Portal:Latin America

Latin America is a cultural concept denoting the Americas where Romance languages—languages derived from Vulgar Latin —are predominantly spoken. The term was coined in the nineteenth 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, Brazil (Portuguese America), French West Indies and Antillean Creole French speaking Caribbean countries. The term "Latin America" is broader than categories such as Hispanic America, which specifically refers to Spanish-speaking countries; and Ibero-America, a term not generally used that specifically refers to Spanish, French and French Creole-speaking countries and Portuguese-speaking countries sometimes leaving French and British excolonies aside.

The term Latin America was first used in an 1856 conference 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 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, French Louisiana, French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti 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. As of March 2, 2020, the population of Latin America and the Caribbean was estimated at more than 652 million, and 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...)

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Map of Central America with Costa Rica highlighted

Costa Rica is administratively divided into seven provinces which are subdivided into 84 cantons, and these are further subdivided into districts. Cantons are the only administrative division in Costa Rica that possess local government in the form of municipalities. Each municipality has its own mayor and several representatives, all of them chosen via municipal elections every four years.

The original 14 cantons were established in 1848, and the number has risen gradually by the division of existing cantons. Law no. 4366 of 19 August 1969, which outlines the creation of administrative divisions of Costa Rica, states that new cantons may only be created if they have at least one percent of the republic's total population, which was 4,301,712 as of the last census (2011). The newest canton, Monteverde, was created on September 29, 2021 from the canton of Puntarenas. (Full article...)

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Topics

More did you know -

... that Roma producer Gabriela Rodríguez is the first Latin American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture?

WikiProjects

WikiProject South America
WikiProject Latin America (semi-active)

Selected article -

The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an artificial 82 km (51 mi) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan.

Colombia, France, and later the United States controlled the territory surrounding the canal during construction. France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped because of lack of investors' confidence due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The United States took over the project in 1904, and opened the canal in 1914. The US continued to control the canal and surrounding Panama Canal Zone until the Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for its handover to Panama in 1977. After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, the canal was taken over by the Panamanian government in 1999. It is now managed and operated by the government-owned Panama Canal Authority. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Franz Grave, the first bishop of Essen born in Essen, focused on intercultural dialogue with Latin America?
... 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 Héctor Suárez was the first comedian from Latin America to be "roasted" by fellow celebrities?
... 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 1Villa de Leyva, a historical and cultural landmark of Colombia (from Latin American culture)
Image 2Intermediate level international-style Latin dancing at the 2006 MIT ballroom dance competition. A judge stands in the foreground. (from Latin American culture)
Image 3Countries in Latin America by date of independence (from History of Latin America)
Image 4Holy week, Ouro Preto-MG, 2010. Chrome. Photo: Guy Veloso. (from Latin American culture)
Image 5Monument to Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City (from Latin American culture)
Image 6Left-leaning leaders of Bolivia, Brazil and Chile at the Union of South American Nations summit in 2008 (from History of Latin America)
Image 7Mexican Stock Exchange (from Latin American culture)
Image 8The joropo, as depicted in a 1912 drawing by Eloy Palacios (from Latin American culture)
Image 9Instituto Arnoldo Gabaldón, declared August 30, 1984 as a National Historic Landmark (from Latin American culture)
Image 10A 17th-century map of the Americas (from History of Latin America)
Image 11The Guadalajara International Film Festival is considered the most prestigious film festival in Latin America. (from Latin American culture)
Image 12Map of disputed territories in Latin America (from History of Latin America)
Image 13The military junta of Argentina saw widespread repression against those it deemed to be political dissidents (from History of Latin America)
Image 14In 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 15The Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida is the second largest in the world, after only of the Basilica of Saint Peter in Vatican City. (from Latin American culture)
Image 161903 political cartoon: President Roosevelt intimidating Colombia to acquire the Panama Canal Zone. (from History of Latin America)

Selected panorama

Juscelino Kubitschek bridge in Brasilia

The Juscelino Kubitschek bridge (Portuguese: Ponte Juscelino Kubitschek), also known as the President JK Bridge or just the JK Bridge, is a steel and concrete bridge that crosses Lake Paranoá in Brasília, capital of Brazil.

Selected picture

Moai at Rano Raraku, Easter Island

Moai

Credit: Aurbina

Moai are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500 CE.Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads three-eighths the size of the whole statue. The moai are chiefly the living faces (aringa ora) of deified ancestors (aringa ora ata tepuna).The statues still gazed inland across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island, but most were cast down during later conflicts between clans.

Countries

Territories (in bold), dependencies, and subnational entities of a country not located primarily in Latin America are italicized.

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