History of Latin America

History Of Latin America

Latin America refers to countries in the Americas where Romance (Latin-derived) languages are spoken. This definition, however, is not meant to include Canada, in spite of its large French-speaking population.

Latin American countries generally lie south of the United States. By extension, some writers and commentators, particularly in the United States, apply the term to the whole region south of the United States, including the non-Romance-speaking countries such as Suriname, Jamaica, Belize, and Guyana, due to similar economic, political and social histories and present-day conditions.

Before the arrival of Europeans in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the region was home to many indigenous peoples, many of which had advanced civilizations, most notably, the Aztec, Inca and Maya. By the end of the sixteenth century, large areas of what would become Latin America were colonized by European settlers, primarily from Spain, Portugal and to a lesser extent, France and the Netherlands (in Brazil).

In the early nineteenth century most of the region attained its independence, giving rise to new countries, although a few, small colonies remain.

Read more about History Of Latin America:  Origin of The Term and Definition, The Pre-Columbian Period, Colonialism, Nineteenth-century Revolutions: The Postcolonial Era

Famous quotes containing the words latin america, history of, history, latin and/or america:

    Not only does the world scarcely know who the Latin American man is, the world has barely cared.
    Georgie Anne Geyer (b. 1935)

    The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments.
    William James (1842–1910)

    We said that the history of mankind depicts man; in the same way one can maintain that the history of science is science itself.
    Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)

    You send your child to the schoolmaster, but ‘tis the schoolboys who educate him. You send him to the Latin class, but much of his tuition comes, on his way to school, from the shop- windows.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The Indians knew that life was equated with the earth and its resources, that America was a paradise, and they could not comprehend why the intruders from the East were determined to destroy all that was Indian as well as America itself.
    Dee Brown (b. 1908)