Latin America

Latin America the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. The 20 republics are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The term Latin America is also used to include Puerto Rico, the French West Indies, and other islands of the West Indies where a Romance tongue is spoken. Occasionally the term is used to include Belize, Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname.

Bibliography: See H. M. Bailey and A. P. Nasatir, Latin America: The Development of its Civilization (3d ed. 1973); J. K. Black, Latin America: Its Problems and Its Promise (1984); J. W. Hopkins, ed., Latin America: Perspectives on a Region (1987); B. Keen, A History of Latin America (1988); A. Gilbert, Latin America (1990); E. A. Cardoso and A. Helwege, Latin America's Economy: Diversity, Trends, and Conflicts (1992); J. A. Crow, The Epic of Latin America (1992); E. Williamson, The Penguin History of Latin America (1992).

Latin America Parts of the Western Hemisphere (excluding French-speaking Canada) where the official or chief language is a Romance language. Commonly it refers to the 18 Spanish-speaking republics and Brazil (Portuguese) and Haiti (French). Occasionally it includes those islands of the West Indies where Romance languages are the mother tongue.