Editing Latin America (section)

==Etymology and definitions==
===Origins===
Research has shown that the idea that a part of the Americas has a linguistic and cultural affinity with the Romance cultures as a whole can be traced back to the 1830s, in the writing of the French [[Saint-Simonianism|Saint-Simonian]] [[Michel Chevalier]], who postulated that a part of the Americas was inhabited by people of a "[[Italic peoples|Latin race]]", and that it could, therefore, ally itself with "[[Romance-speaking Europe|Latin Europe]]", ultimately overlapping the [[Latin Church]], in a struggle with "[[Germanic-speaking Europe|Teutonic Europe]]" and "[[Anglo-America|Anglo-Saxon America]]" with its [[Anglo-Saxonism in the 19th century|Anglo-Saxonism]], as well as "[[Slavic Europe]]" with its [[Pan-Slavism]].<ref name = "mignolo">{{Cite book|last=Mignolo|first=Walter|title=The Idea of Latin America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vPacXtsWhewC|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|place=Oxford|year=2005|isbn=978-1-4051-0086-1|pages=77–80}}</ref>

Scholarship has political origins of the term. Two Latin American historians, [[Uruguayans|Uruguayan]] [[Arturo Ardao]] and [[Chileans|Chilean]] [[:es:Miguel Rojas Mix|Miguel Rojas Mix]], found evidence that the term "Latin America" was used earlier than Phelan claimed, and the first use of the term was in fact in opposition to imperialist projects in the Americas. Ardao wrote about this subject in his book ''Génesis de la idea y el nombre de América latina'' (Genesis of the Idea and the Name of Latin America, 1980),<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.autoresdeluruguay.uy/biblioteca/Arturo_Ardao/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=ardao_-_genesis_de_la_idea_y_el_nombre_de_america_latina_gallegos_1980_.pdf|title=Genesis de la idea y el nombre de América Latina|last=Ardao|first=Arturo|publisher=Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos Rómulo Gallegos|year=1980|location=Caracas, Venezuela|access-date=March 8, 2019|archive-date=March 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327085645/http://www.autoresdeluruguay.uy/biblioteca/Arturo_Ardao/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=ardao_-_genesis_de_la_idea_y_el_nombre_de_america_latina_gallegos_1980_.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and Miguel Rojas Mix in his article "Bilbao y el hallazgo de América latina: Unión continental, socialista y libertaria" (Bilbao and the Finding of Latin America: a Continental, Socialist, and Libertarian Union, 1986).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rojas Mix|first=Miguel|year=1986|title=Bilbao y el hallazgo de América latina: Unión continental, socialista y libertaria…|journal=Caravelle. Cahiers du monde hispanique et luso-brésilien|volume=46|issue=1|pages=35–47|doi=10.3406/carav.1986.2261|issn=0008-0152}}</ref> As Michel Gobat points out in his article "The Invention of Latin America: A Transnational History of Anti-Imperialism, [[Democracy]], and Race", "Arturo Ardao, Miguel Rojas Mix, and Aims McGuinness have revealed [that] the term 'Latin America' had already been used in 1856 by Central Americans and South Americans protesting US expansion into the Southern Hemisphere".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gobat|first=Michel|date=December 1, 2013|title=The Invention of Latin America: A Transnational History of Anti-Imperialism, Democracy, and Race|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=118|issue=5|pages=1345–1375|doi=10.1093/ahr/118.5.1345|s2cid=163918139|issn=0002-8762|doi-access=free}}</ref> Edward Shawcross summarizes Ardao's and Rojas Mix's findings in the following way: "Ardao identified the term in a poem by a Colombian diplomat and intellectual resident in France, José María Torres Caicedo, published on 15 February 1857 in a French based Spanish-language newspaper, while Rojas Mix located it in a speech delivered in France by the radical liberal Chilean politician Francisco Bilbao in June 1856".<ref>{{Cite book|title=France, Mexico and informal empire in Latin America, 1820–1867 : equilibrium in the New World|last=Edward|first=Shawcross|isbn=9783319704647|location=Cham, Switzerland|page=120|oclc=1022266228|date=February 6, 2018}}</ref>

By the late 1850s, the term was being used in California (which had become a part of the United States), in local newspapers such as ''El Clamor Público'' by [[Californios]] writing about {{lang|es|América latina}} and {{lang|es|latinoamérica}}, and identifying as {{lang|es|[[Latinos]]}} as the abbreviated term for their "hemispheric membership in {{lang|es|la raza latina}}".<ref name="Gutierrez-2016">{{cite book|last1=Gutierrez|first1=Ramon A.|editor1-last=Gutierrez|editor1-first=Ramon A.|editor2-last=Almaguer|editor2-first=Tomas|title=The New Latino Studies Reader: A Twenty-First-Century Perspective|chapter=What's in a Name?|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/GutierrezPp.1953Notes|date=2016|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-28484-5|oclc=1043876740|quote=The word {{lang|es|latinoamericano}} emerged in the years following the wars of independence in Spain's former colonies [...] By the late 1850s, {{lang|es|californios}} were writing in newspapers about their membership in {{lang|es|América latina}} (Latin America) and {{lang|es|latinoamerica}}, calling themselves {{lang|es|Latinos}} as the shortened name for their hemispheric membership in {{lang|es|la raza latina}} (the Latin race). Reprinting an 1858 opinion piece by a correspondent in Havana on race relations in the Americas, ''El Clamor Publico'' of Los Angeles surmised that 'two rival races are competing with each other ... the Anglo Saxon and the Latin one [{{lang|es|la raza latina}}].'{{thin space}}|page=34}}</ref>

The words "Latin" and "America" were first found to be combined in a printed work to produce the term "Latin America" in 1856 at a conference by the Chilean politician [[Francisco Bilbao]] in Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clarin.com/diario/2005/05/16/opinion/o-01901.htm|title=''América latina o Sudamérica?'', por Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, Clarín, 16 de mayo de 2005|publisher=Clarin.com|date=May 16, 2005|access-date=April 23, 2013|archive-date=March 27, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327183033/http://www.clarin.com/diario/2005/05/16/opinion/o-01901.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The conference had the title "Initiative of the America. The idea for a Federal Congress of Republics."<ref name="bilbao f"/> The following year, Colombian writer [[:es:José María Torres Caicedo|José María Torres Caicedo]] also used the term in his poem "The Two Americas".<ref>{{cite web|language=es|via=Proyecto Filosofía en español|url=http://www.filosofia.org/hem/185/18570215.htm|author=José María Torres Caicedo|date=September 26, 1856|title=Las dos Américas|location=Venice|access-date=April 23, 2013|archive-date=July 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722121227/http://www.filosofia.org/hem/185/18570215.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Two events related with the United States played a central role in both works. The first event happened less than a decade before the publication of Bilbao's and Torres Caicedo's works: the Invasion of Mexico or, in the United States, the [[Mexican–American War]], after which the United States annexed more than half of Mexico's territory. The second event, the [[Walker affair]], which happened the same year that both works were written: the decision by US president [[Franklin Pierce]] to recognize the regime recently established in [[Nicaragua]] by American [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]] and his band of filibusters who ruled Nicaragua for nearly a year (1856–57) and attempted to reinstate slavery there, where it had been already abolished for three decades<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-16 |title=Central America as a Catalyst for Latin American Identity Formation |url=https://exhibits.lib.utexas.edu/spotlight/archival-journey-latin-american-modernity/feature/central-america-as-a-catalyst-for-latin-american-identity-formation#:~:text=This%20printed%20decree,%20written%20by%20Marcial%20Zebad%C3%BAa,%20abolished%20slavery%20in%20the%20newly%20formed%20United%20Provinces%20of%20Central%20America,%20a%20union%20of%20states%20which%20lasted%20from%201823%20to%201840%20and%20included%20modern%20day%20Guatemala,%20Honduras,%20El%20Salvador,%20Costa%20Rica,%20and%20Nicaragua |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=An Archival Journey through Latin American Modernity - UT Libraries Exhibits |language=en}}</ref>

In both Bilbao's and Torres Caicedo's works, the [[Mexican–American War]] (1846–48) and William Walker's expedition to Nicaragua are explicitly mentioned as examples of dangers for the region. For Bilbao, "Latin America" was not a geographical concept, as he excluded Brazil, Paraguay, and Mexico. Both authors also asked for the union of all Latin American countries as the only way to defend their territories against further foreign US interventions. Both also rejected European imperialism, claiming that the return of European countries to non-democratic forms of government was another danger for Latin American countries, and used the same word to describe the state of European politics at the time: "despotism." Several years later, during the [[Second French intervention in Mexico|French invasion of Mexico]], Bilbao wrote another work, "Emancipation of the Spirit in the Americas", where he asked all Latin American countries to support the Mexican cause against France, and rejected French imperialism in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. He asked Latin American intellectuals to search for their "intellectual emancipation" by abandoning all French ideas, claiming that France was: "Hypocrite, because she [France] calls herself protector of the Latin race just to subject it to her exploitation regime; treacherous, because she speaks of freedom and nationality, when, unable to conquer freedom for herself, she enslaves others instead!" Therefore, as Michel Gobat puts it, the term Latin America itself had an "anti-imperial genesis," and their creators were far from supporting any form of imperialism in the region, or in any other place of the globe.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bilbao|first1=Francisco|title=Emancipación del espíritu de América|url=http://www.franciscobilbao.cl/1909/article-81905.html|website=Francisco Bilbao Barquín, 1823–1865, Chile|access-date=July 16, 2017|archive-date=September 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916074142/http://www.franciscobilbao.cl/1909/article-81905.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Contemporary definitions ===
* ''Latin America'' is generally used to refer to the set of countries in the Americas where a Romance language (a language derived from Latin) predominates: Spanish, Portuguese, or French. Thus, it includes Mexico; most of Central and South America; and in the Caribbean, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. ''Latin America'' then comprises all of the countries in the Americas that were once part of the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]], [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]], and [[Second French Empire|French Empires]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rangel|first=Carlos|title=The Latin Americans: Their Love-Hate Relationship with the United States|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich|year=1977|location=New York|pages=3–5|isbn=978-0-15-148795-0}} {{Cite book|last=Skidmore|first=Thomas E.|author2=Peter H. Smith|title=Modern Latin America|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|edition=6th|location=Oxford and New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/modernlatinameri0006skid/page/1 1–10]|isbn=978-0-19-517013-9|url=https://archive.org/details/modernlatinameri0006skid/page/1}}</ref><ref name="Torres" /> [[French Guiana]] and the [[French West Indies]] are sometimes included.
* ''Latin America'' is also often used synonymously with Ibero-America ("Iberian America"), where the populations speak Spanish or Portuguese and the dominant religion is [[Roman Catholic]]. [[Puerto Rico]], the Spanish-speaking Caribbean territory of the United States, acquired from the [[Spanish Empire]] following its defeat in the 1898 [[Spanish–American War]], is usually included. This definition excludes the predominantly Protestant English-speaking and Dutch-speaking regions, as well as French-speaking predominantly Catholic regions. [[Belize]], [[Guyana]] and [[Suriname]], as well as several French overseas departments, are excluded from the definition.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltConsulta?lema=iberoam%C3%A9rica|last=RAE|title=Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas|publisher=Santillana Educación|year=2005|location=Madrid|isbn=8429406239|access-date=October 15, 2010|archive-date=April 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100404154750/http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltConsulta?lema=iberoam%C3%A9rica|url-status=live}}</ref> 
* The term is sometimes used more broadly to refer to all of the Americas south of the United States,<ref name="Torres">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MX5BXxjwV9cC&pg=PR17|title=Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music|last=Torres|first=George|page=xvii|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2013|isbn=9780313087943}}</ref> thus including [[the Guianas]] ([[French Guiana]], [[Guyana]], and [[Suriname]]); the [[Commonwealth Caribbean|Anglophone Caribbean]] (and [[Belize]]); the [[French West Indies|Francophone Caribbean]]; and the [[Dutch Caribbean]]. This definition emphasizes a similar [[Socioeconomics|socioeconomic]] history of the region, which was characterized by formal or [[Neocolonialism|informal colonialism]], rather than cultural aspects (see, for example, [[dependency theory]]).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Butland|first=Gilbert J.|title=Latin America: A Regional Geography|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|year=1960|location=New York|pages=115–188|isbn=978-0-470-12658-5}}<br />{{Cite book|last=Dozer|first=Donald Marquand|title=Latin America: An Interpretive History|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1962|location=New York|pages=1–15|isbn=0-87918-049-8}}<br />{{Cite book|last=Szulc|first=Tad|author-link=Tad Szulc|title=Latin America|publisher=New York Times Company|year=1965|pages=13–17|isbn=0-689-10266-6}}<br />{{Cite book|last=Olien|first=Michael D.|title=Latin Americans: Contemporary Peoples and Their Cultural Traditions|publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston|year=1973|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/latinamericansco0000olie/page/1 1–5]|isbn=978-0-03-086251-9|url=https://archive.org/details/latinamericansco0000olie/page/1}}<br />{{Cite book|editor-last=Black|editor-first=Jan Knippers|title=Latin America: Its Problems and Its Promise: A Multidisciplinary Introduction|publisher=Westview Press|year=1984|location=Boulder|pages=362–378|isbn=978-0-86531-213-5}}<br />{{Cite book|last=Burns|first=E. Bradford|title=Latin America: A Concise Interpretive History|publisher=Prentice-Hall|year=1986|edition=4th|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/latinamericaconc00burn/page/224 224–227]|isbn=978-0-13-524356-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/latinamericaconc00burn/page/224}}<br />{{Cite book|last=Skidmore|first=Thomas E.|author2=Peter H. Smith|title=Modern Latin America|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|edition=6th|location=Oxford and New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/modernlatinameri0006skid/page/351 351–355]|isbn=978-0-19-517013-9|url=https://archive.org/details/modernlatinameri0006skid/page/351}}</ref> Some sources avoid this simplification by using the alternative phrase "[[Latin America and the Caribbean]]", as in the [[United Nations geoscheme for the Americas]].<ref>[http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417070721/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm |date=April 17, 2010 }}, UN Statistics Division. Accessed on line May 23, 2009. ([http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regnf.htm French] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224062835/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regnf.htm |date=December 24, 2010 }})</ref><ref>[http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/0,,menuPK:258559~pagePK:158889~piPK:146815~theSitePK:258554,00.html Latin America and the Caribbean] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501014724/http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/0,,menuPK:258559~pagePK:158889~piPK:146815~theSitePK:258554,00.html |date=May 1, 2013 }}. [[The World Bank]]. Retrieved July 17, 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lanic.utexas.edu/subject/countries/|title=Country Directory. Latin American Network Information Center-University of Texas at Austin|publisher=Lanic.utexas.edu|access-date=December 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311080444/http://lanic.utexas.edu/subject/countries/|archive-date=March 11, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> A number of academic area-studies programs and centers of [[Latin American studies]] are titled "Latin American and Caribbean" studies, such as the [https://ii.umich.edu/lacs Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, University of Michigan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224201732/https://ii.umich.edu/lacs |date=February 24, 2023 }}, [[New York University]]  [https://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/clacs.html Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017095240/https://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/clacs.html |date=October 17, 2022 }}, and [[University of Washington]]'s [https://jsis.washington.edu/latinam/ Latin American and Caribbean Studies, The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224201320/https://jsis.washington.edu/latinam/ |date=February 24, 2023 }}. Although the United States acquired a large swath of territory from the Spanish Empire and called Spanish borderlands and nearly 20% of the U.S. population identifies as "Hispanic" (or "Latino"), the United States is generally not classified as being part of Latin America. However, the significant demographic is sometimes brought under the umbrella of Latin American studies, such as at University of Albany.
* Another accepted use of the term also encompass those territories of [[North America]] in which Latin languages are official or predominant, that is, the states of [[California]], [[Arizona]], [[Nevada]], [[New Mexico]], [[Texas]] and [[Florida]] in the [[United States|USA]], where there is a significant presence of [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and the [[French language|French-speaking]] territories of [[Quebec]], [[New Brunswick]], [[Manitoba]] and [[Ontario]] in [[Canada]] and [[Louisiana]] in the USA. Or include those territories that can be considered culturally [[Latin Americans|Latin]] or with an important presence of Latin culture, but excluding territories that would be culturally closer to [[Anglo-Americans|Anglo-American]] culture. Thus, the previous territories of North America with a significant presence of Spanish would be included, but the French-speaking territories of North America would be excluded because they are culturally closer to Anglo-American than to Latin culture, despite the language. In this case, some include [[Belize]] and the [[United States Virgin Islands]], since although they have English as their official language, they have a strong presence of Spanish and Latin culture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Colburn |first=Forrest D. |url=https://books.google.cl/books?id=qBCVB3mxCK8C&dq=%22latin+america+at+the+end+of+politics%22&pg=PP1&ots=Hsc6JIiWF0&sig=3-bdK4pc-bXg0abCFag4agEPwo8&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2522Latin+America+at+the+End+of+Politics%2522&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22latin%20america%20at%20the%20end%20of%20politics%22&f=false |title=Latin America at the End of Politics |date=2002-03-03 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-09181-5 |language=en}}</ref>

The distinction between ''Latin America'' and ''[[Anglo-America]]'' is a convention based on the predominant languages in the Americas by which Romance language- and English-speaking cultures are distinguished. Neither area is culturally or linguistically homogeneous; in substantial portions of Latin America (e.g., highland [[Peru]], [[Bolivia]], Mexico, [[Guatemala]]), [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous Amerindian]] cultures and, to a lesser extent, Indigenous Amerindian languages, are predominant, and in other areas, the influence of African cultures is strong (e.g., the Caribbean basin{{spaced ndash}}including parts of [[Colombia]] and [[Venezuela]]).

The term's meaning is contested and not without controversy. Historian Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo explores at length the "allure and power" of the idea of Latin America. He remarks at the outset, "The idea of 'Latin America' ought to have vanished with the obsolescence of racial theory... But it is not easy to declare something dead when it can hardly be said to have existed," going on to say, "The term is here to stay, and it is important."<ref>Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo, ''Latin America: The Allure and Power of an Idea''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2017, 1, 3.</ref> Following in the tradition of Chilean writer Francisco Bilbao, who excluded Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay from his early conceptualization of Latin America,<ref>Francisco Bilbao, ''La América en peligro'', Buenos Aires: Impr. de Berheim y Boeno 1862, 14, 23, quoted in Tenorio-Trillo, ''Latin America'', p. 5.</ref> Chilean historian [[Jaime Eyzaguirre]] has criticized the term Latin America for "disguising" and "diluting" the Spanish character of a region (i.e. [[Hispanic America]]) with the inclusion of nations that, according to him, do not share the same pattern of [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|conquest and colonization]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gongóra|first1=Alvaro|last2=de la Taille|first2=Alexandrine|last3=Vial|first3=Gonzalo|author-link3=Gonzalo Vial Correa|title=Jaime Eyzaguirre en su tiempo|language=es|publisher=Zig-Zag|page=223}}</ref>

The [[Geographical distribution of French speakers|Francophone]] part of North America which includes [[Saint Pierre and Miquelon]], [[Quebec]], [[New Brunswick]], and the three [[Canadian territories]], as well as [[Louisiana]] in the United States is generally excluded from the definition of Latin America.<ref>{{Cite web|title=South America, Latin America|url=https://www.reflexions.uliege.be/cms/c_15746/en/south-america-latin-america|access-date=November 24, 2022|website=Reflexions|publisher=[[University of Liège]]|language=en|archive-date=November 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124133830/https://www.reflexions.uliege.be/cms/c_15746/en/south-america-latin-america|url-status=live}}</ref> The primarily [[Papiamento]]-speaking [[ABC islands (Leeward Antilles)|ABC Islands]] are also often excluded, Papiamento being a Portuguese-based creole.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Language and education in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300471435 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925235144/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300471435_Language_and_education_in_Aruba_Bonaire_and_Curacao |archive-date=September 25, 2024 |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=ResearchGate |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Subregions and countries===
[[File:Latin America regions.svg|thumb|The four common subregions in Latin America]]Latin America can be subdivided into several subregions based on geography, politics, [[Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean|democracy]], demographics and culture. The basic geographical subregions are North America, Central America, the [[Caribbean]] and South America; the latter contains further politico-geographical subdivisions such as the [[Southern Cone]], [[the Guianas]] and the Andean states. It may be subdivided on linguistic grounds into [[Hispanic America|Spanish America]], [[Portuguese America]], and [[French America]].<ref name="GeoSEP">{{cite book|title=Geografía, Quinto Grado [Geography, Fifth Grade]|publisher=Secretaría de Educación Pública [Secretariat of Public Education]|location=Mexico City|pages=75–83|author=María Alejandra Acosta Garcia|edition=Second|first2=Sheridan|last2=González|author3=Ma. de Lourdes Romero|first4=Luis|last4=Reza|first5=Araceli|last5=Salinas|via=Comisión Nacional de Libros de Texto Gratuitos (CONALITEG)|chapter=Three|date=June 2011}}</ref>

The term "Latin America" is defined to mean parts of Americas south of the mainland of the [[United States of America]] where a Romance language (a language derived from Latin) predominates. Latin America are the countries and territories in the Americas which speak Spanish, Portuguese, or French. As is customary, [[Puerto Rico]] is included and [[Dominica]], [[Grenada]], and [[Saint Lucia]] (where French is spoken but not official language) are excluded from Latin America.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|+Latin America
! class="unsortable" | [[National flag|Flag]]
! class="unsortable" | [[Coat of arms|Arms]]
! Country/Territory
! [[Capital city|Capital(s)]]
! [[Language|Name(s) in official language(s)]]
! [[List of countries by population|Population]]<br />{{nobold|(2023)}}<ref name="TWFpopulation">{{cite web|title=The World Factbook – Country Comparisons: Population|year=2023|author=Central Intelligence Agency|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/population/country-comparison/|access-date=June 28, 2023|archive-date=January 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106121651/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/population/country-comparison/|url-status=live}}</ref>
! [[List of countries by area|Area]]<br />{{nobold|(km{{sup|2}})}}<ref name="UN area">{{cite web|title=United Nations Statistics Division – Demographic and Social Statistics|url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2012.htm|access-date=July 18, 2021|website=unstats.un.org|archive-date=October 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015114145/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2012.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
! [[List of countries by population density|Density]]<br />{{nobold|(people/km{{sup|2}})}}
! [[Time zone]]s
! Subregion
|-
| {{center|{{flagicon|ARG}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Argentina.svg|20px]]}} || [[Argentina]] || [[Buenos Aires]] || Argentina || {{density|disp=table|46,621,847|2,780,400}} 
| [[UTC−03:00|UTC/GMT –3 hours]] || [[South America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|Bolivia|state}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Bolivia.svg|20px]]}} || [[Bolivia]] || [[Sucre]] and [[La Paz]] || Bolivia; Buliwya; Wuliwya; Volívia || {{density|disp=table|12,186,079|1,098,581}} 
| [[UTC−04:00|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] || [[South America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|BRA}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Brazil.svg|20px]]}} || [[Brazil]] || [[Brasília]] || Brasil || {{density|disp=table|218,689,757|8,514,877}} 
| [[UTC−02:00|UTC/GMT –2 hours]] ([[Fernando de Noronha]])<br />[[UTC−03:00|UTC/GMT –3 hours]] ([[Brasília]])<br />[[UTC−04:00|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] ([[Amazonas (Brazilian state)|Amazonas]])<br />[[UTC−05:00|UTC/GMT –5 hours]] ([[Acre (state)|Acre]]) || [[South America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|CHL}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Chile.svg|20px]]}} || [[Chile]] || [[Santiago]] || Chile || {{density|disp=table|18,549,457|756,102}} 
| [[UTC−03:00|UTC/GMT –3 hours]] (Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica)<br />[[UTC−04:00|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] (Continental Chile)<br />[[UTC−06:00|UTC/GMT –6 hours]] (Easter Island) || [[South America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|COL}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Colombia.svg|20px]]}} || [[Colombia]] || [[Bogotá]] || Colombia || {{density|disp=table|49,336,454|1,141,748}} 
| [[UTC−05:00|UTC/GMT –5 hours]] || [[South America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|CRI}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Costa Rica.svg|20px]]}} || [[Costa Rica]] || [[San José, Costa Rica|San José]] || Costa Rica || {{density|disp=table|5,256,612|51,100}} 
| [[UTC−06:00|UTC/GMT –6 hours]] || [[Central America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|CUB}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Cuba.svg|20px]]}} || [[Cuba]] || [[Havana]] || Cuba || {{density|disp=table|10,985,974|109,884}} 
| [[UTC−05:00|UTC/GMT –5 hours]] || [[Caribbean]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|DOM}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of the Dominican Republic.svg|20px]]}} || [[Dominican Republic]] || [[Santo Domingo]] || República Dominicana || {{density|disp=table|10,790,744|48,192}} 
| [[UTC−04:00|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] || [[Caribbean]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|ECU}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Ecuador.svg|20px]]}} || [[Ecuador]] || [[Quito]] || Ecuador || {{density|disp=table|17,483,326|256,369}} 
| [[UTC−05:00|UTC/GMT –5 hours]] (mainland Ecuador)<br />[[UTC-06:00|UTC/GMT –6 hours]] (Galápagos Islands) || [[South America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|SLV}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of El Salvador.svg|20px]]}} || [[El Salvador]] || [[San Salvador]] || El Salvador || {{density|disp=table|6,602,370|21,041}} 
| [[UTC−06:00|UTC/GMT –6 hours]] || [[Central America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|France}}}}|| {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of French Guiana, according to the original displayed at the Museum Franconie, at Cayenne.svg|20px]]}} || [[French Guiana]]* || [[Cayenne]] || Guyane || {{density|disp=table|{{UN population|French Guiana}}|83,534}} 
| [[UTC−03:00|UTC/GMT –3 hours]] || [[South America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|France}}}}|| {{center|}} || [[Guadeloupe]]* || [[Basse-Terre]] || Guadeloupe || {{density|disp=table|{{UN population|Guadeloupe}}|1,705}} 
| [[UTC−04:00|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] || [[Caribbean]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|GTM}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Guatemala.svg|20px]]}} || [[Guatemala]] || [[Guatemala City]] || Guatemala || {{density|disp=table|17,980,803|108,889}} 
| [[UTC−06:00|UTC/GMT –6 hours]] || [[Central America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|Haiti}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Haiti.svg|20px]]}} || [[Haiti]] || [[Port-au-Prince]] || Haïti; Ayiti || {{density|disp=table|11,470,261|27,750}} 
| [[UTC−05:00|UTC/GMT –5 hours]] || [[Caribbean]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|HND}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Honduras.svg|20px]]}} || [[Honduras]] || [[Tegucigalpa]] || Honduras || {{density|disp=table|9,571,352|112,492}} 
| [[UTC−06:00|UTC/GMT –6 hours]] || [[Central America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|Martinique}}}}|| {{center|}} || [[Martinique]]* || [[Fort-de-France]] || Martinique || {{density|disp=table|{{UN population|Martinique}}|1,128}} 
| [[UTC−04:00|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] || [[Caribbean]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|MEX}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Mexico.svg|20px]]}} || [[Mexico]] || [[Mexico City]] || México || {{density|disp=table|129,875,529|1,964,375}} 
| [[UTC−05:00|UTC/GMT –5 hours]] (''Zona Sureste'')<br />[[UTC−06:00|UTC/GMT –6 hours]] (''Zona Centro'')<br />[[UTC−07:00|UTC/GMT –7 hours]] (''Zona Pacífico'')<br />[[UTC−08:00|UTC/GMT –8 hours]] (''Zona Noroeste'') || [[North America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|NIC}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Nicaragua.svg|20px]]}} || [[Nicaragua]] || [[Managua]] || Nicaragua || {{density|disp=table|6,359,689|130,373}} 
| [[UTC−06:00|UTC/GMT -6 hours]] || [[Central America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|PAN}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Panama.svg|20px]]}} || [[Panama]] || [[Panama City]] || Panamá || {{density|disp=table|4,404,108|75,417}} 
| [[UTC−05:00|UTC/GMT –5 hours]] || [[Central America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|PRY}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Paraguay.svg|20px]]}} || [[Paraguay]] || [[Asunción]] || Paraguay; Tetã Paraguái || {{density|disp=table|7,439,863|406,752}} 
| [[UTC−04:00|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] || [[South America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|PER}}}} || {{center|[[File:Escudo nacional del Perú.svg|20px]]}} || [[Peru]] || [[Lima]] || Perú || {{density|disp=table|32,440,172|1,285,216}} 
| [[UTC−05:00|UTC/GMT –5 hours]] || [[South America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|PRI}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.svg|20px]]}} || [[Puerto Rico]]* || [[San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]] || Puerto Rico || {{density|disp=table|3,057,311|8,870}} 
| [[UTC−04:00|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] || [[Caribbean]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|France}}}}|| {{center|[[File:Blason St Barthélémy TOM entire.svg|20px]]}} || [[Saint Barthélemy]]* || [[Gustavia, Saint Barthélemy|Gustavia]] || Saint-Barthélemy || <ref name=pop2017>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/4265429/ensemble.pdf Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2017] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201005055240/https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/4265429/ensemble.pdf |date=October 5, 2020 }}, [[Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques|INSEE]]</ref>{{density|disp=table|{{UN population|Saint Barthélemy}}|25}} 
| [[UTC−04:00|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] || [[Caribbean]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|France}}}}|| {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Saint Martin.svg|20px]]}} || [[Collectivity of Saint Martin|Saint Martin]]* || [[Marigot, Saint Martin|Marigot]] || Saint-Martin || {{density|disp=table|35,334|54}} 
| [[UTC−04:00|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] || [[Caribbean]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|URY}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Uruguay.svg|20px]]}} || [[Uruguay]] || [[Montevideo]] || Uruguay || {{density|disp=table|3,416,264|176,215}} 
| [[UTC−03:00|UTC/GMT –3 hours]] || [[South America]]
|-
| {{center|{{flagdeco|VEN}}}} || {{center|[[File:Coat of arms of Venezuela.svg|20px]]}} || [[Venezuela]] || [[Caracas]] || Venezuela || {{density|disp=table|30,518,260|912,050}} 
| [[UTC−04:30|UTC/GMT –4 hours]] || [[South America]]
|-
! || || Total || || || {{density|disp=table|652,504,579|20,111,699}} 
! ||
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki>: Not a sovereign state