Latin America.html



Latin America (Spanish: América Latina or Latinoamérica; Portuguese: América Latina; French: Amérique latine) is the region of the Americas where Romance languages (i.e., those derived from Latin) – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken.²³

Definition

• In most common contemporary usage, Latin America refers only to those territories in the Americas where the Spanish or Portuguese languages prevail: Mexico, most of Central and South America, plus Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, as well as the smaller numbers of French and Papiamentu speakers that reside in the region
• Strictly speaking, Latin America can designate all of those countries and territories in the Americas where a Romance language (i.e. languages derived from Latin, and hence the name of the region) is spoken: Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and creole languages based upon these. Indeed, this was the original intent when the term was popularized by Napoleon III as part of his campaign to imply cultural kinship with France and install Maximilian as emperor of Mexico⁴.
• Using this definition, Latin America includes not only all Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, but also the current and former French territories in the hemisphere, including Quebec in Canada; Louisiana in the United States; Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean; French Guiana in South America; and St. Pierre and Miquelon near Newfoundland.
• Often, particularly in the United States, the term may be used to refer to all of the Americas south of the U.S., including such countries as Belize, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Bahamas where English prevails.
• The former Dutch colony Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba are not usually considered part of Latin America, although in the latter two, a predominantly Iberian-derived creole language, Papiamento, is spoken by the majority of the population.
• In historical terms, Latin America could be defined as all those parts of the Americas that were once part of the Spanish, Portuguese, and French Empires, and that speak languages stemming from Latin. Under this definition, much of the U.S. Southwest, Florida, and French Louisiana would be also included in the region.

The distinction between Latin America and Anglo-America, and more generally the stress on European heritage (or Eurocentrism), is simply a convention by which Romance-language and English-speaking cultures are distinguished, currently being the predominant languages in the Americas. There are, of course, many places in the Americas (e.g. highland Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Paraguay) where American Indian cultures and languages are important, as well as areas in which the influence of African cultures is strong (e.g. the Caribbean, including parts of Colombia and Venezuela, coastal Ecuador, coastal Peru, and coastal Brazil).

U.S. influences shaped the cultures of Latin America, especially those of Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico as a U.S. territory. In addition, the U.S. held a territory in a swath of land in Panama over the 20-mile-long Panama Canal from 1903 (the canal opened to transoceanic freight traffic in 1914) to 1979 when the U.S. government agreed to give the territory to Panama.

History

Please help improve this section by expanding itwith: information beyond 1825. Further information might be found on the talk page. (July 2008)

Main article: History of Latin America

See also: History of South America for a treatment of pre-Columbian civilizations and a general overview of the region's history.

The Americas are thought to have been first inhabited by people crossing the Bering Land Bridge, now the Bering strait, from northeast Asia into Alaska more than 10,000 years ago. Over the course of millennia, people spread to all parts of the continents. By the first millennium AD/CE, South America’s vast rainforests, mountains, plains and coasts were the home of tens of millions of people. The earliest settlements in the Americas are of the Las Vegas Culture^{citation needed} from about 8000 BC and 4600 BC, a sedentary group from the coast of Ecuador, the forefathers of the more known Valdivia culture, of the same era. Some groups formed more permanent settlements such as the Chibchas (or "Muiscas" or "Muyscas") and the Tairona groups. The Chibchas of Colombia, the Quechuas of Peru, and the Aymaras of Bolivia were the three Indian groups that settled most permanently.

A view of Machu Picchu, a pre-Columbian Inca site in Peru.

Archaelogical sites of Chichén-Itzá in Yucatán Mexico.

The region was home to many indigenous peoples and advanced civilizations, including the Aztecs, Toltecs, Caribs, Tupi, Maya, and Inca. The golden age of the Maya began about 250, with the last two great civilizations, the Aztecs and Incas, emerging into prominence later on in the early fourteenth century and mid-fifteenth centuries, respectively.

With the arrival of the Europeans following Christopher Columbus's voyages, the indigenous elites, such as the Incans and Aztecs, lost power to the Europeans. Hernán Cortés destroyed the Aztec elite's power with the help of local groups who disliked the Aztec elite, and Francisco Pizarro eliminated the Incan rule in Western South America. European powers, most notably Spain and Portugal, colonized the region, which along with the rest of the uncolonized world was divided into areas of Spanish and Portuguese control by the Line of Demarcation in 1493, which gave Spain all areas to the west, and Portugal all areas to the east (the Portuguese lands in South America subsequently becoming Brazil). By the end of the sixteenth century, Europeans occupied large areas of North, Central and South America, extending all the way into the present southern United States. European culture and government was imposed, with the Roman Catholic Church becoming a major economic and political power, as well as the official religion of the region.

Diseases brought by the Europeans, such as smallpox and measles, wiped out a large proportion of the indigenous population, with epidemics of diseases reducing them sharply from their prior populations. Historians cannot determine the number of natives who died due to European diseases, but some put the figures as high as 85% and as low as 20%. Due to the lack of written records, specific numbers are hard to verify. Many of the survivors were forced to work in European plantations and mines. Intermarriage between the indigenous peoples and the European colonists was very common, and, by the end of the colonial period, people of mixed ancestry (mestizos) formed majorities in several colonies.

Dates of independence of countries in the Americas.

By the end of the eighteenth century, Spanish and Portuguese power waned as other European powers took their place, notably Britain and France. Resentment grew over the restrictions imposed by the Spanish government, as well as the dominance of native Spaniards (Iberian-born peninsulares) over the major institutions and the majority population, including the colonial-born Spaniards (criollos, Creoles). Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808 marked the turning point, compelling Creole elites to form juntas that advocated independence. Also, the newly independent Haiti, the second oldest nation in the New World after the United States and the oldest independent nation in Latin America, further fueled the independence movement by inspiring the leaders of the movement, such as Simón Bolívar and José de San Martin, and by providing them with considerable munitions and troops.

Fighting soon broke out between the Juntas and the Spanish colonial authorities, with initial Creole victories, including Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in Mexico and Francisco de Miranda in Venezuela, crushed by the Spanish troops. Under the leadership of Simón Bolívar, José de San Martin and other Libertadores in South America, the independence movement regained strength, and by 1825, all Spanish Latin America, except for Puerto Rico and Cuba, gained independence from Spain. Brazil achieved independence with a constitutional monarchy established in 1822. During the same year in Mexico, a military officer, Agustín de Iturbide, led conservatives who created a constitutional monarchy, with Iturbide as emperor (followed by a republic, 1823).

Demographics

Demographics 'Notable Latin Americans' Fidel Castro Ricky Martin Juanes Shakira Salma Hayek Pelé Diego Maradona Benicio del Toro Evo Morales Gloria Estefan A few examples of famous Latin Americans

Racial groups

The population of Latin America is a composite of ancestries, ethnic groups and races, making the region one of the most — if not the most — diverse in the world. The specific composition varies from country to country: Some have a predominance of a mixed population, in others people of Amerindian origin are a majority, some are dominated by inhabitants of European ancestry and some populations are primarily of African descent. Most or all Latin American countries have Asian minorities. Europeans and groups with part-European ancestry combine for approximately 80% of the population.¹

Amerindians

Amerindians make up the majority of the population in Bolivia and a plurality in Peru.

The aboriginal population of Latin America, the Amerindians, experienced tremendous population decline particularly in the early decades of colonization. They have since recovered in numbers, surpassing sixty million, though they compose a majority in only one country, Bolivia. In Peru they are a plurality, while in Ecuador and Guatemala, they are large minorities of more than 25%. Most of the other countries have small Amerindian minorities. In many countries, people of mixed Indian and European ancestry make up the majority of the population (see Mestizo).

Africans

A significant number of Latin Americans are of African ancestry.

Millions of African slaves were brought to Latin America from the sixteenth century onward, the majority of whom were sent to the Caribbean region and Brazil. Today, people identified as black they compose a majority in Haiti, significant minorities in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, Belize, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Panama and Puerto Rico, and small minorities in Guatemala, Honduras and Peru.

Asians

Film maker Tizuka Yamazaki, one of over a million Japanese-Brazilians.

People of Asian descent are numerous in Latin America. The first Asians to settle in Latin America were Filipino, as a result of Spain's trade involving Asia and the Americas. The majority of ethnic Asians in Latin America are of Japanese and Chinese ancestry and reside mainly in Brazil and Peru. Brazil is home to the largest ethnic Japanese community outside of Japan itself, numbering 1.5 million. Peru has one of the largest Chinese communites in the world with nearly 1 million Peruvians being of Chinese ancestry. The Japanese community also maintains a strong prescense in Peru as a past President and a number of politicians are of Japanese descent in Peru. ⁵ Indians, Koreans, and Vietnamese are also among the largest ethnic Asian communities in the region. In the Panama canal zone there is also a Chinese minority; descendants of migrant workers who built the Panama Canal.

• Brazil: 1.49 million of Asian descent ⁶⁷
• Peru: 1.47 million of Asian descent ⁸⁹

Caucasians

As many as 16 million people of European descent live in Mexico. Caucasians are among the three largest groups in Latin America.

Beginning in the late fifteenth century, large numbers of Iberian colonists settled in what became Latin America — Portuguese in Brazil and Spaniards elsewhere in the region — and at present most white Latin Americans are of Spanish or Portuguese origin. Iberians brought the Spanish and Portuguese languages, the Catholic faith, and many traditions.

Millions of Europeans have immigrated to Latin America since most countries gained independence in the 1810s and 1820s with most of the immigration occurring in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with the bulk of the immigrants settling in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Italians formed the largest group of immigrants, and next were Spaniards and Portuguese.¹⁰ Many others arrived such as Germans, Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, Irish, and Welsh. During the Second Mexican Empire, many more French, Belgians and Swiss settled in Mexico.¹¹¹² Whites make up the vast majority of the population in Argentina, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Southern Brazil. In Cuba they make up nearly two-thirds of the population. In absolute numbers, Brazil has the largest population of whites in Latin America, followed by Argentina and Mexico (see White Latin American).

Latin American countries attracted European immigrants to work in agriculture, commerce and industry. Many Latin American governments encouraged immigrants from Europe to civilize the region.¹³ Despite their different origins, these immigrants integrated in the local societies and most of their descendants only speak Spanish or, in Brazil, Portuguese. For example, people of Italian descent make up half of Argentina's and Uruguay's population, but only a few of them are able to speak Italian. The only notable exceptions are some communities of Germans and Italians across Southern Brazil who still preserve their languages. Brazil has the biggest population of Italians outside of Italy¹⁴¹⁵; São Paulo city alone has more Italians than Rome, the most populous Italian city.¹⁶¹⁷

Immigration from the Middle East took place also since the 19th century and consisted largely of Christian Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians. They have generally assimilated into the European-descended population.

Mestizos

Shoppers of Mestizo heritage admire a marimba in Playa Grande, Guatemala.

Salsa dancers of Mulatto heritage, Camagüey, Cuba.

Intermixing between Europeans and Amerindians began early and was extensive. The resulting people, known as mestizos, make up the majority of the population in a third of the countries of Latin America: Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Paraguay. Mestizos additionally compose large minorities in nearly all the mainland countries.

Mulattoes

Mulattoes are biracial descendants of mixed European and African ancestry, mostly descended from Spanish and Portuguese settlers and African slaves during the colonial period. The vast majority of mulattoes are found in Brazil, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Colombia. There is also a small presence of mulattoes in other Latin American countries.¹

Zambos

Slaves often ran away (cimarrones) and were taken in by Amerindian villagers. Intermixing between Africans and Amerindians produced descendants known as zambos. This was especially prevalent in Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil.

In addition to the foregoing groups, Latin America also has millions of people of mixed African, Amerindian and European triracial ancestry, mostly in Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil but with a much smaller presence in a number of other countries.

Racial distribution

The following table shows the different racial groups and their percentages for all Latin American countries and territories.¹⁸

• ¹ May include one or more of the previous groups.
• ² "Other" includes census answer of Spanish which does not specify race; "mixed" includes the Garifuna (mixed Amerindian/black).¹⁹
• ³According to data from PNAD 2007. The survey uses the term "Pardos", which includes Mullato and Mestizo. ²⁰
• ⁴Venezuela 2005 census includes both mulatto and mestizo in "mixed"²¹

Language

See also: Indigenous languages of the Americas

Romance languages in Latin America: Green-Spanish; Orange-Portuguese; Blue-French

Spanish is the predominant language in the majority of Latin American countries. Portuguese is spoken primarily in Brazil, the most populous country in the region. French is spoken in some countries of the Caribbean, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and French Guiana and Haiti. Dutch is the official language of some Caribbean islands and in Suriname on the continent; however, as Dutch is a Germanic language, these territories are not considered part of Latin America.

Other European languages spoken in Latin America include: English, by some groups in Argentina, Belize, Nicaragua, Panama, and Puerto Rico; German, in southern Brazil, southern Chile, Argentina, and German-speaking villages in northern Venezuela and Paraguay; Italian, in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and, to a lesser extent, Venezuela; and Welsh, in southern Argentina.

Most widely spoken Pre-contact languages distribution area in Latin America, at the begining of XXI century: Quechua, Guarani, Aymara, Nahuatl, Mayan languages, Mapuche

In several nations, especially in the Caribbean region, creole languages are spoken. The most widely spoken creole language in the Caribbean and Latin America in general is Haitian Creole, the predominant language of Haiti; it is derived primarily from French and certain West African tongues with some Amerindian and Spanish influences as well. Creole languages of mainland Latin America, similarly, are derived from European languages and various African tongues. Native American languages are widely spoken in Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay, and to a lesser degree, in Mexico, Ecuador, and Chile. In absolute numbers, Mexico contains the largest population of indigenous-language speakers of any country in the Americas, surpassing those of the Amerindian-majority countries of Guatemala, Bolivia and the Amerindian-plurality country of Peru. In Latin American countries not named above, the population of speakers of indigenous languages is small or non-existent.

In Peru, Quechua is an official language, alongside Spanish and any other indigenous language in the areas where they predominate. In Ecuador, while holding no official status, the closely related Quichua is a recognized language of the indigenous people under the country's constitution; however, it is only spoken by a few groups in the country's highlands. In Bolivia, Aymara, Quechua and Guaraní hold official status alongside Spanish. Guarani is, along with Spanish, an official language of Paraguay, and is spoken by a majority of the population (who are, for the most part, bilingual), and it is co-official with Spanish in the Argentine province of Corrientes. In Nicaragua, Spanish is the official language, but on the country's Caribbean coast English and indigenous languages such as Miskito, Sumo, and Rama also hold official status. Colombia recognizes all indigenous languages spoken within its territory as official, though fewer than 1% of its population are native speakers of these. Nahuatl is one of the 62 native languages spoken by indigenous people in Mexico, which are officially recognized by the government as "national languages" along with Spanish.

Religion

Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) atop Corcovado mountain, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

The vast majority of Latin Americans are Christians, mostly Roman Catholics. However, membership in the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America is declining while membership in other religions, like the Protestant churches is increasing, particularly in countries such as Guatemala, Brazil, and Puerto Rico.

Also, indigenous creeds and rituals are still practiced in countries such as Bolivia, Guatemala, México and Perú. Various Afro-Latin American traditions such as Santería, Candomblé, Umbanda, Macumba, and tribal-voodoo religions are also practiced, mainly in Cuba, Brazil, and Haiti.

Brazil has an active quasi-socialist Roman Catholic movement known as Liberation Theology, and Brazil is also the country with more practitioners in the world of Allan Kardec's Spiritism. Practitioners of the Jewish, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, and Bahá'í denominations and religions exist.

Emigration

Due to economic, social and security developments that are affecting the region in recent decades, the focus is now the change from net immigration to net emigration. About 10 million Mexicans live in the United States.²² 28.3 million Americans listed their ancestry as Mexican as of 2006.²³ According to the 2005 Colombian census or DANE, about 3,331,107 Colombians currently live abroad.²⁴ The number of Brazilians living overseas is estimated at about 2 million people.²⁵ An estimated 1.5 to two million Salvadorans reside in the United States.²⁶ At least 1.5 million Ecuadorians have gone abroad, mainly to the United States and Spain.²⁷. Approximately 1.5 million Dominicans live abroad, mostly in the US.²⁸ More than 1.3 million Cubans live abroad, most of them in the US.²⁹ It is estimated that over 800,000 Chileans live abroad, mainly in Argentina.³⁰ An estimated 700,000 Bolivians were living in Argentina as of 2006.³¹

Remittances to Mexico rose from $6.6 billion to $24 billion between 2000 and 2006, but stabilized in 2007. Much of the reported increase between 2000 and 2006 may reflect better accounting, but the slowdown in 2007 may reflect tougher U.S. border and interior enforcement.^{citation needed}

Economy

Business centers 'A gallery' Financial district in São Paulo in Brazil Santa Fe, one of the many business districts of Mexico City, Mexico Downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, at night View of a Financial center in Bogotá, Colombia Panoramic of Caracas, Venezuela Santiago de Chile View of the San Isidro District financial center in Lima, Peru. La Paz, Bolivia A few examples of Latin American business centers

According to ECLAC,³² an economic growth rate of 5.3% is estimated for 2006, equivalent to a per capita increase of 3.8%. This marks the fourth consecutive year of economic growth, and the third consecutive year of rates exceeding 4%, after an average annual growth rate of only 2.2% between 1980 and 2002. A breakdown of the annual rates of GDP growth (in U.S. dollars at constant 2000 prices) is transcribed as follows:

Country	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008 a
Argentina	9	9.2	8.5	8.7	6.5
Bolivia	4.2	4	4.6	3.9	5.4
Brazil	5.7	3.2	3.8	5.4	5.2
Chile	6	5.6	4.3	5.1	4.5
Colombia	4.7	5.7	6.8	7.7	4
Costa Rica	4.3	5.9	8.8	7.3	4
Cubab	5.4	11.8	12.5	N/A	N/A
Dominican Republic	1.3	9.3	10.7	8.5	4.7
Ecuador	8	6	3.9	2.5	3
El Salvador	1.9	3.1	4.2	4.7	3
Guatemala	3.2	3.3	5.2	5.7	4.5
Haiti	-3.5	1.8	2.3	3.2	2.5
Honduras	6.2	6.1	6.3	6.3	4.2
Mexico	4	3.1	4.9	3.2	2.1
Nicaragua	5.3	4.3	3.9	3.8	3
Panama	7.5	7.2	8.5	11.5	8.3
Paraguay	4.1	2.9	4.3	6.8	5.5
Peru	5.1	6.7	7.7	8.9	9.2
Uruguay	11.8	6.6	7	7.4	6.5
Venezuela	18.3	10.3	10.3	8.4	6
Latin America	6	4.5	5.3	4.7	N/A
Notes: a. Estimates b. Figures provided by the National Statistics Office of Cuba, under evaluation by ECLAC Sources: 1. All countries, except Cuba: IMF [1] 2. Cuba and Latin America: ECLAC [2]PDF (230 KiB)

Inequality and poverty

Inequality and poverty continue to be the region's main challenges; according to the ECLAC Latin America is the most unequal region in the world.³³ Moreover, according to the World Bank, nearly 25% of the population lives on less than 2 USD a day. The countries with the highest inequality in the region (as measured with the Gini index in the UN Development Report³⁴) in 2006 were Bolivia (60.1), Haiti (59.2), Colombia (58.6), Paraguay (57.8), El Salvador (57.1) and Brazil (50.5), while the countries with the lowest inequality in the region were Nicaragua (43.1), Uruguay (44.9) and Mexico (46.1). One aspect of inequality and poverty in Latin America is unequal access to basic infrastructure. For example, access to water and sanitation in Latin America and the quality of these services remain low.

Crime and Violence

See also: Crime and Violence in Latin America

Crime and violence prevention and public security have become key social issues of concern to public policy makers and citizens in the Latin American and Caribbean region. In Latin America, violence is now among the five main causes of death and is the principal cause of death in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico. Homicide rates in Latin America are among the highest of any region in the world. From the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, intentional homicide rates in Latin America increased by 50 percent. The major victims of such homicides are young men, 69 percent of whom are between the ages of 15 and 19 years old.³⁵ Many analysts agree that the prison crisis will not be resolved until the gap between rich and poor is addressed. They say that growing social inequality is fuelling crime in the region. But there is also no doubt that, on such an approach, Latin American countries have still a long way to go.³⁶

Trade blocs

The major trade blocs or agreements in the region are Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations (CAN). Minor blocs or trade agreements are the G3, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). However, major reconfigurations are taking place along opposing approaches to integration and trade; Venezuela has officially withdrawn from both the CAN and G3 and it has been formally admitted into the Mercosur (pending ratification from the Brazilian and Paraguayan legislatures). The president-elect of Ecuador has manifested his intentions of following the same path. This bloc nominally opposes any Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, although Uruguay has manifested its intention otherwise. On the other hand, Mexico is a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Chile has signed an FTA with Canada, Chile and Peru has signed an FTA with the United States, and Colombia's legislatures is awaiting its ratification by the US Senate.

Standard of living, consumption, and the environment

The following table lists (in alphabetical order) all the countries in Latin America indicating Gross Domestic Product (GDP), per capita income in nominal terms and adjusted to purchasing power parity (PPP), Gross Domestic Product in PPP, a measurement of inequality through the Gini index (the higher the index the more unequal the income distribution is), the Human Development Index (HDI), the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), and the Quality-of-life index. GDP and PPP GDP statistics come from the International Monetary Fund with data as of 2006. Gini index, the Human Poverty Index HDI-1, the Human Development Index, and the number of internet users per capita come from the UN Development Program. The number of motor vehicles per capita come from the UNData base on-line. The EPI index comes from the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Quality-of-life index from The Economist Intelligence Unit. Green cells indicate the 1st rank in each category, while yellow indicate the last rank.

Country	GDP per capita37 (2008) Current USD	GDP per capita (PPP)37 (2008) USD	Income equality34 (2001-06) Gini index	Poverty Index38 (2005) HPI-1 %	Human Develop.39 (2005) HDI	Envirnm. Perfrm.40 (2008) EPI	Quality of life41 (2005) index	Annual economic growth42 (2007) %	Emissions per capita43 (2004) ton CO2
Argentina	8,146	14,376	51.3	4.1	0.869 (H)	81.8	6.769	8.7	3.7
Bolivia	1,352	4,084	60.1	13.6	0.695 (M)	64.7	5.492	4.6	0.8
Brazil	8,449	10,222	57.0	9.7	0.800 (H)	82.7	6.710	5.4	1.8
Chile	10,125	14,673	54.9	3.7	0.867 (H)	83.4	6.789	5.1	3.9
Colombia	4,193	7,968	58.6	7.9	0.791 (M)	88.3	6.176	7.7	1.2
Costa Rica	5,904	10,761	49.8	4.4	0.846 (H)	90.5	6.624	7.3	1.5
Cuba44	N/A	N/A	N/A	4.7	0.838 (H)	80.7	N/A	N/A	2.3
Dominican Republic	4,671	8,116	51.6	10.5	0.779 (M)	83.0	5.630	8.5	2.2
Ecuador	3,335	7,242	53.6	8.7	0.772 (M)	84.4	6.272	2.5	2.2
El Salvador	2,857	5,847	52.4	15.1	0.735 (M)	77.2	6.164	4.7	0.9
Guatemala	2,532	4,702	55.1	22.5	0.689 (M)	76.7	5.321	5.7	1.0
Haiti	699	1,292	59.2	59.2	0.529 (M)	60.7	4.090	3.2	0.2
Honduras	1,635	4,085	53.8	16.5	0.700 (M)	75.4	5.250	6.3	1.1
Mexico	9,717	13,141	46.1	6.8	0.822 (H)	79.8	6.716	3.2	5.2
Nicaragua	946	2,629	43.1	17.9	0.710 (M)	73.4	5.663	3.8	0.7
Panama	5,905	10,351	56.1	8.0	0.812 (H)	83.1	6.361	11.5	1.8
Paraguay	1,962	4,510	58.4	8.8	0.755 (M)	77.7	5.756	6.8	0.7
Peru	4,634	9,427	52.0	11.6	0.773 (M)	78.1	6.216	8.9	1.1
Uruguay	8,314	12,565	44.9	3.5	0.852 (H)	82.3	6.758	7.4	1.6
Venezuela	11,933	12,176	48.2	8.8	0.792 (M)	80.0	6.089	8.4	6.6

Notes: (H) High human development; (M) Medium human development

Culture

Main article: Latin American culture

A type of traditional Mexican dance and costume.

The rich mosaic of Latin American cultural expressions is the product of many diverse influences:

• Native cultures of the peoples that inhabited the continents prior to the arrival of the Europeans.
• European cultures, brought mainly by the Spanish, the Portuguese and the French. This can be seen in any expression of the region's rich artistic traditions, including painting, literature and music, and in the realms of science and politics. The most enduring European colonial influence was language. Italian influence has been important as well.
• African cultures, whose presence derives from a long history of New World slavery. Peoples of African descent have influenced the ethno-scapes of Latin America and the Caribbean. This is manifest for instance in dance and religion, especially in countries such as Belize, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Haiti, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Literature

Main article: Latin American literature

See also: List of Latin American writers

The Colombian García Márquez signing a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude in Havana, Cuba.

Pre-Columbian cultures were primarily oral, though the Aztecs and Mayans, for instance, produced elaborate codices. Oral accounts of mythological and religious beliefs were also sometimes recorded after the arrival of European colonizers, as was the case with the Popol Vuh. Moreover, a tradition of oral narrative survives to this day, for instance among the Quechua-speaking population of Peru and the Quiché