Editing Latin America (section)

==Culture==
{{Main|Latin American culture}}
[[File:Holy Week procession Comayagua Honduras (1).jpg|right|thumb|Roman Catholic Easter procession in [[Comayagua]], Honduras]]
[[File:Nicaragua Mestizaje.jpg|thumb|upright|Nicaraguan women wearing the [[Mestizaje]] costume, which is a traditional costume worn to dance the Mestizaje dance. The costume demonstrates the Spanish influence upon Nicaraguan clothing.<ref>{{cite news|title=Traditional Nicaraguan Costumes: Mestizaje Costume|url=http://www.vianica.com/go/specials/19-traditional-nicaraguan-costumes.html|work=ViaNica.com|access-date=November 21, 2007}}</ref>]]{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}{{Prose|date=April 2022}}

Latin American culture is a mixture of many influences:

* Indigenous cultures of the people who inhabited the continent prior to European colonization. Ancient and advanced civilizations developed their own political, social and religious systems. The Maya, the Aztec and the Inca are examples of these. Indigenous legacies in music, dance, foods, arts and crafts, clothing, folk culture and traditions are strong in Latin America. Indigenous languages affected Spanish and Portuguese, giving rise to [[loanword]]s like [[Pampas|pampa]], [[taco]], [[tamale]], [[cacique]].
* The [[culture of Europe]] was brought mainly by the colonial powers{{spaced ndash}}the Spanish, Portuguese and French{{spaced ndash}}between the 16th and 19th centuries. The most enduring European colonial influences are language, institutions, customs and Catholicism.
* Additional cultural influences came from the Europe during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, due to growing immigration from  Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal; as well as artistic, ideological and technological developments of the time. Due to the impact of [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] ideals after the French revolution, a certain number of Iberian American countries decriminalized [[homosexuality]] after France and French territories in the Americas did so in 1791. Some of the countries that abolished sodomy laws or banned state interference in consensual adult sexuality in the 19th century were Dominican Republic (1822), Brazil (1824), Peru (1836), Mexico (1871), Paraguay (1880), Argentina (1887), Honduras (1899), Guatemala, and El Salvador. Today same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, and French overseas departments. South America experienced waves of immigration of Europeans, especially Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Germans, Austrians, Poles, Ukrainians, French, Dutch, Russians, Croatians, Lithuanians, and Ashkenazi Jews. With the end of colonialism, French culture also exerted a direct influence in Latin America, especially in the realms of [[high culture]], [[Independence|Independentism]], science and medicine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Stepan|first=Nancy Leys|author-link=Nancy Stepan|title="The Hour of Eugenics": Race, Gender, and Nation in Latin America|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=1991|location=Ithaca|pages=in passim|no-pp=true|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuUxkMC1ePYC|isbn=978-0-8014-9795-7}}</ref> This can be seen in the region's artistic traditions, including painting, literature, and music, and in the realms of science and politics. 
* [[Culture of Africa|African cultures]], whose presence stems from a long history of the [[Atlantic slave trade]]. People of African descent have influenced the ethno-scapes of Latin America and the Caribbean. This is manifested for instance in music, dance and religion, especially in countries like Brazil, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Cuba.
* [[Culture of Asia|Asian cultures]], whose part of the presence derives from the long history of the [[coolie]]s who mostly arrived during the 19th and 20th centuries, most commonly Chinese workers in Peru and Venezuela, but also from Japanese and Korean immigration. especially headed to Brazil. This has greatly affected cuisine and other traditions including literature, art and lifestyles and politics. Asian influences have especially affected Brazil, Cuba, Panama and Peru.
* The influence of the United States and globalization is present throughout the region, with particular strength in northern Latin America, especially Puerto Rico, which is an American territory. Prior to 1959, Cuba, which fought for its independence with American aid in the [[Spanish–American War]], also had a close political and economic relationship with the United States. The United States also helped Panama become independent from Colombia and built the twenty-mile-long [[Panama Canal Zone]] in Panama, which it held from 1903—the [[Panama Canal]] opened to transoceanic freight traffic in 1914—to 1999, when the [[Torrijos-Carter Treaties]] restored Panamanian control of the Canal Zone.

===Art===
{{Main|Latin American art}}
{{See also|List of Latin American artists}}
[[File:RiveraMuralNationalPalace.jpg|thumbnail|left|[[Diego Rivera]]'s mural depicting Mexico's history at the [[National Palace (Mexico)|National Palace in Mexico City]]]]Beyond the tradition of Indigenous art, the development of Latin American visual art owed much to the influence of Spanish, Portuguese and French [[Baroque]] painting, which in turn often followed the trends of the Italians. In general, artistic [[Eurocentrism]] began to wane in the early twentieth century with the increased appreciation for indigenous forms of representation<!-- check for encyclopedic tone -->.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Giannelli|first=Anthony|date=April 28, 2021|title=Decolonizing Identity through Latin American Visual Art|url=https://magazine.artland.com/decolonizing-identity-through-latin-american-visual-art/|access-date=July 2, 2022|website=Artland Magazine|language=en-US|archive-date=July 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702051920/https://magazine.artland.com/decolonizing-identity-through-latin-american-visual-art/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Santiago Martinez Delgado in the colombian congress.jpg|thumb|right|Mural by [[Santiago Martinez Delgado]] at the [[Colombian Congress]]]]

From the early twentieth century, the art of Latin America was greatly inspired by the [[Constructivism (art)|Constructivist Movement]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Perez-Barreiro|first=Gabriel|date=December 1994|title=Constructivism in Latin America|journal=University of Essex Collection of Latin American Art}}</ref> The movement rapidly spread from Russia to Europe and then into Latin America. [[Joaquín Torres García]] and [[Manuel Rendón]] have been credited with bringing the Constructivist Movement into Latin America from Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://issuu.com/museoreinasofia/docs/kobro_ing|title=Kobro and Strzemiński. Avant-Garde Prototypes|website=Issuu|date=November 29, 2017|access-date=May 3, 2019|archive-date=May 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503112733/https://issuu.com/museoreinasofia/docs/kobro_ing|url-status=live}}</ref>

An important artistic movement generated in Latin America is ''[[muralism]]'' represented by [[Diego Rivera]], [[David Alfaro Siqueiros]], [[José Clemente Orozco]] and [[Rufino Tamayo]] in Mexico, [[Santiago Martinez Delgado]] and [[Pedro Nel Gómez]] in Colombia and [[Antonio Berni]] in Argentina. Some of the most impressive ''Muralista'' works can be found in Mexico, Colombia, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and [[Philadelphia]].

Painter [[Frida Kahlo]], one of the most famous Mexican artists, painted about her own life and the Mexican culture in a style combining [[Realism (arts)|Realism]], [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]] and [[Surrealism]]. Kahlo's work commands the highest selling price of all Latin American paintings.<ref>{{cite web|title=Frida Kahlo "Roots" Sets $5.6 Million Record at Sotheby's|url=http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Frida_Kahlo_Roots_$5.6_Million_Record-at-Sothebys.html|publisher=Art Knowledge News|access-date=September 23, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620174806/http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Frida_Kahlo_Roots_%245.6_Million_Record-at-Sothebys.html|archive-date=June 20, 2007}}</ref>

The Venezuelan [[Armando Reverón]], whose work begins to be recognized internationally, is one of the most important artists of the 20th century in South America; he is a precursor of [[Arte Povera]] and [[Happening]]. In the 60s kinetic art emerged in Venezuela. Its main representatives are [[Jesús Soto]], [[Carlos Cruz-Diez]], [[Alejandro Otero]] and [[Gego]].

Colombian sculptor and painter [[Fernando Botero]] has gained regional and international recognition for his works which, on first examination, are noted for their exaggerated proportions and the corpulence of the human and animal figures.<ref>{{cite web|author=Notimex / El Siglo De Torreón|url=http://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/725150.fernando-botero-el-gran-artista-de-latinoamerica.html|title=Fernando Botero, el gran artista de Latinoamérica|publisher=Elsiglodetorreon.com.mx|date=April 1, 2012|access-date=December 9, 2013|archive-date=May 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525114048/https://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/725150.fernando-botero-el-gran-artista-de-latinoamerica.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.revistaenie.clarin.com/arte/pintura/Fernando-Botero-MNBA_0_934106624.html|title=Fernando Botero, el aprendiz eterno|publisher=Revistaenie.clarin.com|date=October 6, 2013|access-date=December 9, 2013|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061921/http://www.revistaenie.clarin.com/arte/pintura/Fernando-Botero-MNBA_0_934106624.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/international/americas/08botero.html|work=The New York Times|first=Juan|last=Forero|title='Great Crime' at Abu Ghraib Enrages and Inspires an Artist|date=May 8, 2005|access-date=February 19, 2017|archive-date=July 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716035202/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/international/americas/08botero.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Ecuadorian [[Oswaldo Guayasamín]], considered one of the most important and seminal artists in Ecuador and South America. In his life, he made over 13,000 paintings and held more than 180 exhibitions all over the world, including Paris, Barcelona, New York, Buenos Aires, Moscow, Prague, and Rome. He brought his unique style of expressionism and cubism to the collection of Ecuador artwork during the [[Age of Anger]] which relates to the period of the Cold War when the United States opposed communist presence in South America.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ecuador.com/blog/oswaldo-guayasamin/|title=Oswaldo Guayasamin|access-date=January 22, 2023|archive-date=January 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122223334/https://www.ecuador.com/blog/oswaldo-guayasamin/|url-status=live}}</ref> Social criticism of human and social inequality was central to his artwork.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.passporttheworld.com/life-art-famous-ecuadorian-painter-oswaldo-guayasamin/|title=The life and art of famous Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamín|date=February 10, 2020|access-date=January 22, 2023|archive-date=January 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122223330/https://www.passporttheworld.com/life-art-famous-ecuadorian-painter-oswaldo-guayasamin/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Film===
{{Main|Latin American cinema}}
[[File:Guadalajara international Film Festival.jpg|left|thumb|The [[Guadalajara International Film Festival]] is considered the most prestigious film festival in Latin America.]]{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}
Latin American film is both rich and diverse. Historically, the main centers of production have been Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba. Latin American film flourished after sound was introduced in cinema, which added a linguistic barrier to the export of Hollywood film south of the border.<ref>Paul A. Schroeder Rodriguez. ''Latin American Cinema: A Comparative History'' (University of California Press; 2016) studies 50 films since the silent era.</ref>
[[File:Alejandro Inarritu Cannes 2017.jpg|right|upright|thumb|In 2015, [[Alejandro González Iñárritu]] became the second Mexican director in a row to win both the [[Academy Award for Best Director]] and the [[Directors Guild of America Award]] for Best Director. He won his second [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] in 2016 for ''[[The Revenant (2015 film)|The Revenant]]''.]]

[[Cinema of Mexico|Mexican cinema]] began in the silent era from 1896 to 1929 and flourished in the [[Golden age of the cinema of Mexico|Golden Era]] of the 1940s. It boasted a huge industry comparable to [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] at the time, with stars such as [[María Félix]], [[Dolores del Río]], and [[Pedro Infante]]. In the 1970s, Mexico was the location for many cult horror and action movies. More recently, films such as ''[[Amores Perros]]'' (2000) and ''[[Y tu mamá también]]'' (2001) enjoyed box office and critical acclaim and propelled [[Alfonso Cuarón]] and [[Alejandro González Iñárritu]] to the front rank of Hollywood directors. Iñárritu in 2010 directed ''[[Biutiful]]'' and [[Birdman (film)|''Birdman'']] (2014), Alfonso Cuarón directed ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)|Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' in 2004 and ''[[Gravity (2013 film)|Gravity]]'' in 2013. A close friend of both, [[Guillermo del Toro]], a top rank Hollywood director in Hollywood and Spain, directed ''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]'' (2006) and produced ''[[The Orphanage (2007 film)|El Orfanato]]'' (2007). [[Carlos Carrera]] (''[[The Crime of Father Amaro (film)|The Crime of Father Amaro]])'', and screenwriter [[Guillermo Arriaga]] are also some of the best known modern Mexican film makers. ''[[Rudo y Cursi]]'' released in December (2008) in Mexico, was directed by [[Carlos Cuarón]].
[[File:Cristina, elenco y Oscar.jpg|left|thumb|President [[Cristina Fernández]] with the film director [[Juan José Campanella]] and the cast of ''[[The Secret in Their Eyes]]'' (2009) with the [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film]]]]

[[Cinema of Argentina|Argentine cinema]] has also been prominent since the first half of the 20th century and today averages over 60 full-length titles yearly. The industry suffered during the [[Proceso de Reorganización Nacional|1976–1983 military dictatorship]]; but re-emerged to produce the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] winner ''[[The Official Story]]'' in 1985. A wave of imported US films again damaged the industry in the early 1990s, though it soon recovered, thriving even during the [[Argentine economic crisis (1999-2002)|Argentine economic crisis]] around 2001. Many Argentine movies produced during recent years have been internationally acclaimed, including ''[[Nueve reinas]]'' (2000), ''[[Son of the Bride]]'' (2001), ''[[El abrazo partido]]'' (2004), ''[[El otro]]'' (2007), the 2010 Foreign Language [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] winner ''[[El secreto de sus ojos]]'', ''[[Wild Tales (film)|Wild Tales]]'' (2014) and ''[[Argentina, 1985]]'' (2022).

[[Cinema of Brazil|In Brazil]], the ''[[Cinema Novo]]'' movement created a particular way of making movies with critical and intellectual screenplays, clearer photography related to the light of the outdoors in a tropical landscape, and a political message. The modern Brazilian film industry has become more profitable inside the country, and some of its productions have received prizes and recognition in Europe and the United States, with movies such as ''[[Central do Brasil (film)|Central do Brasil]]'' (1999), ''[[City of God (2002 film)|Cidade de Deus]]'' (2002) and ''[[Tropa de Elite]]'' (2007).

[[File:Elenco de Una Mujer Fantástica Premios Fénix 2017.jpg|thumb|Cast of [[A Fantastic Woman]] on the red carpet at the [[Teatro de la Ciudad]] (City Theatre).  It was selected as the Chilean entry for the [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]] where it won in the [[90th Academy Awards]].<ref name="Premios Óscar Latinos">{{cite web|url=https://premiososcarlatinos.wordpress.com/2017/09/12/los-latinos-al-oscar-2018-chile/|title=Los latinos al Óscar 2018: Chile|author=Bacherbas|work=Premios Óscar Latinos|date=September 11, 2017|access-date=September 11, 2017}}</ref>]]
[[Cinema of Puerto Rico|Puerto Rican cinema]] has produced some notable films, such as ''[[Una Aventura Llamada Menudo]]'', ''[[Los Diaz de Doris]]'' and ''[[Casi Casi]]''. An influx of Hollywood films affected the local film industry in Puerto Rico during the 1980s and 1990s, but several Puerto Rican films have been produced since and it has been recovering.

[[Cinema of Cuba|Cuban cinema]] has enjoyed much official support since the [[Cuban revolution]] and important film-makers include [[Tomás Gutiérrez Alea]].

[[Venezuelan television]] has also had a great impact in Latin America, is said that whilst "Venezuelan cinema began sporadically in the 1950s[, it] only emerged as a national-cultural movement in the mid-1970s" when it gained state support and auteurs could produce work. International co-productions with Latin America and Spain continued into this era and beyond, and Venezuelan films of this time were counted among the works of New Latin American Cinema. This period is known as Venezuela's Golden Age of cinema, having massive popularity even though it was a time of much social and political upheaval.

One of the most famous Venezuelan films, even to date, is the 1976 film [[Soy un delincuente]] by [[Clemente de la Cerda]], which won the [[Special Jury Prize (Locarno International Film Festival)|Special Jury Prize]] at the 1977 [[Locarno International Film Festival]]. Soy un delincuente was one of nine films for which the state gave substantial funding to produce, made in the year after the Venezuelan state began giving financial support to cinema in 1975. The support likely came from increased oil wealth in the early 1970s, and the subsequent 1973 credit incentive policy. At the time of its production the film was the most popular film in the country, and took a decade to be usurped from this position, even though it was only one in a string of films designed to tell [[Social realism|social realist]] stories of struggle in the 1950s and '60s. Equally famous is the 1977 film [[El Pez que Fuma]] ([[Román Chalbaud]]). In 1981 FONCINE (the Venezuelan Film Fund) was founded, and this year it provided even more funding to produce seventeen feature films. A few years later in 1983 with [[Viernes Negro]], oil prices dropped and Venezuela entered a depression which prevented such extravagant funding, but film production continued; more transnational productions occurred, many more with Spain due to Latin America's poor economic fortune in general, and there was some in new cinema, as well: [[Fina Torres]]' 1985 [[Oriana (film)|Oriana]] won the [[Caméra d'Or]] Prize at the [[1985 Cannes Film Festival]] as the best first feature. Film production peaked in 1984–5,<sup>:37</sup> with 1986 considered Venezuelan cinema's most successful year by the state, thanks to over 4 million admissions to national films, according to [[Venezuelanalysis]]. The Venezuelan capital of Caracas hosted the Ibero-American Forum on Cinematography Integration in 1989, from which the pan-continental IBERMEDIA was formed; a union which provides regional funding.

===Literature===
{{Main|Latin American literature}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2022}}
{{See also|List of Latin American writers}}
[[File:Gabriela Mistral-01.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Chilean poet [[Gabriela Mistral]], first Latin American to win a [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], in 1945]]

[[File:Gabogarciamarquez1.png|thumb|left|175px|upright|[[Gabriel García Márquez]] Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982, primarily for his masterpiece, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" ("Cien años de soledad").]]

[[File:Paz0.jpg|thumb|upright|175px|[[Octavio Paz]] Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990 for his influential body of work, which explored existential themes, Mexican identity, and the complexities of modernity]]
[[File:Miguel_Angel_Asturias.jpg|thumb|left|175px|upright|[[Miguel Ángel Asturias]] received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1967 for his literary contributions, particularly for his novels that delve into the complexities of Latin American society and its indigenous cultures.]]
[[File:Mario Vargas Llosa (crop 2).jpg|175px|thumb|upright=.7|Peruvian [[Mario Vargas Llosa]], the winner of the 2010 [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] and the 1994 [[Miguel de Cervantes Prize]], among others]]

Pre-Columbian cultures were primarily oral, although the Aztecs and Maya, for instance, produced elaborate [[Aztec codices|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 languages|Quechua]]-speaking population of Peru and the [[K'iche' people|Quiché (K'iche')]] of Guatemala.

From the very moment of Europe's discovery of the continents, early explorers and [[conquistadores]] produced written accounts and crónicas of their experience{{spaced ndash}}such as [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]]'s letters or [[Bernal Díaz del Castillo]]'s description of the conquest of Mexico. During the colonial period, written culture was often in the hands of the church, within which context [[Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz]] wrote memorable poetry and philosophical essays. Towards the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, a distinctive [[Criollo (people)|criollo]] literary tradition emerged, including the first novels such as Lizardi's ''[[El Periquillo Sarniento]]'' (1816).

The 19th century was a period of "foundational fictions" in critic Doris Sommer's words, novels in the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] or [[Naturalism (literature)|Naturalist]] traditions that attempted to establish a sense of national identity, and which often focussed on the Indigenous question or the [[dichotomy]] of "civilization or barbarism" (for which see, say, [[Domingo Faustino Sarmiento|Domingo Sarmiento]]'s ''[[Facundo]]'' (1845), [[Juan León Mera]]'s ''Cumandá'' (1879), or [[Euclides da Cunha]]'s ''[[Os Sertões]]'' (1902)). The 19th century also witnessed the realist work of [[Machado de Assis]], who made use of surreal devices of metaphor and playful narrative construction, much admired by critic [[Harold Bloom]].
[[File:Jorge Luis Borges 1951, by Grete Stern.jpg|thumb|[[Jorge Luis Borges]] in 1951]]
At the turn of the 20th century, ''[[modernismo]]'' emerged, a poetic movement whose founding text was Nicaraguan poet [[Rubén Darío]]'s ''Azul'' (1888). This was the first Latin American literary movement to influence literary culture outside of the region, and was also the first truly Latin American literature, in that national differences were no longer so much at issue. [[José Martí]], for instance, though a Cuban patriot, also lived in Mexico and the United States and wrote for journals in Argentina and elsewhere.

However, what really put Latin American literature on the global map was no doubt the literary [[Latin American Boom|boom]] of the 1960s and 1970s, distinguished by daring and experimental novels (such as [[Julio Cortázar]]'s ''[[Hopscotch (Julio Cortázar novel)|Rayuela]]'' (1963)) that were frequently published in Spain and quickly translated into English. The Boom's defining novel was [[Gabriel García Márquez]]'s ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude|Cien años de soledad]]'' (1967), which led to the association of Latin American literature with [[magic realism]], though other important writers of the period such as the Peruvian [[Mario Vargas Llosa]] and [[Carlos Fuentes]] do not fit so easily within this framework. Arguably, the Boom's culmination was [[Augusto Roa Bastos]]'s monumental ''Yo, el supremo'' (1974). In the wake of the Boom, influential precursors such as [[Juan Rulfo]], [[Alejo Carpentier]], and above all [[Jorge Luis Borges]] were also rediscovered.

Contemporary literature in the region is vibrant and varied, ranging from the best-selling [[Paulo Coelho]] and [[Isabel Allende]] to the more avant-garde and critically acclaimed work of writers such as [[Diamela Eltit]], [[Giannina Braschi]], [[Ricardo Piglia]], or [[Roberto Bolaño]]. There has also been considerable attention paid to the genre of [[Testimony#Literature|testimonio]], texts produced in collaboration with [[Subaltern (postcolonialism)|subaltern]] subjects such as [[Rigoberta Menchú]]. Finally, a new breed of chroniclers is represented by the more journalistic [[Carlos Monsiváis]] and Pedro Lemebel.

The region boasts six [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize winners]]: in addition to the two Chilean poets [[Gabriela Mistral]] (1945) and [[Pablo Neruda]] (1971), there is also the Guatemalan novelist [[Miguel Ángel Asturias]] (1967), the Colombian writer [[Gabriel García Márquez]] (1982), the Mexican poet and essayist [[Octavio Paz]] (1990), and the Peruvian novelist [[Mario Vargas Llosa]] (2010).

===Music and dance===
{{See also|Music of Latin America|Latin pop|Latin dance}}
[[File:Salsa en Cali.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Salsa (dance)|Salsa]] dancing in [[Cali]], [[Colombia]]]]

Latin America has produced many successful worldwide artists in terms of recorded global music sales. Among the most successful have been [[Juan Gabriel]] (Mexico) only Latin American musician to have sold over 200 million records worldwide,<ref>{{cite web|title=Juan Gabriel, superstar Mexican singer, dies at 66|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-juan-gabriel-20160828-snap-story.html|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=August 28, 2016|archive-date=May 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530071725/https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-juan-gabriel-20160828-snap-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Gloria Estefan]] (Cuba), [[Carlos Santana]], [[Luis Miguel]] (Mexico) of whom have sold over 90 million records, [[Shakira]] (Colombia) and [[Vicente Fernández]] (Mexico) with over 50 million records sold worldwide. [[Enrique Iglesias]], although not a Latin American, has also contributed for the success of Latin music.

Other notable successful mainstream acts through the years, include [[RBD]], [[Celia Cruz]], [[Soda Stereo]], [[Thalía]], [[Ricky Martin]], [[Maná]], [[Marc Anthony]], [[Ricardo Arjona]], [[Selena]], and [[Menudo (band)|Menudo]].

Latin Caribbean music, such as [[Merengue (music)|merengue]], [[Bachata (music)|bachata]], [[Salsa music|salsa]], and more recently [[reggaeton]], from such countries as the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Panama, has been strongly influenced by African rhythms and melodies.<ref>{{cite web|first=Christopher|last=Washburne|publisher=University of Salsa|title=Clave: The African Roots of Salsa|access-date=May 23, 2006|url=http://www.planetsalsa.com/university_of_salsa/clave/clave_roots.htm|archive-date=May 7, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507215444/http://www.planetsalsa.com/university_of_salsa/clave/clave_roots.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=Caravan Music|title=Guide to Latin Music|url=http://www.caravanmusic.com/GuideLatinMusic.htm|access-date=May 23, 2006|archive-date=May 6, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060506015313/http://www.caravanmusic.com/GuideLatinMusic.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Jarabe Tapatío.jpg|thumb|Traditional Mexican dance [[Jarabe Tapatío]]]]
Another well-known Latin American musical genre includes the [[Argentine tango|Argentine]] and [[Uruguayan tango]] (with [[Carlos Gardel]] as the greatest exponent), as well as the distinct [[nuevo tango]], a fusion of tango, [[acoustic music|acoustic]] and [[electronic music]] popularized by [[bandoneón]] virtuoso [[Ástor Piazzolla]]. [[Samba]], North American [[jazz]], [[European classical music]] and [[choro]] combined to form ''[[bossa nova]]'' in Brazil, popularized by guitarist [[João Gilberto]] with singer [[Astrud Gilberto]] and [[jazz piano|pianist]] [[Antonio Carlos Jobim]].

Other influential Latin American sounds include the Antillean [[soca music|soca]] and [[calypso music|calypso]], Dennery segment which is a style of Soca music developed in Saint Lucia in the early 2010s which came from Kuduro music, Zouk influence and Lucian drums alongside lyrics usually sung in French [[Antillean Creole]]  Kwéyòl, Bouyon music is a mixture of Soca, Zouk, and traditional genres native to Dominica which is sung in French [[Antillean Creole]] and is one of the most popular musical genres in Dominica, the Honduran (Garifuna) [[punta]], the Colombian [[cumbia]] and [[vallenato]], the Chilean [[cueca]], the Ecuadorian [[Bolero (Spanish dance)|boleros]], the Haitian compas (konpa) and [[rockoleras]], the Mexican [[ranchera]] and the [[mariachi]], which is the epitome of Mexican soul, the Nicaraguan [[palo de Mayo]], the Peruvian [[marinera]] and [[tondero]], the Uruguayan [[candombe]] and the various styles of music from pre-Columbian traditions that are widespread in the [[Andean]] region.

[[File:Carmen Miranda in That Night in Rio (1941).jpg|thumb|upright|left|Brazilian singer [[Carmen Miranda]] helped popularize [[samba]] internationally.]]

The classical composer [[Heitor Villa-Lobos]] (1887–1959) worked on the recording of Native musical traditions within his homeland of Brazil. The traditions of his homeland heavily influenced his classical works.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Leadership Medica|title=Heitor Villa-Lobos|access-date=May 23, 2006|url=http://www.cesil.com/0998/enbass09.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060811081605/http://www.cesil.com/0998/enbass09.htm|archive-date=August 11, 2006}}</ref> Also notable is the recent work of the Cuban [[Leo Brouwer]], Uruguayan-American [[Miguel del Águila]], guitar works of the Venezuelan [[Antonio Lauro]] and the Paraguayan [[Agustín Barrios]]. Latin America has also produced world-class classical performers such as the Chilean pianist [[Claudio Arrau]], Brazilian pianist [[Nelson Freire]] and the Argentine pianist and conductor [[Daniel Barenboim]]. Brazilian opera soprano [[Bidu Sayão]], one of Brazil's most famous musicians, was a leading artist of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1937 to 1952.

[[File:Tango-Show-Buenos-Aires-01.jpg|thumb|upright|A couple dances [[Tango (dance)|tango]].]]

Arguably, the main contribution to music entered through folklore, where the true soul of the Latin American and Caribbean countries is expressed. Musicians such as [[Yma Súmac]], [[Chabuca Granda]], [[Atahualpa Yupanqui]], [[Violeta Parra]], [[Víctor Jara]], [[Jorge Cafrune]], [[Facundo Cabral]], [[Mercedes Sosa]], [[Jorge Negrete]], [[Luiz Gonzaga]], [[Caetano Veloso]], [[Susana Baca]], [[Chavela Vargas]], [[Simon Diaz]], [[Julio Jaramillo]], [[Toto la Momposina]], [[Gilberto Gil]], [[Maria Bethânia]], [[Nana Caymmi]], [[Nara Leão]], [[Gal Costa]], [[Ney Matogrosso]] as well as musical ensembles such as [[Inti Illimani]] and [[Los Kjarkas]] are magnificent examples of the heights that this soul can reach.

[[Latin pop]], including many forms of rock, is popular in Latin America today (see [[Spanish language rock and roll]]).<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Michigan Daily|title=Latin music returns to America with wave of new pop starlets|url=http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1999/sep/09-28-99/arts/arts6.html|access-date=May 23, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050830190254/http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1999/sep/09-28-99/arts/arts6.html|archive-date=August 30, 2005}}</ref> A few examples are [[Café Tacuba]], [[Soda Stereo]], [[Maná]], [[Los Fabulosos Cadillacs]], [[Rita Lee]], [[Mutantes]], [[Secos e Molhados]] [[Legião Urbana]], [[Titãs]], [[Paralamas do Sucesso]], [[Cazuza]], [[Barão Vermelho]], [[Skank (band)|Skank]], [[Miranda!]], [[CSS (band)|Cansei de Ser Sexy or CSS]], and Bajo Fondo.

More recently, reggaeton, which blends Jamaican reggae and dancehall with Latin America genres such as [[Bomba (Puerto Rico)|bomba]] and [[plena]], as well as [[hip hop music|hip hop]], is becoming more popular, in spite of the controversy surrounding its lyrics, dance steps ([[Perreo]]) and music videos. It has become very popular among populations with a "migrant culture" influence – both Latino populations in the United States, such as southern Florida and New York City, and parts of Latin America where migration to the United States is common, such as Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Mexico.<ref>{{Cite news|agency=Associated Press|title=Daddy Yankee leads the reggaeton charge|access-date=May 23, 2006|url=https://www.today.com/popculture/daddy-yankee-leads-reggaeton-charge-wbna9410287|archive-date=May 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525114307/http://www.today.com/popculture/daddy-yankee-leads-reggaeton-charge-wbna9410287|url-status=live}}</ref>

===World Heritage Sites===
The following is a list of the ten countries with the most [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]s in Latin America.<ref name="list">[https://whc.unesco.org/en/list World Heritage List] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314170923/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list |date=March 14, 2021 }}, UNESCO World Heritage Sites official sites.</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Country !! Natural sites !! Cultural sites !! Mixed sites  !! Total sites 
|-
|| {{Flag|Mexico}} || 6 || 28 || 1 || 35
|-
|| {{Flag|Brazil}} || 7 || 14 || 0|| 21
|-
|| {{Flag|Peru}} || 2 || 9 || 2 || 13
|-
|| {{Flag|Argentina}} || 5 || 6 || 0 || 11
|-
|| {{Flag|Cuba}} || 2 || 7 || 0 || 9
|-
|| {{Flag|Colombia}} || 2 || 6 || 1 || 9
|-
|| {{Flag|Bolivia}} || 1 || 6 || 0 || 7 
|-
|| {{Flag|Chile}} || 0  || 6 || 0 ||  6
|-
|| {{Flag|Panama}} || 3 || 2 || 0 || 5
|-
|| {{Flag|Ecuador}} || 2 || 3 || 0 || 5 
|-
|| {{Flag|Guatemala}} || 0 || 2 || 1 || 3 
|-
|{{Flag|Uruguay}}
|0
|2
|0
|2
|}

<!--outdated and partial data
===Environment===
{{See also|Environmental history of Latin America}}
<gallery mode="packed">
Pico Orizaba1.jpg
Playa Varadero.JPG
Amazon 57.53278W 2.71207S.jpg
</gallery>
The environment of Latin America has been changed by human use in the expanding of agriculture, new agricultural technologies, including the [[Green Revolution]], extraction of minerals, growth of cities, and redirection of rivers by the construction of dams for irrigation, drinking water, and hydroelectric power. In the twentieth century, there is a growing movement to protect nature and many governments have sought recognition of natural sites by the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Sites]]. Brazil, Mexico, and Peru currently have the greatest number of natural sites.<ref name="list"/>
[[File:Canon del Sumideiro 2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sumidero Canyon]], located in [[Chiapas]], Mexico.]]
[[File:Glaucous Macaw.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Glaucous macaw]] (behind [[hyacinth macaw]]) and other macaws. [[Macaw]]s are long-tailed, often colorful [[Neotropical parrot|New World parrots]].<ref>{{OED|macaw}}</ref>]]

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: right"
|- style="background:#ececec;"
|+'''Environmental indicators for Latin American countries'''
!Country
!Environmental <br /> performance<ref>{{cite web|url=http://epi.yale.edu/epi2012/rankings|title=Environmental Performance Index 2012|work=Environmental Performance Index 2012 rankings|publisher=Yale University|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120505092852/http://epi.yale.edu/epi2012/rankings|archive-date=May 5, 2012}}</ref> <br /> <small>(2012)</small> <br /> <small>EPI</small>
!CO2 emissions<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iea.org/co2highlights/CO2highlights.pdf|title=CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion 2011|work=CO2 emissions / population|publisher=International Energy Agency (IEA)|access-date=November 2, 2010|archive-date=February 2, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202035728/http://www.iea.org/co2highlights/co2highlights.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> <br /> <small>(2009)</small> <br /> <small>(tons of CO2 <br /> per capita)</small>
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Argentina}}
|56.48
| 4.14
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Bolivia}}
|54.57
|1.31
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Brazil}}
| 60.90
|1.74
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Chile}}
|55.34
| 3.84
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Colombia}}
| 62.33
|1.33
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Costa Rica}}
| style="background:#cfc;"| 69.03
|1.37
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Cuba}}
|56.48
|2.40
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Dominican Republic}}
|52.44
|1.79
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Ecuador}}
|60.55
|2.09
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|El Salvador}}
|52.08
|1.10
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Guatemala}}
|51.88
|1.03
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Honduras}}
|52.54
|0.96
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Mexico}}
| 49.11
|3.72
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Nicaragua}}
|59.23
| 0.73
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Panama}}
|57.94
|2.10
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Paraguay}}
|52.40
| 0.64
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Peru}}
| 50.29
|1.32
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Uruguay}}
|57.06
|2.31
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Venezuela}}
|55.62
| style="background:#ffdbdb;"| 5.45
|}
-->