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 second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)
“The greatest horrors in the history of mankind are not due to the ambition of the Napoleons or the vengeance of the Agamemnons, but to the doctrinaire philosophers. The theories of the sentimentalist Rousseau inspired the integrity of the passionless Robespierre. The cold-blooded calculations of Karl Marx led to the judicial and business-like operations of the Cheka.”
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)
“To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words.... Whoever writes English is involved in a struggle that never lets up even for a sentence. He is struggling against vagueness, against obscurity, against the lure of the decorative adjective, against the encroachment of Latin and Greek, and, above all, against the worn-out phrases and dead metaphors with which the language is cluttered up.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“... in America ... children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)