Edit]Etymology and definitions

Latin America

In Latin American region includes Mexico, Central America (Central American isthmus and the West Indies) and countries of the continent South America with surrounding islands. Among the countries in the region have found colonies of the United States, France, Britain and the Netherlands.

The name "Latin America" ​​comes from Latin, the core of the Romance languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French, spoken by the vast majority of the population.

Latin American countries except Cuba, the group of developing countries, but in terms of economies of most of them ahead of the developing countries of Africa and Asia. However, the level of individual countries in the region there are significant differences. The most developed - Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Colombia. The farm these countries a large share of manufacturing industries: machinery, metal working, chemical industry and oil refining. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina belong to the NIS. These countries are sometimes called big three. They account for 2/3 of industry production. Most developed countries in the region together in Mercosur (map "international organizations"). In Latin America through economic and educational integration Mercosur, formed by the fourth power center of world trade and finance.

Brazil - one of the largest in area and rich natural resources for the world. Wood stock in Brazil reach the third world. Opened in 1500 in Brazil got its name from the chief at that time of natural wealth, found Portuguese colonizers in the country.It was sandalwood (pau-brasil), from which produced a valuable purple dye.

Brazil has large reserves of fresh water, hidroenerhoresursami and various minerals. Unlike most developing countries, the industrial structure of Brazil is dominated by processing industries: metallurgy (seventh in the world of steel production), machinery (especially transport: aircraft, shipbuilding) as well as production of electronic computer technology. An important source of income for the country is producing and exporting coffee, which became a national symbol of Brazil. In a country accounts for 1/4 of world production of instant coffee.

Less developed countries are the Central American Isthmus and Bolivia. Small islands of the Caribbean specializing mainly in the primary processing of agricultural raw materials (sugar, coffee, juices, canned), extraction of minerals (Jamaica), tourist services.

In countries with a backward economy (Paraguay, Haiti) is dominated by handicraft enterprise producing semi-finished products and consumer nature. In the Caribbean, is Cuba - a country with a centrally controlled economy. In MHRT she specializes in growing sugar cane, citrus, tobacco. Cuba is famous for its beautiful resorts.

In South America mainland are two subregions: Andean (mountain west of the country - Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile) and La Platskoy or Atlantic (East of the continent - Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil). Differences between the geographical location of the two sub-regions are shown in the agricultural specialization of these countries.

The modern economy of Latin America, characterized by some common features that have developed historically and determine the economic face of the region.This is, firstly, bahatoukladnist facilities (public sector, cooperative farming, handicraft production, estates - large private land holdings). Second, specialization economy: monokulturnist in agriculture monoproduktivnost in the industry. Third, dependence on foreign capital and foreign debt problem.

Latin America (Spanish: América Latina or Latinoamérica; Portuguese: América Latina; French: Amérique latine) is a region of the Americas whereRomance languages (i.e., those derived from Latin) – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken.^[2][3] Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² (7,880,000 sq mi), almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area. As of 2010, its population was estimated at more than 590 million^[4] and its combined GDP at 5.16 trillion United States dollars (6.27 trillion at PPP).^[5] The Latin American expected economic growth rate is at about 5.7% for 2010 and 4% in 2011.^[6]

Edit]Subdivisions

Common subregions in Latin America

Latin America can be subdivided into several subregions based on geography, politics, demographics and culture. The basic geographical subregions areNorth America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America;^[7] the latter contains further politico-geographical subdivisions such as the Southern Coneand the Andean states. It may be subdivided on linguistic grounds into Hispanic America and Portuguese America.

edit]Etymology and definitions

The idea that a part of the Americas has a lingual affinity with the Romance cultures as a whole can be traced back to the 1830s, in the writing of the FrenchSaint-Simonian Michel Chevalier, who postulated that this part of the Americas was inhabited by people of a "Latin race", and that it could, therefore, ally itself with "Latin Europe" in a struggle with "Teutonic Europe", "Anglo-Saxon America" and "Slavic Europe".^[8] The idea was later taken up by Latin American intellectuals and political leaders of the mid- and late-nineteenth century, who no longer looked to Spain or Portugal as cultural models, but rather toFrance.^[9] The term was first used in Paris in an 1856 conference by the Chilean politician Francisco Bilbao^[10] and the same year by the Colombian writer José María Torres Caicedo in his poem "Two Americas.^[11] The term Latin America was supported by the French Empire of Napoleon III during the French invasion of Mexico, as a way to include France among countries with influence in America and to exclude Anglophone countries, and played a role in his campaign to imply cultural kinship of the region with France, transform France into a cultural and political leader of the area, and install Maximilian of Habsburg as emperor of the Second Mexican Empire.^[12]

In contemporary usage:

§ In one sense, Latin America refers to territories in America where the Spanish or Portuguese languages prevail: Mexico, most of Central and South America, and in the Caribbean, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico — in summary, Hispanic America and Brazil. Latin America is, therefore, defined as all those parts of the Americas that were once part of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires.^[13] By this definition, Latin America is coterminous with Ibero-america ("Iberian America").^[14]

§ Particularly in the United States, the term more broadly refers to all of the Americas south of the United States, thus including: English-speaking countries such as Belize, Jamaica, Barbados,Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Bahamas; French-speaking Haiti and Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana; and the Dutch-speaking Netherlands Antilles, Aruba and Suriname. (In the former Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, Papiamento – a predominantly Iberian-derived creole language – is spoken by the majority of the population.) This definition emphasizes a similar socioeconomic history of the region, which was characterized by formal or informal colonialism, rather than cultural aspects. (See, for example, dependency theory.)^[15] As such, some sources avoid this oversimplification by using the phrase "Latin America and the Caribbean" instead, as in the United Nations geoscheme for the Americas.^[16][17][18]

§ In a more literal definition, which remains faithful to the original usage, Latin America designates all of those countries and territories in the Americas where a Romance language (i.e., languages derived from Latin, and hence the name of the region) is spoken: Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and the creole languages based upon these. Strictly considering this definition, Quebec, in Canada, is part of Latin America as well. But this region is rarely considered so, since its history, distinctive culture and economy, and British-inspired political institutions are generally deemed too closely intertwined with the rest of Canada.^[19]

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, Guatemala, and Paraguay), American Indian cultures and, to a lesser extent, Amerindian languages, are predominant, and in other areas, the influence of African cultures is strong (e.g., the Caribbean basin—including parts of Colombia and Venezuela)—and the coastal areas of Ecuador and Brazil.^{[citation needed]}

Edit]History

Main article: History of Latin America

See also: History of North America, History of South America, History of Central America, and History of the Caribbean

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 989