- What characteristics do the Latin American countries share?
- 1- The process of conquest
- 2- They share the same linguistic family
- 3- Leaders in biodiversity
- 4- They are similar in their political history
- 5- Great musical variety
- 6- Similarities in the religious sphere
- 7- They develop similar economic activities
- References
Latin America or Latin America is the term used to encompass the 20 countries in America that speak a language of Latin origin (Spanish or Portuguese).
This region is made up of: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
It covers most of the American continent, starting in North America with Mexico, passing through the regions of Central America and up to South America with Argentina.
In some cases, the Francophone regions of South America (Haiti and French Guyana) or even territories whose official language is English (Belize and Puerto Rico) are also taken into account as part of Latin America.
However, despite the great extension of the territory and the marked differences between these regions, the countries of Latin America share a large number of historical, linguistic and geographical features.
Latin America, beyond being an area on the map, is a strong cultural bond that unites all the countries that comprise it.
What characteristics do the Latin American countries share?
Due to its vast historical, geographical, linguistic and cultural similarities, in the development of Latin America, characteristics shared by most of its regions can easily be identified.
Since the discovery of America in 1492, the evolution of the continent has taken different paths, but despite these discrepancies, Latin America has managed to remain as a common denominator.
1- The process of conquest
Since the arrival of the first European explorers, all of America was the headquarters of expeditions for economic purposes, which culminated in the conquest and colonization of the territory.
The Spanish and Portuguese crowns led this process that meant significant improvements for the economic panorama in Europe and a permanent change in America due to the fusion of both cultures.
The conquest of the Aztecs
All Spanish-speaking countries today are the legacy of the conquest by Spain; Brazil is the exception, having been under the rule of Portugal, making it the only Portuguese-speaking country in America.
2- They share the same linguistic family
No bond unites Latin America more than its predominant language: Spanish. The union criterion in this region is based on the fact that Romance languages are spoken or also called Latin (for this reason some people consider Francophone areas as part of Latin America).
Spanish and Portuguese, on the other hand, belong to the subgroup of Iberian Romance languages, so it is easier to unite them.
Likewise, before being conquered, these regions had their own languages, such as Nahuatl (Mexico), Quechua (Peru and Bolivia) and Guaraní (Argentina and Paraguay).
These languages did not totally disappear and they even managed to mix with Spanish, forming regional differences in speech and coining terms currently in general use, such as “chocolate” from the Nahuatl “xocolatl”.
3- Leaders in biodiversity
A megadiverse country is one that harbors the most biodiversity on the planet (regions, climates and flora).
Latin America leads in the biodiversity scheme, being the region with the most megadiverse countries, since of the 17 existing countries, 6 are in its territory: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
With dense tropical jungles, deserts, forests, coasts, mountains and an innumerable variety of climates, Latin America represents a substantial part of the planet's natural wealth, The Amazon rainforest, in Brazil, is considered the most biodiverse point on earth, as it has hundreds of animal species, more than 30,000 species of plants and about 2.5 million different insects.
4- They are similar in their political history
Throughout their history, Latin American countries have distinguished themselves by their social and political struggles.
Almost simultaneously, their respective battles for independence from Spain began in the early 19th century; Miguel Hidalgo in Mexico, San Martín in Argentina, Chile and Peru, and Simón Bolívar in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela.
During the 20th century, military dictatorships predominated, taking place in Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Nicaragua, among others.
For its part, the rest of Latin America was involved in political tensions. At present, countries like Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua defend a policy of revolutionary socialism.
5- Great musical variety
Besides being an area rich in biodiversity, it is safe to say that Latin America is a bastion of culture and one of the highest representatives of musical wealth in the world.
It has worldwide recognized and acclaimed musical genres, such as the mariachi, the huapango and the corrido in Mexico.
Colombian music festival
In the Caribbean, you can find the trova, the salsa, the mambo, the bolero and the rumba (Cuba); the merengue and the bachata (Dominican Republic).
In South America, samba and bossa-nova (Brazil), tango (Argentina), cumbia and vallenato (Colombia) and reggaetón (Puerto Rico) predominate.
6- Similarities in the religious sphere
In Latin America Catholicism predominates, with 69% of its inhabitants professing religion. This came with the Spanish and Portuguese conquests, being the most predominant cultural element in the entire colonization process.
Until no less than 50 years ago, 90% of the population was Catholic, but as in the rest of the world, these figures have been decreasing.
As happened with the language, before the European imposition there were already religious practices on the continent; These indigenous religions are still practiced by the inhabitants of the original peoples of America.
There are also religions that originated as a product of the cultural mixture of the conquest, such is the case of Santeria, which fuses aspects of Catholicism with West African religions.
7- They develop similar economic activities
Finally, after sharing a cultural, social and political history, it is not surprising that Latin America has consequently developed similar economic activities.
Due to its strategic position and climate variations, it becomes a fertile place for agriculture and one of the main food exporters.
Such are the cases of Mexico, world leader in avocado production; Colombia, world leader in coffee production and Brazil, world leader in orange production.
References
- Brogan, A. (2017) 15 Facts About South America. Trip Savvy. Recovered from tripsavvy.com
- Brushnell, E. et al. (sf) History of Latin America. Encyclopedia Britannica. Recovered from britannica.com
- McKeown, M. (2017) What is Latin America? Geography, Language and Culture Explained. Owlcation. Recovered from owlcation.com
- Santiago, J. (sf) Did You Know? Ten Facts About Latin America. World Economic Forum. Recovered from weforum.org
- Sawe, B. (2017) Countries that Make Up Latin America. Word Atlas. Recovered from worldatlas.com