Latin America o Latin America is the term used to encompass the 20 countries of America that speak a language of Latin origin (Spanish or Portuguese).
This region is composed of: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
It covers most of the American continent, starting in North America with Mexico, passing through the regions of Central America and even South America with Argentina.
In some cases, the French-speaking regions of South America (Haiti and French Guiana) or even territories whose official language is English (Belize and Puerto Rico) as part of Latin America are also taken into account.
However, despite the great extent of the territory and the marked differences between these regions, the countries of Latin America share a large number of historical, linguistic and geographical features.
Latin America, beyond being an area on the map, is a strong cultural bond that unites all the countries that make it up.
What characteristics do the countries of Latin America share?
Due to their gross historical, linguistic and cultural similarities, in the development of Latin America, characteristics shared by most of their regions can easily be identified.
Since the discovery of America in 1492, the evolution of the continent has taken different paths, but despite these discrepancies, Latin America has managed to remain a common denominator.
1- The process of conquest
Since the arrival of the first European explorers, all of America was the location of expeditions for economic purposes, which culminated in the conquest and colonization of the territory.
The Spanish and Portuguese crowns led this process which meant significant improvements for the economic panorama in Europe and a permanent change in America due to the fusion of both cultures.
The conquest of the Aztecs
All Spanish-speaking countries are now a legacy of Spain's conquest; Brazil is the exception having been under the dominion of Portugal, making it the only Portuguese-speaking country in America.
2- They share the same linguistic family
No link unites Latin America more than its predominant language: Spanish. The criterion of union in this region comes from the fact that Romance languages are spoken or also called Latinas (for that reason some people consider the French-speaking areas as part of Latin America).
Spanish and Portuguese, on the other hand, belong to the subgroup of Ibero-Romance languages, making it easier to join them.
Likewise, before they were conquered, these regions had their own languages, such as the Nahuatl (Mexico), the Quechua (Peru and Bolivia) and the Guaraní (Argentina and Paraguay).
These languages did not disappear completely and even managed to mix with Spanish, forming regional differences in speech and coining terms currently in general use, such as"chocolate"of Nahuatl"xocolatl".
3- Leaders in biodiversity
A megadiverse country is the one that houses the most biodiversity on the planet (regions, climates and flora).
Latin America leads in biodiversity scheme being the region with the most mega-diverse countries, since of the 17 existing, 6 are in its territory: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
With dense rainforests, deserts, forests, coasts, mountains and an innumerable variety of climates, Latin America represents a substantial part of the planet's natural riches,
The Amazon rainforest, in Brazil, is considered the most biodiverse spot on earth, since it has hundreds of animal species, more than 30,000 plant species and about 2.5 million different insects.
4- They resemble each other in their political history
Throughout its history, Latin American countries have distinguished themselves by their social and political struggles.
Almost simultaneously, they began their respective battles to become independent from Spain at the beginning of the 19th century; Miguel Hidalgo in Mexico, San Martin in Argentina, Chile and Peru, and Simón Bolívar in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela.
During the twentieth century, military dictatorships predominated, taking place in Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Nicaragua, among others.
For its part, the rest of Latin America was involved in political tensions. At present, countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua defend a policy of revolutionary socialism.
5- Great musical variety
In addition to being an area rich in biodiversity, it is safe to say that Latin America is a bastion of culture and one of the greatest representatives of musical wealth in the world.
It has musical genres recognized and acclaimed worldwide, such as mariachi, huapango and corrido in Mexico.
Colombian music festival
In the Caribbean, there is trova, sauce , the mambo, the bolero and the rumba (Cuba); the meringue and bachata (Dominican Republic).
In South America, samba and bossa-nova (Brazil), tango (Argentina), cumbia and vallenato (Colombia) and reggaetón (Puerto Rico) predominate.
6- Similarities in the religious sphere
In Latin America, Catholicism predominates, with 69% of its inhabitants professing religion. This came with the Spanish and Portuguese conquests, being the cultural element that dominates the entire process of colonization.
Until not less than 50 years ago, 90% of the population was Catholic, but as in the rest of the world, these figures have been decreasing.
As it happened with the language, before the European imposition there were already religious practices in the continent; These indigenous religions are still practiced by the inhabitants of the original peoples of America.
There are also religions that originated as a product of the cultural mix of conquest, such is the case of Santería, which fuses aspects of Catholicism with West African religions.
7- They develop similar economic activities
Finally, after sharing a cultural, social and political history, it is no surprise that Latin America has consistently developed similar economic activities.
Due to its strategic position and climate variations, it becomes a fertile place for agriculture and one of the main exporters of food.
Such are the cases of Mexico, world leader in avocado production; Colombia, world leader in coffee production and Brazil, world leader in oranges production.
References
- Brogan, A. (2017) 15 Facts About South America. Trip Savvy. Retrieved from tripsavvy.com
- Brushnell, E. Et al. (s.f.) History of Latin America. Encyclopedia Britannica. Recovered from britannica.com
- McKeown, M. (2017) What is Latin America? Geography, Language and Culture Explained. Owlcation. Retrieved from owlcation.com
- Santiago, J. (s.f.) Did You Know? Ten Facts About Latin America. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from weforum.org
- Sawe, B. (2017) Countries that Make Up Latin America. Word Atlas. Retrieved from worldatlas.com