as predominantly "new peoples", which emerged from the fusion of Europeans, Amerindians and/or Africans; Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Central America and Mexico are predominantly "witness peoples", the heirs of ancient civilizations (Andean and Mesoamerican), while Argentina and Uruguay are "transplantated peoples", essentially European after massive immigration in the 19th century. However, under this scheme most Brazilian Amazon peoples can be regarded as "Witness Peoples", in the same way as Peruvian Amazon peoples; most Southern Brazilian peoples, i.e., Riograndenses, can be considered "Transplanted peoples" like those of the very similar cultures of neighboring Uruguay and Argentina; and so on.

Language

Spanish and Portuguese are the predominant languages of Latin America. Portuguese is spoken only in Brazil, the biggest and most populous country in the region. Spanish is the official language of most of the rest of the countries on the Latin American mainland, as well as in Puerto Rico (where it is co-official with English), Cuba and the Dominican Republic. French is spoken in Haiti and in the French overseas departments Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon; it is also spoken by some Panamanians of Afro-Antillean descent. Dutch is the official language in Suriname, Aruba, and the Netherlands Antilles. (As Dutch is a Germanic language, these territories are not necessarily considered part of Latin America.)

Native American languages are widely spoken in Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay, and to a lesser degree, in Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, and Chile. In Latin American countries not named above, the population of speakers of indigenous languages is either small or non-existent.

In Peru, Quechua is an official language, alongside Spanish and any other indigenous language in the areas where they predominate. In Ecuador, while holding no official status, the closely related Quichua is a recognized language of the indigenous people under the country's constitution; however, it is only spoken by a few groups in the country's highlands. In Bolivia, Aymara, Quechua and Guaraní hold official status alongside Spanish. Guarani, along with Spanish, is an official language of Paraguay, and is spoken by a majority of the population (who are, for the most part, bilingual), and it is co-official with Spanish in the Argentine province of Corrientes. In Nicaragua, Spanish is the official language, but on the country's Caribbean coast English and indigenous languages such as Miskito, Sumo, and Rama also hold official status. Colombia recognizes all indigenous languages spoken within its territory as official, though fewer than 1% of its population are native speakers of these languages. Nahuatl is 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.

Other European languages spoken in Latin America include: English, by some groups in Argentina, Nicaragua, Panama, and Puerto Rico, as well as in nearby countries that may or may not be considered Latin American, like Belize and Guyana (English is used as a major foreign language in Latin American commerce and education); German, in southern Brazil, southern Chile, Argentina, portions of northern Venezuela, and Paraguay; Italian, in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Venezuela; and Welsh, in southern Argentina.

Most widely spoken Indigenous languages distribution area in Latin America, at the beginning of 21st century: Quechua, Guarani, Aymara, Nahuatl, Mayan languages, Mapudungun

In several nations, especially in the Caribbean region, creole languages are spoken. The most widely spoken creole language in Latin America and the Caribbean is Haitian Creole, the predominant language of Haiti; it is derived primarily from French and certain West African tongues with some Amerindian and Spanish influences as well. Creole languages of mainland Latin America, similarly, are derived from European languages and various African tongues.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Latin America

Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) atop Corcovado mountain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The vast majority of Latin Americans are Christians, mostly Roman Catholics. About 71% of the Latin American population consider themselves Catholic. Membership in Protestant denominations is increasing, particularly in Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, and Puerto Rico.

Migration

Due to economic, social and security developments that are affecting the region in recent decades, the focus is now the change from net immigration to net emigration. About 10 million Mexicans live in the United States. 28.3 million Americans listed their ancestry as Mexican as of 2006. According to the 2005 Colombian census or DANE, about 3,331,107 Colombians currently live abroad. The number of Brazilians living overseas is estimated at about 2 million people. An estimated 1.5 to two million Salvadorans reside in the United States. At least 1.5 million Ecuadorians have gone abroad, mainly to the United States and Spain. Approximately 1.5 million Dominicans live abroad, mostly in the United States. More than 1.3 million Cubans live abroad, most of them in the United States. It is estimated that over 800,000 Chileans live abroad, mainly in Argentina, Canada, United States and Spain. Other Chilean nationals may be located in countries like Costa Rica, Mexico and Sweden. An estimated 700,000 Bolivians were living in Argentina as of 2006 and another 33,000 in the United States. Central Americans living abroad in 2005 were 3,314,300, of which 1,128,701 were Salvadorans, 685,713 were Guatemalans, 683,520 were Nicaraguans, 414,955 were Hondurans, 215,240 were Panamanians, 127,061 were Costa Ricans and 59,110 were Belizeans. 4 Million Puerto Ricans live in the mainland USA ...More than in the same island.

For the period 2000–2005, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, and Venezuela were the only countries with global positive migration rates, in terms of their yearly averages.

Health

Education

See also: Education in Latin America

Despite significant progress, education coverage remains a unequal in Latin America. The region has made great progress in educational coverage; almost all children attend primary school and access to secondary education has increased considerably. Most educational systems in the region have implemented various types of administrative and institutional reforms that have enabled reach for places and communities that had no access to education services in the early 90’s.

However, there are still 23 million children in the region between the ages of 4 and 17 outside of the formal education system. Estimates indicate that 30% of preschool age children (ages 4 –5) do not attend school, and for the most vulnerable populations, the poor and rural, - this calculation exceeds 40 percent. Among primary school age children (ages 6 to 12), coverage is almost universal; however there is still a need to incorporate 5 million children in the primary education system. These children live mostly in remote areas, are indigenous or Afro-descendants and live in extreme poverty.

Among people between the ages of 13 and 17 years, only 80% are full time students in the education system; among those, among them only 66% advance to secondary school. These percentages are lower among vulnerable population groups: only 75% of the poorest youth between the ages of 13 and 17 years attend school. Tertiary education has the lowest coverage, with only 70% of people between the ages of 18 and 25 years outside of the education system. Currently, more than half of low income children or living in rural areas fail to complete nine years of education.

Crime and violence

See also: Crime and Violence in Latin America

Crime and violence prevention and public security are now important issues for governments and citizens in Latin America and the Caribbean region. In 2004, violence was the main cause of death in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico and Honduras. Homicide rates in Latin America are among the highest in the world. From the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, homicide rates increased by 50 percent. The major victims of such homicides are young men, 69 percent of whom are between the ages of 15 and 19 years old. Many analysts agree that the prison crisis will not be resolved until the gap between rich and poor is addressed. They say that growing social inequality is fuelling crime in the region. But there is also no doubt that, on such an approach, Latin American countries have still a long way to go. Countries with the highest homicide rate per year per 100,000 inhabitants were: Guatemala 57.9, El Salvador 49.1, Venezuela 48, Honduras 59, Colombia 33, Belize 30.8, Brazil 25.7, Dominican Republic 23.56, Puerto Rico 18.8, and Ecuador 16.9. More than 500,000 people have been killed by firearms in Brazil between 1979 and 2003. Cuba has the lowest crime rate in the western hemisphere. Havana is often regarded as the safest large city in the Western Hemisphere. Countries with relatively low crime are Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay.

Economy

Standard of living, consumption, and the environment

File:Lanix Facotry Guadalajara.JPG

Computer factory in Guadalajara, Mexico.

According to Goldman Sachs' BRIC review of emerging economies, by 2050 the largest economies in the world will be as follows: China, United States, India, Brazil, and Mexico. On a per capita basis most Latin American countries, including the largest ones (Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, and Colombia), have per capita GDPs greater than that of China in 2009. As of 2010 Latin America included five nations classified as high-income countries: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico and Panama.

The following table lists all the countries in Latin America indicating a valuation of the country's GDP (Gross domestic product) based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP), GDP per capita also adjusted to the (PPP), a measurement of inequality through the Gini index (the higher the index the more unequal the income distribution is), the Human Development Index (HDI), the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), and the Quality-of-life index. GDP and PPP GDP statistics come from the International Monetary Fund with data as of 2006. Gini index, the Human Poverty Index HDI-1, the Human Development Index, and the number of internet users per capita come from the UN Development Program. The number of motor vehicles per capita come from the UNData base on-line. The EPI index comes from the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Quality-of-life index from The Economist Intelligence Unit. Green cells indicate the 1st rank in each category, while yellow indicate the last rank.

Summary of socio-economic performance indicators for Latin American countries

Country	GDP (PPP) (2010 estimates) Billions of USD	GDP per capita (PPP) (2010 estimates) USD	Income equality (2000–2010) Gini index	Poverty Index (2009) HPI-1 %	Human Develop. (2010) HDI	Envirnm. Perform. (2010) EPI	Real GDP growth (2010) %	Emissions per capita (2008) ton CO2
Argentina	632.223	15,603	48.8	3.7	0.775 (H)	61.0	7.5	4.4
Bolivia	47.796	4,584	57.2	11.6	0.643 (M)	44.3	4.0	1.3
Brazil	2,181.677	11,289	55.0	8.7	0.699 (H)	63.4	7.5	1.9
Chile	257.546	14,982	52.0	3.2	0.783 (H)	73.3	5.0	4.4
Colombia	429.866	9,445	58.5	7.6	0.689 (H)	76.8	4.7	1.4
Costa Rica	51.130	10,732	48.9	4.6	0.725 (H)	86.4	3.8	1.5
Cuba	111.1	9,700	—	4.7	—	78.1	1.4	2.7
Dominican Republic	85.391	8,648	48.4	9.1	0.663 (M)	68.4	5.5	2.0
Ecuador	113.825	7,952	54.4	7.9	0.695 (H)	69.3	2.9	1.9
El Salvador	43.640	7,442	46.9	14.6	0.659 (M)	69.1	1.0	1.0
Guatemala	69.958	4,871	53.7	19.7	0.560 (M)	54.0	2.4	0.8
Haiti	11.056	1,122	59.5	31.5	0.404 (L)	39.5	-8.5	0.2
Honduras	33.537	4,405	55.3	13.7	0.604 (M)	49.9	2.4	1.1
Mexico	1,549.671	14,266	51.6	5.9	0.750 (H)	67.3	5.0	3.8
Nicaragua	17.269	2,970	52.3	17.0	0.565 (M)	57.1	3.0	0.7
Panama	43.725	12,398	54.9	6.7	0.755 (H)	71.4	6.2	1.9
Paraguay	31.469	4,915	53.2	10.5	0.640 (M)	63.5	9.0	0.6
Peru	274.276	9,281	50.5	10.2	0.723 (H)	69.3	8.3	1.2
Uruguay	48.140	14,342	47.1	3.0	0.765 (H)	59.1	8.5	2.3
Venezuela	346.973	11,889	43.4	6.6	0.696 (H)	62.9	-1.3	5.2
Total	6,270.231	11,119		10.1		76.2	4	2.3

Notes: (H) High human development; (M) Medium human development; (L) Low human development

Inequality

Slums on the outskirts of a wealthy urban area in São Paulo, Brazil: an example of poverty common in Latin America.

Poverty continue to be the region's main challenges; according to the ECLAC Latin America is the most unequal region in the world. Inequality is undermining the region's economic potential and the well-being of its population, since it increases poverty and reduces the impact of economic development on poverty reduction. Inequality in Latin America has deep historical roots that have been difficult to eradicate since the differences between initial endowments and opportunitites among social groups have constrained the poorest's social mobility, thus making poverty to be transmitted from generation to generation, becoming a vicious cycle. High inequality is rooted in exclusionary institutions that have been perpetuated ever since colonial times and that have survived different political and economic regimes. Inequality has been reproduced and transmitted through generations because Latin American political systems allow a differentiated access on the influence that social groups have in the decision making process, and it responds in different ways to the least favored groups that have less political representation and capacity of pressure. Differences in opportunities and endowments tend to be based on race, ethnicity, rurality and gender. Those differences have a strong impact on the distribution of income, capital and political standing.

According to a study by the World Bank,the richest decile of the population of Latin America earn 48% of the total income, while the poorest 10% of the population earn only 1.6% of the income. In contrast, in developed countries, the top decile receives 29% of the total income, while the bottom decile earns 2.5%. The countries with the highest inequality in the region (as measured with the Gini index in the UN Development Report) in 2007 were Haiti (59.5), Colombia (58.5), Bolivia (58.2), Honduras (55.3), Brazil (55.0), and Panama (54.9), while the countries with the lowest inequality in the region were Venezuela (43.4), Uruguay (46.4) and Costa Rica (47.2).

According to the World Bank the poorest countries in the region were (as of 2008): Haiti, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Honduras. Undernourishment affects to 47% of Haitians, 27% of Nicaraguans, 23% of Bolivians and 22% of Hondurans.

Many countries in Latin America have responded to high levels of poverty by implementing new, or altering old, social assistance programs such as conditional cash transfers. These include Mexico's Progresa Oportunidades, Brazil's Bolsa Escola and Bolsa Familia, and Chile's Chile Solidario. In general, these programs provide money to poor families under the condition that those transfers are used as an investment on their children's human capital, such as regular school attendance and basic preventive health care. The purpose of these programs is to address the inter-generational transmission of poverty and to foster social inclusion by explicitly targeting the poor, focusing on children, delivering transfers to women, and changing social accountability relationships between beneficiaries, service providers and governments. These programs have helped to increase school enrollment and attendance and they also have shown improvements in children's health conditions. Most of these transfer schemes are now benefiting around 110 million people in the region and are considered relatively cheap, costing around 0.5% of their GDP.

Trade blocs

Rafael Correa, Evo Morales, Néstor Kirchner, Cristina Fernández, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, Nicanor Duarte, and Hugo Chávez at the signing of the founding charter of the Bank of the South.

The major trade blocs (or agreements) in the region are the Union of South American Nations, composed of the integrated Mercosur and Andean Community of Nations (CAN). Minor blocs or trade agreements are the G3 Free Trade Agreement, the Dominican Republic – Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). However, major reconfigurations are taking place along opposing approaches to integration and trade; Venezuela has officially withdrawn from both the CAN and G3 and it has been formally admitted into the Mercosur (pending ratification from the Paraguayan legislature). The president-elect of Ecuador has manifested his intentions of following the same path. This bloc nominally opposes any Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, although Uruguay has manifested its intention otherwise. On the other hand, Mexico is a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Chile has already signed an FTA with Canada, and along with Peru are the only two South American nations that have an FTA with the United States. Colombia's government is currently awaiting its ratification by the U.S. Senate.

Largest economic cities

File:Santa feconj.jpg

Mexico City

The following table provides estimated GDP figures for the largest metropolitan areas in Latin America in 2008 and a GDP projection for 2025.

Ten largest Latin American metropolitan areas

Rank	Metropolitan area	Country	GDP (PPP) Billions of USD	Metro. pop. in 2006 Millions	GDP (PPP) per capita USD
1	Mexico City	Mexico	390	19.24	20,300
2	São Paulo	Brazil	388	18.61	20,800
3	Buenos Aires	Argentina	362	13.52	26,800
4	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	201	11.62	17,300
5	Santiago	Chile	120	5.70	21,100
6	Bogotá	Colombia	112	7.80	15,800
7	Brasilia	Brazil	110	3.48	31,600
8	Lima	Peru	109	8.35	13,100
9	Monterrey	Mexico	102	3.58	28,500
10	Guadalajara	Mexico	81	3.95	20,500

Note: The GDP data are for 2008 while the population data are for 2006. The GDP per capita figures were obtained by dividing these two sets of data, so the results may not accurately reflect the GDP per capita for 2008.

Tourism

Income from tourism is key to the economy of several Latin American countries. Mexico receives the largest number of international tourists, with 21.5 million visitors in 2009, followed by Brazil, with 4.8 million; Argentina, with 4.3 million; Dominican Republic, with 4.0 million;, Puerto Rico, with 3.5 million and Chile with 2.8 million. Places such as Cancun, Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Cartagena de Indias, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Margarita Island, São Paulo, Salar de Uyuni, Punta del Este, Santo Domingo, Labadee, San Juan, La Habana, Panama City, Iguazu Falls, Puerto Vallarta, Poás Volcano National Park, Punta Cana, Viña del Mar, Mexico City, Quito, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lima, Maceió, Florianópolis, Cuzco and Patagonia are popular among international visitors in the region.

Performance indicators for international tourism in Latin America

Country	International tourist arrivals 2009 Millions of USD	International tourism receipts 2009 Millions of USD	Receipts per arrival (2)/(1) 2009 (USD/Tourist)	Receipts per capita 2009 USD	Revenues as % of exports goods and services 2003	Tourism revenues as % GDP 2003	% Direct & indirect employment in tourism 2005	World Ranking Tourism Compet. TTCI 2011	Index value TTCI 2011
Argentina	4,329	3,916	905	96	7.4	1.8	9.1	60	4.20
Bolivia	671	279	416	29	9.4	2.2	7.6	117	3.35
Brazil	4,802	5,305	1,105	27	3.2	0.5	7.0	52	4.36
Chile	2,750	1,568	570	94	5.3	1.9	6.8	57	4.27
Colombia	—	1,999	—	44	6.6	1.4	5.9	77	3.94
Costa Rica	1,923	2,075	1,079	488	17.5	8.1	13.3	44	4.43
Cuba	2,405	2,080	865	181	—	—	—	—	—
Dominican Republic	3,992	4,065	1,018	421	36.2	18.8	19.8	72	3.99
Ecuador	968	663	685	45	6.3	1.5	7.4	87	3.79
El Salvador	1,091	319	292	44	12.9	3.4	6.8	96	3.68
Guatemala	1,392	820	589	61	16.0	2.6	6.0	86	3.82
Haiti*	—	—	—	12*	19.4	3.2	4.7	—	—
Honduras	870	611	702	78	13.5	5.0	8.5	88	3.79
Mexico	21,454	11,275	526	101	5.7	1.6	14.2	43	4.43
Nicaragua	932	346	371	59	15.5	3.7	5.6	100	3.56
Panama	1,200	1,483	1,236	441	10.6	6.3	12.9	56	4.30
Paraguay	439	112	255	16	4.2	1.3	6.4	123	3.26
Peru	2,140	2,046	956	69	9.0	1.6	7.6	69	4.04
Uruguay	2,055	1,311	638	375	14.2	3.6	10.7	58	4.24
Venezuela	—	788	—	29	1.3	0.4	8.1	106	3.46

• Note (1): Haiti, marked with * do not have all statistical data available for 2009 or 2011. Data shown is for reference purposes only (2003 for Haiti).
• Note (2): Green shadow denotes the country with the best indicator. Yellow shadow denotes the country with the lowest performance for that indicator.

Culture

Main article: Latin American culture

Latin American culture is a mixture of many cultural expressions worldwide. It is the product of many diverse influences:

Catedral Primada de Bogotá.

• Indigenous cultures of the people who inhabited the continent prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Ancient and very advanced civilizations developed their own political, social and religious systems. The Maya, the Aztecs and the Incas are examples of these.
• Western civilization, in particular the culture of Europe, was brought mainly by the colonial powers—the Spanish, Portuguese and French—between the 16th and 19th centuries. The most enduring European colonial influence is language and Roman Catholicism. More recently, additional cultural influences came from the United States and Europe during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, due to the growing influence of the former on the world stage and immigration from the later. The influence of the United States is particularly strong in northern Latin America, especially Puerto Rico, which is a United States territory. In addition, the United States held the twenty-mile-long Panama Canal Zone in Panama from 1903 (the Panama Canal opened to transoceanic freight traffic in 1914) to 1999, when the Torrijos-Carter Treaties restored Panamanian control of the Canal Zone. South America experienced waves of immigration of Europeans, especially Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, and Germans. With the end of colonialism, French culture was also able to exert a direct influence in Latin America, especially in the realms of high culture, science and medicine. This can be seen in any expression of the region's artistic traditions, including painting, literature and music, and in the realms of science and politics.
• African cultures, whose presence derives from a long history of New World slavery. Peoples of African descent have influenced the ethno-scapes of Latin America and the Caribbean. This is manifested for instance in dance and religion, especially in countries like Belize, Brazil, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Haiti, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Cuba.

Art

Main article: Latin American art

See also: List of Latin American artists

The Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City, built in the early 20th century.

Casapueblo, Carlos Páez Vilaró's citadel-sculpture near Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Beyond the rich tradition of indigenous art, the development of Latin American visual art owed much to the influence of Spanish, Portuguese and French Baroque painting, which in turn often followed the trends of the Italian Masters. In general, this artistic Eurocentrism began to fade in the early twentieth century, as Latin-Americans began to acknowledge the uniqueness of their condition and started to follow their own path.

From the early twentieth century, the art of Latin America was greatly inspired by the Constructivist Movement. The Constructivist Movement was founded in Russia around 1913 by Vladimir Tatlin. The Movement quickly spread from Russia to Europe and then into Latin America. Joaquin Torres Garcia and Manuel Rendón have been credited with bringing the Constructivist Movement into Latin America from Europe.

An important artistic movement generated in Latin America is muralism represented by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco and Rufino Tamayo in Mexico and Santiago Martinez Delgado and Pedro Nel Gómez in Colombia. Some of the most impressive Muralista works can be found in Mexico, Colombia, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

Painter Frida Kahlo, one of the most famous Mexican artists, painted about her own life and the Mexican culture in a style combining Realism, Symbolism and Surrealism. Kahlo's work commands the highest selling price of all Latin American paintings.

Colombian sculptor and painter Fernando Botero is also widely known by his works which, on first examination, are noted for their exaggerated proportions and the corpulence of the human and animal figures.

Film

Main article: Latin American cinema

Latin American film is both rich and diverse. Historically, the main centers of production have been México, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and Argentina.

File:Historia Oficial.jpg

The Official Story

Latin American cinema flourished after the introduction of sound, which added a linguistic barrier to the export of Hollywood film south of the border. The 1950s and 1960s saw a movement towards Third Cinema, led by the Argentine filmmakers Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino. More recently, a new style of directing and stories filmed has been tagged as "New Latin American Cinema."

Mexican cinema started out in the silent era from 1896–1929 and flourished in the Golden Era of the 1940s. It boasted a huge industry comparable to Hollywood at the time with stars such as María Félix, Dolores del Rio and Pedro Infante. In the 1970s, Mexico was the location for many cult horror and action movies. More recently, films such as Amores Perros (2000) and Y tu mamá también (2001) enjoyed box office and critical acclaim and propelled Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñarritu to the front rank of Hollywood directors. Alejandro González Iñárritu directed in (2006) Babel and Alfonso Cuarón directed (Children of Men in (2006), and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in (2004)). Guillermo del Toro close friend and also a front rank Hollywood director in Hollywood and Spain, directed Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and produce El Orfanato (2007). Carlos Carrera (The Crime of Father Amaro), and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga are also some of the most known present-day Mexican film makers. Rudo y Cursi released in December (2008) in Mexico directed by Carlos Cuarón.

Argentine cinema has also been prominenent since the first half of the 20th century and today averages over 60 full-length titles yearly. The industry suffered during the 1976–1983 military dictatorship; but re-emerged to produce the Academy Award winner The Official Story in 1985. A wave of imported U.S. films again damaged the industry in the early 1990s, though it soon recovered, thriving even during the Argentine economic crisis around 2001. Many Argentine movies produced during recent years have been internationally acclaimed, including Nueve reinas (2000), El abrazo partido (2004) , El otro (2007) and the 2010 Foreign Language Academy Award winner El secreto de sus ojos.

In Brazil, the Cinema Novo movement created a particular way of making movies with critical and intellectual screenplays, a clearer photography related to the light of the outdoors in a tropical landscape, and a political message. The modern Brazilian film industry has become more profitable inside the country, and some of its productions have received prizes and recognition in Europe and the United States, with movies such as Central do Brasil (1999), Cidade de Deus (2002) and Tropa de Elite (2007).

Cuban cinema has enjoyed much official support since the Cuban revolution and important film-makers include Tomás Gutiérrez Alea.

It is also worth noting that many Latin Americans have achieved significant success within Hollywood, for instance Carmen Miranda, Salma Hayek, and Benicio del Toro, while Mexican Americans such as Robert Rodriguez have also made their mark.

Literature

Main article: Latin American literature

See also: List of Latin American writers

Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez signing a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude in Havana, Cuba.

Chilean Poet Gabriela Mistral,first woman to win a Nobel prize, in 1945.

Pre-Columbian cultures were primarily oral, though the Aztecs and Mayans, for instance, produced elaborate codices. Oral accounts of mythological and religious beliefs were also sometimes recorded after the arrival of European colonizers, as was the case with the Popol Vuh. Moreover, a tradition of oral narrative survives to this day, for instance among the Quechua-speaking population of Peru and the Quiché (K'iche') of Guatemala.

From the very moment of Europe's "discovery" of the continent, early explorers and conquistadores produced written accounts and crónicas of their experience—such as Columbus's letters or Bernal Díaz del Castillo's description of the conquest of Mexico. During the colonial period, written culture was often in the hands of the church, within which context Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz wrote memorable poetry and philosophical essays. Towards the end of the 18th Century and the beginning of the 19th, a distinctive criollo literary tradition emerged, including the first novels such as Lizardi's El Periquillo Sarniento (1816).

Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, interviewed in 1971.

The 19th century was a period of "foundational fictions" (in critic Doris Sommer's words), novels in the Romantic or Naturalist traditions that attempted to establish a sense of national identity, and which often focussed on the indigenous question or the dichotomy of "civilization or barbarism" (for which see, say, Domingo Sarmiento's Facundo (1845), Juan León Mera's Cumandá (1879), or Euclides da Cunha's Os Sertões (1902). The 19th century also witnessed the realist work of Machado de Assis, who made use of surreal devices of metaphor and playful narrative construction, much admired by critic Harold Bloom.

At the turn of the 20th century, modernismo emerged, a poetic movement whose founding text was Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío's Azul (1888). This was the first Latin American literary movement to influence literary culture outside of the region, and was also the first truly Latin American literature, in that national differences were no longer so much at issue. José Martí, for instance, though a Cuban patriot, also lived in Mexico and the U.S. and wrote for journals in Argentina and elsewhere.

Peruvian writer and Nobel Prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa

However, what really put Latin American literature on the global map was no doubt the literary boom of the 1960s and 1970s, distinguished by daring and experimental novels (such as Julio Cortázar's Rayuela (1963)) that were frequently published in Spain and quickly translated into English. The Boom's defining novel was Gabriel García Márquez's Cien años de soledad (1967), which led to the association of Latin American literature with magic realism, though other important writers of the period such as the Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa and Carlos Fuentes do not fit so easily within this framework. Arguably, the Boom's culmination was Augusto Roa Bastos's monumental Yo, el supremo (1974). In the wake of the Boom, influential precursors such as Juan Rulfo, Alejo Carpentier, and above all Jorge Luis Borges were also rediscovered.

Contemporary literature in the region is vibrant and varied, ranging from the best-selling Paulo Coelho and Isabel Allende to the more avant-garde and critically acclaimed work of writers such as Diamela Eltit, Giannina Braschi, Ricardo Piglia, or Roberto Bolaño. There has also been considerable attention paid to the genre of testimonio, texts produced in collaboration with subaltern subjects such as Rigoberta Menchú. Finally, a new breed of chroniclers is represented by the more journalistic Carlos Monsiváis and Pedro Lemebel.

The region boasts six Nobel Prize winners: in addition to the two Chilean poets Gabriela Mistral (1945) and Pablo Neruda (1971), there is also the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez (1982), the Guatemalan novelist Miguel Ángel Asturias (1967), the Mexican poet and essayist Octavio Paz (1990), and the Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa (2010).

Music and dance

See also: Dance and music of Latin America, Latin American music, Latin pop, and Latin dance

Salsa dancing

Latin America has produced many successful worldwide artists in terms of recorded global music sales. The most successful have been Roberto Carlos who has sold over 100 million records, Carlos Santana with over 75 million, Luis Miguel, Shakira and Vicente Fernandez with over 50 million records sold worldwide. One of the main characteristics of Latin American music is its diversity, from the lively rhythms of Central America and the Caribbean to the more austere sounds of the Andes and the Southern Cone. Another feature of Latin American music is its original blending of the variety of styles that arrived in The Americas and became influential, from the early Spanish and European Baroque to the different beats of the African rhythms.

Caribbean Hispanic music, such as merengue, bachata, salsa, and more recently reggaeton, from such countries as the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico,Trinidad, Cuba, and Panama has been strongly influenced by African rhythms and melodies. Haiti's compas is a genre of music that draws influence and is thus similar to its Caribbean Hispanic counterparts, with an element of jazz and modern sound as well.

Another well-known Latin American musical genre includes the Argentine and Uruguayan tango, as well as the distinct nuevo tango, a fusion of tango, acoustic and electronic music popularized by bandoneón virtuoso Ástor Piazzolla. Equally renown, the samba, North American jazz, European classical music and choro combined to form bossa nova in Brazil, popularized by guitarrist João Gilberto and pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Other influential Latin American sounds include the Antillean Soca and Calypso, the Honduras (Garifuna) Punta, the Colombian cumbia and vallenato, the Chilean Cueca, the Ecuadorian Boleros, and Rockoleras, the Mexican ranchera, the Nicaraguan Palo de Mayo, the Peruvian Marinera and Tondero, the Uruguayan Candombe, the French Antillean Zouk (Derived from Haitian Compas) and the various styles of music from Pre-Columbian traditions that are widespread in the Andean region.

A couple dances Argentine Tango.

The classical composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) worked on the recording of native musical traditions within his homeland of Brazil. The traditions of his homeland heavily influenced his classical works. Also notable is the recent work of the Cuban Leo Brouwer and guitar work of the Venezuelan Antonio Lauro and the Paraguayan Agustín Barrios. Latin America has also produced world-class classical performers such as the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau, Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire and the Argentine pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim.

Arguably, the main contribution to music entered through folklore, where the true soul of the Latin American and Caribbean countries is expressed. Musicians such as Yma Súmac, Chabuca Granda, Atahualpa Yupanqui, Violeta Parra, Victor Jara, Mercedes Sosa, Jorge Negrete, Luiz Gonzaga, Caetano Veloso, Susana Baca, Chavela Vargas, Simon Diaz, Julio Jaramillo, Toto la Momposina as well as musical ensembles such as Inti Illimani and Los Kjarkas are magnificent examples of the heights that this soul can reach.

Latin pop, including many forms of rock, is popular in Latin America today (see Spanish language rock and roll).

More recently, Reggaeton, which blends Jamaican reggae and dancehall with Latin America genres such as bomba and plena, as well as that of hip hop, is becoming more popular, in spite of the controversy surrounding its lyrics, dance steps (Perreo) and music videos. It has become very popular among populations with a "migrant culture" influence – both Latino populations in the U.S., such as southern Florida and New York City, and parts of Latin America where migration to the U.S. is common, such as Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Mexico.

Books

• Azevedo, Aroldo. O Brasil e suas regiões. São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional, 1971. Template:Pt icon
• Enciclopédia Barsa. Volume 4: Batráquio – Camarão, Filipe. Rio de Janeiro: Encyclopædia Britannica do Brasil, 1987. Template:Pt icon
• Coelho, Marcos Amorim. Geografia do Brasil. 4th ed. São Paulo: Moderna, 1996. Template:Pt icon
• Galeano, Eduardo. Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. 1973
• Edwards, Sebastián. Left Behind: Latin America and the False Promise of Populism. University of Chicago Press, 2010.
• Moreira, Igor A. G. O Espaço Geográfico, geografia geral e do Brasil. 18. Ed. São Paulo: Ática, 1981. Template:Pt icon
• Vesentini, José William. Brasil, sociedade e espaço – Geografia do Brasil. 7th Ed. São Paulo: Ática, 1988. Template:Pt icon
• Julio Miranda Vidal: (2007) Ciencia y tecnología en América Latina Edición electrónica gratuita. Texto completo en http://www.eumed.net/libros/2007a/237/

See also

• Hispanic America
• Portuguese America
• Ibero-America
• Anglo-America
• Latin Union (Latin Europe, Romance-speaking African countries)
• Southern Cone
• Latin Americans (Amerindians, Criollo, Afro-Latin American, Asian Latin American, Mestizos, Mulatto, White Latin American, Zambo)
• Diaspora (Latin American Australian, Latin American British, Latin American Canadian, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic, Latino)
• List of Latin Americans (List of Latin American artists, List of Latin American writers)
• Latin American culture
• Latin American studies
• Agroecology in Latin America
• Crime and Violence in Latin America
• List of Latin American subnational entities by Human Development Index
• Latin America and the League of Nations

Latin American integration

• Americas (terminology) - Use of the word American
  • Pan-Americanism
  • Free Trade Area of the Americas
  • Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas
  • United States-Latin American relations
• Caribbean
  • Association of Caribbean States
  • Caribbean Community
  • Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
• Central America
  • Central American Integration System
• North America
  • North American Free Trade Agreement
• South America
  • Union of South American Nations
  • Andean Community
  • Mercosur

Notes

References

External links

• IDB Education Initiative
• Latin Intelligence Service
• Latin American Network Information Center
• Washington Office on Latin America
• Council on Hemispheric Affairs
• Infolatam. Information and analysis of Latin America
• Map of Land Cover: Latin America and Caribbean (FAO)
• Lessons From Latin America by Benjamin Dangl, The Nation, March 4, 2009
• Keeping Latin America on the World News Agenda – Interview with Michael Reid of The Economist
• Business Latin America