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The term Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC [1] ) is an English-language acronym referring to the Latin American and the Caribbean region. The term LAC covers an extensive region, extending from The Bahamas and Mexico to Argentina and Chile. The region has over 670,230,000 people as of 2016 [update] ,[ citation needed ] and spanned for 21,951,000 square kilometres (8,475,000 sq mi).[ citation needed ]
Various countries within the Latin American and the Caribbean region do not use either Spanish, Portuguese or French as official languages, but rather English or Dutch.[ citation needed ]
* Disputed territory administered by the United States, claimed by Haiti.
Anguilla (United Kingdom)
Antigua and Barbuda 
Barbados 
British Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
Dominica 
Dutch Caribbean 
Federal Dependencies (Venezuela)
Grenada 
Guadeloupe (France) 
Martinique (France)
Montserrat (United Kingdom)
Nueva Esparta (Venezuela)
Saint Barthélemy (France)
Saint Kitts and Nevis 
Saint Lucia 
Saint Martin (France)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 
Spanish Virgin Islands (Puerto Rico)
Trinidad and Tobago 
U.S. Virgin Islands (United States)† The UN geoscheme includes Mexico in Central America. [2]
* Disputed territories administered by Colombia, claimed by the United States.
† The UN geoscheme includes Bouvet Island in South America instead of Antarctica or Africa.
* Disputed territories administered by the United Kingdom, claimed by Argentina.
The region has a unique history and varied between stability to instability, included various deadly conflicts, though its level remains conflicted. The two deadliest conflicts in the region are the Colombian conflict and the Mexican drug war; and more recently, the crisis in Venezuela and Gang war in Haiti. Some other bloody conflicts include the internal conflict in Peru and gang wars in Argentina, Brazil, and Honduras. Other conflicts include the Mapuche conflict in Argentina and Chile; and the Insurgency in Paraguay. These conflicts, however, have received lesser attentions from international media, and varied by time.[ citation needed ]
The Latin American and Caribbean countries with the most representative democracy were Costa Rica, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Jamaica and least democratic were Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela according to 2024 V-Dem Democracy Report. [3]
0.900–1.000 0.800–0.899 0.700–0.799 0.600–0.699 | 0.500–0.599 0.400–0.499 0.300–0.399 0.200–0.299 | 0.100–0.199 0.000–0.099 No data |
Most countries are dominated by Christianity, the largest being Roman Catholic. Smaller groups include Protestantism (including Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses) and Orthodoxy and other forms of Christianity. There are many venerated folk saints and folk religions namely folk catholicism as well as african diaspora religions (syncretic african traditional religions) as well as Native American religions including shamanism. Many folk healers also practice folk magic. Specific Creole peoples often have their own religions/spiritual practices like the Maroons's Rastafari and Garifuna's belief system (or New Orleans Voodoo and Melungeon in North America).[ citation needed ]
Especially in the Caribbean, Central America and Brasil, there are Jewish (including Messianic Jews), Muslim, Hindu, Baháʼí Faith (especially in Panama, Bolivia and Belize), Buddhist, Shinto and Romani mythology, Chinese folk religion, Dravidian folk religion (among others) practitioners. The Muslims and especially Jews and Gitanos are often descendants of the peoples forced into Crypto-Judaism and Crypto-Islam (and even Crypto-Paganism, for lack of a better term) from the Reconquista. There most likely is Sikh and Jainist groups (and possibly even smaller Zoroastrianism, Samaritan and Druze groups). There is also a growing movement of unitarian universalism/new age/neo-paganism-type unorganized spirituality; goddess worship is especially popular with younger, often progressive people like feminists. Again, these movements are often also syncretic, such as Pachamama or other Pre-Columbian Deity worship. Atheism/Agnosticism is quite dichotomous with a few countries having high percentages, but most are small and may be growing slowly.[ citation needed ]
The region is extremely popular for its own distinct music which can not be found somewhere in the world. Began since the conquest of Spain, France, Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal in 15th century, due to the greater diversification including indigenous, Asian, African and European population merged, it expanded popularity of their music, dated from 1950s and rampant globalization, music from the region has become widely noticed, and has been nominated for several music awards. [4]
The region is rich at sporting activities, especially in association football, which have some of the world's strongest football teams, including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and others. Baseball, tennis, cycling, volleyball, rugby union, basketball, hockey, and cricket are also popular.[ citation needed ]
The region is known for producing significant mixed martial-arts fighters, notably competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Mexico and Brazil being the ones that stand out in this sport. [5] [6]
Latin America often refers to the regions in the Americas in which Romance languages are the main languages. It is "commonly used to describe South America, plus Central America, Mexico, and most of the islands of the Caribbean". In a narrow sense, it refers to Spanish America, and often it may also include Brazil. The term "Latin America" may be used broader than Hispanic America, which specifically refers to Spanish-speaking countries; and narrower than categories such as Ibero-America, a term that refers to both Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries from the Americas, and sometimes from Europe. It could also theoretically encompass Quebec or Louisiana where French is still spoken and are historical remnants of the French Empire in that region of the globe, or even the majority Papiamento-speaking Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern subregion of the Americas.
The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east.
A subregion is a part of a larger geographical region or continent. Cardinal directions are commonly used to define subregions. There are many criteria for creating systems of subregions; this article is focusing on the United Nations geoscheme, which is a changing, constantly updated, UN tool based on specific political geography and demography considerations relevant in UN statistics.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean is a United Nations regional commission to encourage economic cooperation. ECLAC includes 46 member States, and 14 associate members which are various non-independent territories, associated island countries and a commonwealth in the Caribbean. ECLAC publishes statistics covering the countries of the region and makes cooperative agreements with nonprofit institutions. The headquarters of ECLAC is in Santiago, Chile.
Latin Americans are the citizens of Latin American countries.
The history of the Jews in Latin America began with conversos who joined the Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the continents. The Alhambra Decree of 1492 led to the mass conversion of Spain's Jews to Catholicism and the expulsion of those who refused to do so. However, the vast majority of conversos never made it to the New World and remained in Spain slowly assimilating to the dominant Catholic culture. This was due to the requirement by Spain's Blood Statutes to provide written documentation of Old Christian lineage to travel to the New World. However, the first Jews came with the first expedition of Christopher Columbus, including Rodrigo de Triana and Luis De Torres.
The decolonization of the Americas occurred over several centuries as most of the countries in the Americas gained their independence from European rule. The American Revolution was the first in the Americas, and the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was a victory against a great power, aided by France and Spain, Britain's enemies. The French Revolution in Europe followed, and collectively these events had profound effects on the Spanish, Portuguese, and French colonies in the Americas. A revolutionary wave followed, resulting in the creation of several independent countries in Latin America. The Haitian Revolution lasted from 1791 to 1804 and resulted in the independence of the French slave colony. The Peninsular War with France, which resulted from the Napoleonic occupation of Spain, caused Spanish Creoles in Spanish America to question their allegiance to Spain, stoking independence movements that culminated in various Spanish American wars of independence (1808–33), which were primarily fought between opposing groups of colonists and only secondarily against Spanish forces. At the same time, the Portuguese monarchy fled to Brazil during the French invasion of Portugal. After the royal court returned to Lisbon, the prince regent, Pedro, remained in Brazil and in 1822 successfully declared himself emperor of a newly independent Brazilian Empire.
The Christian Democrat Organization of America is an international organization made up of political parties, groups, and associations in North America and South America that promote the principles of Christian humanism. Affiliated with the Center Democratic International, it is a regional partner of the European People's Party and regional organizations of Christian Democratic parties in Asia and Africa.
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island countries and 19 dependencies in three archipelagos: the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, and the Lucayan Archipelago.
The culture of Latin America is the formal or informal expression of the people of Latin America and includes both high culture and popular culture, as well as religion and other customary practices. These are generally of Western origin, but have various degrees of Native American, African and Asian influence.
The United Nations geoscheme is a system which divides 248 countries and territories in the world into six continental regions, 22 geographical subregions, and two intermediary regions. It was devised by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) based on the M49 coding classification. The creators note that "the assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories".
The United Nations geoscheme for the Americas is an internal tool created and used by the UN's Statistics Division (UNSD) for the specific purpose of UN statistics.
As of 2017, South America has an estimated population of 418.76 million people.
The United Nations geoscheme for Oceania is an internal tool created and used by the UN's Statistics Division (UNSD) for the specific purpose of UN statistics.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to South America.
| Caribbean |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Central America | ||
| Middle America | ||
| South America | ||
Dependencies not included. Semi-autonomous territories are in italics. | ||
