List of regions of Latin America

This is a list of regions commonly used in Latin America.

Geopolitical regions

The four common regions of Latin America

Aridoamerica – northern Mexico and portions of the American Southwest.
Oasisamerica – the American Southwest and portions of Northern Mexico.
Mesoamerica – Central and southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica. These cultures have roots in advanced ancient civilizations such as the Aztec and Maya.
Central America – Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, and Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina (legally part of Colombia, but off the coast of Central America.) Consists mainly of former territories of the Federal Republic of Central America.

Las Antillas Occidentales – Cuba, Puerto Rico, Spanish Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic. This region is highly influenced by the Canary Islanders and the African slaves that settled in the region during the Age of Exploration.
Lesser Antilles. Influenced and colonized by other European empires
- West Indies Federation
Caribbean Mainland – Coastal and island regions of Mexico (such as the Riviera Maya, Cozumel, and Isla Mujeres), Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela. Historic trade across the Caribbean Sea between these nations have created many cultural similarities.
Florida – although not in the Caribbean Sea, the US State of Florida has been historically and culturally tied to the Spanish Caribbean since Spanish have settled in the age of the Spanish Empire.

Gran Colombia – Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, and Northern Peru. Although Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, members of this region still share many cultural attributes in terms of food, language, music, and history.
Peru-Bolivian Confederation
Andean regions – Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Northern Chile, Bolivia, and northwestern Argentina. Much of the culture found in this region can be traced back to the Inca Empire. Quechua is still spoken as a second language in many of these regions.
Gaucho regions – Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil. The culture of these regions were heavily influenced by the South American cowboy, known as the gaucho.
Rioplatense region – Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and parts of Paraguay. This region, due to extensive immigration from Europe, mainly from Italy, Spain, and Portugal maintains a very European culture in terms of cuisine, art, architecture, and dialect. Many Italian loanwords are used in the dialect of the region, Rioplatense Spanish.
Mapuche world

South – Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina. Much of the culture of this region is derived from European immigrants, mainly from Italy and Germany.
Central-West – Goiás, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Culture is derived from livestock herders.
Northeast – Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia, Fernando de Noronha. Syncretic culture of Portuguese and African elements. Heavily influenced by the African slave trade.
North-Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima. Mestizo culture blending indigenous, Portuguese, Spanish and French elements.
Southeast – Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Cosmopolitan region of heavily blended African, European, and indigenous cultures.