Portal:Latin America

Introduction Latin America is a group of countries and dependencies in the Western Hemisphere where Romance languages such as Spanish, French and Portuguese are spoken; it is broader than the terms Ibero-America or Hispanic America. The term originated in the Napoleon III French government in the mid-19th century as Amérique latine to consider French-speaking territories in the Americas, (French Canadians, French Louisiana, French Guiana, Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy) along with the larger group of countries where Spanish and Portuguese languages prevailed, including the Spanish-speaking portions of the United States (Southwestern United States and Florida) Today, areas of Canada and the United States (with the exception of Puerto Rico and Miami) where Spanish, Portuguese and French are predominant are typically not included in definitions of Latin America. Latin America consists of twenty sovereign states and several territories and dependencies which cover an area that stretches from the northern border of Mexico to the southern tip of South America, including the Caribbean. It has an area of approximately 19,197,000 km2 (7,412,000 sq mi), almost 13% of the Earth's land surface area. As of 2016, its population was estimated at more than 639 million and in 2014, Latin America had a combined nominal GDP of 5,573,397 million USD and a GDP PPP of 7,531,585 million USD. Show new selections below (purge) Selected panorama Panorama of La Paz, the capital and second largest city in population (after Santa Cruz de la Sierra) of Bolivia. The city hosts numerous local festivities, and is an important cultural center of Bolivia. Selected article The flag of Mexico (Spanish: Bandera de México) is a vertical tricolor of green, white, and red with the national coat of arms charged in the center of the white stripe. While the meaning of the colors has changed over time, these three colors were adopted by Mexico following independence from Spain during the country's War of Independence, and subsequent First Mexican Empire. The current flag was adopted in 1968, but the overall design has been used since 1821, when the First National Flag was created. The current law of national symbols, Law on the National Arms, Flag, and Anthem, that governs the use of the national flag has been in place since 1984. Red, white, and green are the colors of the national liberation army in Mexico. The central emblem is the Aztec pictogram for Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), the center of their empire. It recalls the legend that inspired the Aztecs to settle on what was originally a lake-island. The form of the coat of arms was most recently revised in 1968. A ribbon in the national colors is at the bottom of the coat of arms. Throughout history, the flag has changed four times, as the design of the coat of arms and the length-width ratios of the flag have been modified. However, the coat of arms has had the same features throughout: an eagle, holding a serpent in its talon, is perched on top of a prickly pear cactus; the cactus is situated on a rock that rises above a lake. The coat of arms is derived from an Aztec legend that their gods told them to build a city where they spot an eagle on a nopal eating a serpent, which is now Mexico City. The current national flag, the Fourth National Flag, is also used as the Mexican naval ensign by ships registered in Mexico. Did you know... ... that Uruguay was the first winner of the FIFA World Cup, in 1930? ... that seven currencies of Latin America are named "peso"? ... that the cinema of Argentina is one of the most important in the Spanish-speaking world, has had six Academy Award nominations, and has won twice? Subportals for geopolitical entities Territories (in bold), dependencies, and subnational entities of a country not located primarily in Latin America are italicized. Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic French Guiana Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Martinique Mexico Montserrat Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago Uruguay Venezuela Latin American News February 19, Ecuador: Lenín Moreno defeats Guillermo Lasso (both pictured) in the Ecuadorian general election, but both will go to a runoff election.The Guardian October 2, Colombia: A referendum rejected the peace deals with the FARC (pictured), by 50.2% to 49.8%.BBC August 25, Colombia: The Colombian conflict comes to an end with a peace deal between the government of Colombia and the FARC.The Guardian August 5, Brazil: The 2016 Summer Olympics open in Rio de Janeiro. June 7, Peru: Pedro Pablo Kuczynski narrowly defeats Keiko Fujimori in the presidential elections.The Guardian May 31, Organization of American States: Luis Almagro, head of the Organization of American States, request an evaluation of democracy in venezuela, which may cause their suspension from the body.The Guardian May 31, Brazil: Fabiano Silveira, minister of acting president Michel Temer, resigns after scandal of leaked tapes.The Guardian Selected image Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of Hands) is a cave or a series of caves located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, 163 km (101 mi) south of the town of Perito Moreno. It is famous for (and gets its name from) the paintings of hands. The art in the cave dates from 13,000 to 9,000 years ago.Several waves of people occupied the cave, and early artwork has been carbon-dated to ca. 9300 BP (about 7300 BC). The age of the paintings was calculated from the remains of bone-made pipes used for spraying the paint on the wall of the cave to create silhouettes of hands. The site was last inhabited around 700 AD, possibly by ancestors of the Tehuelche people. It was entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1991. Categories ▼ Latin America ► Caribbean ► South America ► Latin America templates ► Central America ► Communications in Latin America ► Latin American countries ► Crime in Latin America ► Gender in Latin America ► Human rights in Latin America ► Latin American culture ► Latin American history ► Latin American people ► Latin American studies ► Latin America-related lists ► Mesoamerica ► Military history of Latin America ► Oil fields of Latin America ► Organizations based in Latin America ► Race in Latin America ► Spanish language in the Americas ► Stock exchanges in Latin America ► Works about Latin America ► Writers on Latin America ► Latin American law stubs Associated Wikimedia Wikipedia's Portals All Portals Overview Glossaries Indexes Lists Outlines Categories Reference Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology